The WRDB GIS Viewer can operate in several modes:
Display Output: selected data are displayed in a thematic map where the size of the symbol is related to the magnitude of the value being displayed
Display Stations: the locations of all stations in the Stations Support table are displayed in a thematic map where the color of the symbol is assigned based on the station type; this type of mapping can also be used to select Stations when doing queries
Animation: output from a water resources model like WASP or LSPC can be visualized by having the color of mapped polygons (e.g., finite element cells or subwatersheds) being related to the magnitude of the value being displayed
Stand-alone GIS application available on the start menu
Two different open-source libraries were used to provide the means to display GIS maps. WRDB 5.0 utilizes the MapWindow 4.x library (www.mapwindow.org) which requires that a separate installation (with Administrator rights) be performed. WRDB 5.1 and higher utilizes the DotSpatial library (dotspatial.codeplex.com) for which all GIS components are included in the WRDB installation package (which was designed to be used without Administrator rights). The features of the two versions of WRDB GIS Viewers are nearly the same; differences will be highlighted where appropriate.
See also: BASINS WRDB Plugin