Stream & Catchment Delineation with WhiteboxTools in QGIS

This video demonstrates the workflow of delineating a catchment and streams from SRTM tiles using WhiteboxTools in QGIS.
Whitebox provides over 450 tools for GIS analysis operations, remote sensing, and image processing tasks. WhiteboxTools also contains advanced tooling for spatial hydrological analysis and LiDAR data processing.
Link to Whitebox Geospatial Inc.: www.whiteboxgeo.com/
0:00 Intro
0:43 Download DEM with SRTM Downloader plugin
1:48 Mosaic DEM tiles as Virtual Raster
2:37 Subset and reproject DEM
4:38 Download rivers from OpenStreetMap with QuickOSM plugin
6:00 Burn river in DEM with FillBurn tool
6:35 Create D8 Pointer raster
7:25 Fill sinks
8:46 Define outlet
9:50 Calculate Flow Accumulation
10:41 Snap pour point
12:05 Delineate catchment with Watershed tool
12:47 Polygonize raster
13:44 Fix geometries and clip rivers
14:50 Extract streams
#QGIS #QGISHydro #WhiteboxTools

[@kumarpratik4049]

sir, thats a great work on tutorial as you started from scratch(i.e source from where file csn be added to canvas), and we can easily follow you along step by step.

[@happyverse_of_shikha]

Very interesting video sir, now I am going to try this as I was facing difficulty earlier as to how I would go about dileneating my catchment. Thankyou ❤️

[@miraclebuoy]

Hi Dr Hans. Thank you for the guiding videos you produce. I am working on my project to delineate a lake watershed, where all the surrounding subcatchments are draining directly to the lake. I have been following your steps on all tools (PCRaster, SAGA, GRASS, Whitebox) to delineate, but none are working. I even tried using SWAT. Including this video (burning my own streams). Every step goes well until DEM fill. I think the tools are filling up the lake and nearby wetland area, finally giving me wrong output at "strahler" step. Water does not flow out of the lake! So, i wish you do a video on how to delineate a lake watershed (if possible with Whitebox tool) so we can follow your steps. Many thanks.

[@truongannguyen4142]

Thanks

[@raghukambaiah7031]

Thanks for the tutorial sir, kindly upload a video of Weighted overlay analysis using Whitebox tool, it would be of immense help to me.

[@MrLikeidontcare]

Great video as always Hans. One query, can it also delineate separate subbasins within that watershed based on strahler number?

[@HansvanderKwast]

Check this playlist for methods to do that: kzbin.info/aero/PLeuKJkIxCDj2Gk0CkcJ-QeviE41aMZd-5

[@yosiaa_saigupi]

Hans, what is your QGIS version that you use in this video? Thanks.

[@onkarchothe6897]

Respected sir, How to create isochrones for catchment (Hydrology) ?.

[@asheshrudrapaul3183]

How to extract streams only for the study area?

[@juanvanderwesthuizen9562]

when operating the FillBurn i get this error: thread 'main' panicked at 'The TIFF file does not contain geokeys' - is there a way to fix this ?

[@BackpackerCoach]

Please Help! I have no UTM zone. It doesn't come up in the list? What did I do wrong?

[@HansvanderKwast]

The whole world is divided in UTM zones: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universal_Transverse_Mercator_coordinate_system. You can find the EPSG codes at www.spatialreference.org/. and use this video for more info: kzbin.info/www/bejne/naaWiICNib-jj5Y. Theory about projections in this video: kzbin.info/www/bejne/oIfRYqh5qs2ClZY. Also check this video for reprojecting: kzbin.info/www/bejne/rICoeKZ8e6itZ5o.

[@ralphroulette5448]

Thank you for your tutorials, they have been a great help in my work! I was wondering if there any considerations that need to be taken when working around water bodies (ie lakes?)

[@HansvanderKwast]

(sub)catchments normally have their outlet in water bodies such as lakes. So then you delineate it until the river enters the lake. When you want the larger catchment where the lake is part off, the fill sinks algorithm will fill up the lake in order to have the water flowing to the outlet downstream of the lake. If you want to preserve the lake you need control the fill sinks algorithm that it doesn't fill up completely the lake. You can do this with lddcreate from PCRaster for example (see kzbin.info/www/bejne/Y5jQgJVobMRlhZY) or burn in the lake after filling the sinks so the real depressions are back in the DEM. So it depends on the purpose and context of the delineation.

[@miraclebuoy]

Hi Ralph. I have faced with the same problem of delineating a lake watershed. Can't find any instructional video on YT. How could you solve it?

[@miraclebuoy]

@@HansvanderKwast On PCRaster, the video example you suggested above (lddcreate) all required data are filled by default other than the DEM_filled layer. Where can I provide the lake.shp file to burn it? Also burning my lake using r.carve, the tool requires stream.shp with its width and depth, not lake data. Please help. Thanks.

[@miraclebuoy]

Hi Ralph. I have faced with the same problem of delineating a "terminal" lake watershed. Can't find any instructional video on YT. How could you solve it?

