Devils Lake, North Dakota Flooded Property

The city of Devils Lake, North Dakota is on the shore of a lake that is the lowest area of an enclosed basin. This basin has no outlet such as a river so that the only way that surface water can leave the basin is by evaporation or evapotranspiration. After 4 consecutive wet years with above average rainfall and snowfall the basin is full and due to the low topographic relief of the area, Devils Lake has increased in size by nearly 1/3 in the last 24 months.

The City of Devils Lake had created a database of property polygons in AutoCad. The US Geological Survey with the US Army Corps of Engineers created a database of 3 foot contour lines that was in an AutoCad format. Cates Earth Science Technologies, Inc., obtained the Digital Ortho Quadrangles for the area of the study.

This project required the integration of PC ArcInfo and ArcView as well as the use of the Spatial Analyst Extension.

The objective was to convert property polygons and 3 foot contours AutoCad files into a compatible ESRI format, attribute the polygons with the proper Property Identification Number, link to an ACESS properties database, georectify the various data sets (and put them into a common coordinate system), create a map showing the areas within the city that would be effected by projected lake levels, create a data table that would include the Property Identification Numbers and the approximate maximum and minimum elevation within each property polygon.

Since all of the capability needed for this project was not entirely available within ArcView, portions were done using PC ArcInfo. The nearly simultaneous use of these two software products was in many cases complimentary.