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Wolf Creek Volumetric Analysis 1

mar 11

The main focus of this lab was two-fold — learning how to conduct volumetric analysis in ArcGIS Pro and, just as importantly, understanding how to document that process clearly through a process map before ever touching the final deliverable.

Figure 1 is the process map itself (made using lucidchart), which walks through each step of the workflow: from pulling in the data and defining the area of interest, all the way through extracting and resampling the raster, establishing a reference plane, and running the surface volume calculation. It sounds like a lot of steps laid out that way, but having it visualized made the whole thing feel a lot more manageable.

Figure 2 is the end result, the volumetric analysis of Wolf Creek which shows the elevation differences across the aggregate pile using a heat map style visualization. The warm-to-cool color gradient makes it easily readable, with the hottest areas representing the highest points of the pile and the cooler tones indicating lower elevations.

The process map was the more challenging part of the two. It required thinking through the entire workflow before starting, which isn't always the natural instinct when you just want to dive in and get to the output. But that kind of upfront planning is exactly what makes a project repeatable and communicable to someone else whether that's a client, a colleague, or a future version of yourself coming back to the project months later.

Overall, a really practical lab that tied together both the technical and the documentation side of geospatial work.

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