Just Say No to GIS-A-GI-GO

An old adage in the computer world - "garbage in, garbage out" - also applies to watershed modeling; to translate, model outputs are only as good as data inputs. Watershed modeling projects need accurately characterized inputs, but finding such data can be challenging. In this article, we will show you where to look for necessary data for your watershed modeling applications and explain why free data sometimes are worthless. Understanding your model's needs and the limitations of available data can help you find the inputs that will provide meaningful outputs.