Drainage Feature Collection

This data is part of the GPS Drainage Project being conducted by the Pierce County Public Works and Utilities Road Maintenance, Water Programs, and GIS departments. The project uses GPS technology to collect the county's drainage infrastructure data. The Drainage Project will identify and maintain Pierce County's drainage features, support the Endangered Species Act, and analyze spatial drainage data.

Starting in 1999, field crews collected drainage feature data using GPS units. Collected feature data was processed using Trimble Pathfinder Office 2.11 software. Differentially corrected files were then converted into ArcInfo coverage format. ArcEdit™ was used for quality control, snapping line features to point features, ensuring proper flow direction of the drainage system (flip arcs), examining feature attributes, and checking positional accuracy. Coverages from the four road crews were converted into ArcView shapefiles for use in CountyView and appended into a single master coverage.