Miles et al. (2025) High-Resolution Interoperable Human-Friendly Naming System for Hydrographic Features and Model Elements (HRI-HydroName)

Identification

• Journal: Water
• Year: 2025
• Date: 2025-10-07
• Authors: Brian Miles, Haitham A. Saad, Emad Habib
• DOI: 10.3390/w17192900

Research Groups

• Department of Civil Engineering, Louisiana Watershed Flood Center, University of Louisiana at Lafayette, Lafayette, LA, USA
• Center for Coastal and Ocean Mapping/Joint Hydrographic Center, University of New Hampshire, Durham, NH, USA

Short Summary

This paper introduces HRI-HydroName, a high-resolution, interoperable, and human-friendly naming system for hydrographic features and model elements, which assigns hierarchical codes to enhance model interoperability, clarity, and reproducibility in regional flood modeling, as demonstrated in the Amite River Basin.

Objective

• To provide a standardized, high-resolution, human-friendly naming convention for all hydrographic features and model elements in a watershed, overcoming the ambiguities of freeform names and limitations of existing coding systems, thereby enhancing interoperability in regional flood models.

Study Configuration

• Spatial Scale: Regional scales, specifically HUC8 (Hydrologic Unit Code 8) watershed scale, with a proof-of-concept application to the Amite River Basin in Louisiana. The system is designed for high spatial resolution model development and can be applied to multi-county spatial domains.
• Temporal Scale: Not explicitly defined for the naming system itself, as it focuses on static feature and model element identification.

Methodology and Data

• Models used: Hydrologic Engineering Center (HEC) software, specifically HEC-HMS (Hydrologic Modeling System) and HEC-RAS (River Analysis Software).
• Data sources: National Hydrography Dataset (NHD), NHDPlus V2.1 data, and Geographic Information System (GIS) representations of stream networks.

Main Results

• HRI-HydroName successfully assigns hierarchical, unique, and human-friendly codes to stream segments, control structures, and model components, beginning with a two-letter watershed mnemonic.
• A proof-of-concept application in the Amite River Basin (Louisiana) demonstrated consistent naming for elements within HEC-HMS and HEC-RAS models, facilitating seamless integration.
• The system complements the HUC watershed naming convention and supports high-resolution regional flood model development and interoperability across different geographies and modeling frameworks.
• It addresses software identifier constraints (e.g., 16-character limit in HEC-RAS 6.x) while embedding basin and network context directly into the identifiers.
• The use of Crockford base-32 encoding for two-digit tributary level identifiers provides up to 1023 unique values per level, ensuring compactness and sufficient capacity for complex stream networks within fixed-character limits.

Contributions

• Introduces a novel high-resolution, interoperable, and human-friendly naming system (HRI-HydroName) that provides unique, hierarchical, and human-readable identifiers for hydrographic features and model elements.
• Overcomes the limitations of traditional stream ordering schemes (Horton, Strahler) by assigning unique IDs and addresses the strict dendritic network assumption of Pfafstetter codes.
• Significantly enhances model interoperability, integration, clarity, reproducibility, and composability, particularly for regional flood models developed using HEC software.
• Provides a systematic framework that allows for the seamless merging of sub-models into larger integrated basin models without naming conflicts.
• Balances the need for compact identifiers with high capacity through the innovative use of Crockford base-32 encoding.

Funding

• State of Louisiana Office of Community Development
• U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (CDFA 14.228 Grant B-18-DP-22-001)
• National Science Foundation (Grant No. 2418434)

Citation

@article{Miles2025HighResolution,
  author = {Miles, Brian and Saad, Haitham A. and Habib, Emad},
  title = {High-Resolution Interoperable Human-Friendly Naming System for Hydrographic Features and Model Elements (HRI-HydroName)},
  journal = {Water},
  year = {2025},
  doi = {10.3390/w17192900},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.3390/w17192900}
}