[@jamesesteban5973]

@@miraclebuoy Did you ever figure this out? Having the same issue.

[@ambijat2]

I find that Quick OSM may not be the best way to get all the river networks. Is there an alternate way similar to SAGA channels and draingage basins.

[@HansvanderKwast]

This step is needed for burning an existing river network. If you don't want it skip to Extract streams at the end of the video.

[@annas7000]

Thank you for this helpful video sir. I am now trying out the steps. However, when I delineate the watershed it is not showing at all. What am I doing wrong?

[@HansvanderKwast]

Can have many reasons. The most common is that the outlet point is not chosen in the delineated stream or the coordinate doesn't correspond with the filled DEM.

[@annas7000]

Thank you so much sir, I have successfully delineated the watershed.

[@hicham_gis89]

Hello Sir Thank you for the tutorial, i have question Sir for plugin QGIS2THREEJS. When I do 3D, it appears in the form of a cylindrical figure, I don't know where the problem is!!

[@HansvanderKwast]

Probably an issue with the projection of the layers?

[@hicham_gis89]

@@HansvanderKwast I have changed projection but same problem

[@johannesgubrandsson8449]

Why is the lowest value in the burned DEM -10,002?

[@HansvanderKwast]

Hmm, indeed interesting that it lowered some places so much. Not sure if it's estimated stats here.

[@shynajanealecer307]

Hello Sir. Whenever I try to download DEM this is the message I got Traceback (most recent call last): File "C:\Users/Shyna/AppData/Roaming/QGIS/QGIS3\profiles\default/python/plugins\SRTM-Downloader\download.py", line 119, in reply_finished self.reply_list.remove(reply) ValueError: list.remove(x): x not in list

[@HansvanderKwast]

I'm not sure why you get the error. I suggest you try the OpenTopography DEM Downloader plugin instead: kzbin.info/www/bejne/e37agYdtqaZ1eck

[@CarbonTaxLOL]

How do I find the area in m^2 of the polygon (catchment).

[@HansvanderKwast]

You can calculate areas of polygons with the $area function in the field calculator. See kzbin.info/www/bejne/i5vQZXaul5hphqs

[@CarbonTaxLOL]

@@HansvanderKwast Thanks! I just used $area in one of the layer attribute tables :)

[@davidedimauro4804]

I receive an error after I run the Watershed tool: thread 'main' panicked at 'index out of bounds: the len is 129 but the index is 1065', whitebox-tools-app\src\tools\hydro_analysis\watershed.rs:340:58 note: run with `RUST_BACKTRACE=1` environment variable to display a backtrace Process returned error code 101 Any ideas?

[@HansvanderKwast]

I haven't seen that error before. Maybe contact the Whitebox developers.

[@davidedimauro4804]

@@HansvanderKwast good idea

[@rafaelaschramm]

Hi @davidedimauro4804 I am getting the same error! Did you remember what you did to fix it?

[@shynajanealecer307]

hi@@rafaelaschramm. I am getting the same error! May I ask how did you fix it?

[@miraclebuoy]

Hi Dr Hans. I am constantly receiving the following messages when i try to FillBurn rivers.shp into the DEM_subset.tif. Please help. [Process "whitebox_tools" failed to start. Either "whitebox_tools" is missing, or you may have insufficient permissions to run the program.]

[@HansvanderKwast]

Make sure that you have installed Whitebox Tools. See www.whiteboxgeo.com/manual/wbt_book/qgis_plugin.html

[@miraclebuoy]

@@HansvanderKwast Yes. I got it now. Thank you sir.

[@salilajaneopeniano8495]

Hello, I am new to qgis and I encountered this error. The DEM_Burn wouldn’t save, this message just keeps appearing Loading resulting layers The following layers were not correctly generated. • C:/Users/CTPCMC8/Desktop/Thesis Final map.1/DEM_Burn.tif You can check the 'Log Messages Panel' in QGIS main window to find more information about the execution of the algorithm.

[@HansvanderKwast]

First try to use a folder name without . (dot) and without space.

[@HansvanderKwast]

Check also this video on good practice: kzbin.info/www/bejne/oZjKqHmQfb12opY

[@salilajaneopeniano8495]

Still the same. I’m using the QGIS 3.24.1 help ☹️

[@salilajaneopeniano8495]

@@HansvanderKwast it says Reading streams data... Reading DEM data... Saving data... error while writing: Os { code: 5, kind: PermissionDenied, message: "Access is denied." } Output file written Elapsed Time (excluding I/O): 0.30s Process completed successfully. Execution completed in 1.23 seconds Results: {'output': } Loading resulting layers The following layers were not correctly generated. • C:/Users/CTPCMC8/Desktop/g/DEM_Burn.tif You can check the 'Log Messages Panel' in QGIS main window to find more information about the execution of the algorithm.

[@HansvanderKwast]

Seems problem with writing the file. Try to not use Desktop but save to a specific local folder with short folder names without spaces and strange characters. If that's not the solution, try alternative methods for burning that I mention in other videos.