triwaco users enjoy a working environment which allows them to define hydrological situations in physical terms while they can rely on a proper translation of this conceptual model into mathmatics of a numerical engine like FLAIRS or MODFLOW for the saturated zone.

The parameters of the conceptual model are defined as GIS maps, which are independent from a calculation grid or numerical engine. These maps are stored with the model. This unique feature makes it possible to fully reproduce a model and, subsequently, it is easy to make another model, based on the same conceptuel data set but with a different grid or even another numerical engine.

A typical map consists of objects, each defined by coordinates and the following characteristics: an ID, a value and a name. The following types of objects are accepted and recognised by the triwaco modules: points, lines, polygons and so called 'linked points'.

Import and export in triwaco

Input parameters are processed by the graphical input module DIGEDIT. DIGEDIT is used for importing GIS (ArcView/GIS) maps ,further processing and saving in the standard triwaco file format. DIGEDIT is also used to export input parameters to the standard shape format of ArcView/GIS).

For grid files created with ArcView/GIS and Spatial Analyst no conversion is necessary. triwaco comes with an allocator (geoprocessor) which automatically assigns the values to the calculation grid.

The different triwaco output parameters and results are usually visualised with TRIPLOT. A presentation made in TRIPLOT sometimes is not sufficient or requires further post-processing, although TRIPLOT is capable of complex processing tasks. Beacuse of this TRIPLOT can export maps or part of maps (results) to a GIS. The export function of TRIPLOT supports Arc/Info ungenereted format and ArcView/GIS shape format, but also the DXF-format used in CAD applications. The user can choose which information fields are to be exported to the specified GIS theme.

Import and export in ArcView/GIS

An ArcView/GIS extension is available to directly import triwaco parameter maps or simulation results. Another extension can be added to ArcView/GIS for direct exporting of GIS maps to the standard triwaco input parameter maps.