Data Sources & Geographic Methodology
Technical standards, geodetic reference datums, and GIS datasets utilized across RiverAtlas.
1. Primary Cartographic Datasets
RiverAtlas vector paths and catchment boundaries are compiled from verified public domain, open government, and scientific research datasets:
- HydroSHEDS & HydroRIVERS: Developed by McGill University and the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), providing high-resolution global river reaches derived from Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) elevation models.
- Natural Earth: Public domain cartographic datasets at 1:10m scale for continental overviews, sovereign international boundaries, and coastline deltas.
- USGS National Hydrography Dataset (NHD / NHDPlus): Comprehensive geospatial framework for drainage networks of North America.
- European Environment Agency (EEA): Waterbase hydrographic datasets governing transboundary European catchments.
2. Coordinate Reference Systems (CRS)
All geographic coordinates for river sources, confluences, dams, and mouths are standardized to the WGS 84 (EPSG:4326) coordinate reference system. Vector geometries are encoded in clean GeoJSON format for browser rendering via Leaflet.js.
3. Volumetric Discharge Calculations
Volumetric discharge is expressed in cubic meters per second (m³/s) with imperial equivalents (cubic feet per second). Measurements represent mean annual discharge at the river mouth or at the furthest downstream hydrological gauging station prior to tidal influence.
4. Licensing & Attribution
RiverAtlas respects intellectual property and open scientific data licensing. Every interactive map detail screen provides transparent attribution, dataset retrieval dates, and data source versioning.