Data File Formats and File Naming Conventions

The TauDEM Toolbox uses 3 general types of input and output data files for it's various tools:

Grid Files
OGR files
Text Files

Also TauDEM, by default, uses a file naming convention that has been developed to assist in organizing the numerous files that are often involved in terrain analysis.

Grid Files

TauDEM5.3 reads any grid data that supported by Geospatila Data Abstraction Library (GDAL) and complete lists of raster format supported by GDAL can be found here http://www.gdal.org/formats_list.html. However, TauDEM5.3 writes output result only in TIFF format.

For a table listing the TauDEM grid defintions and naming conventions table click here.

OGR files

TauDEM5.3.2 supports OGR format files which are used for the following purposes:

Outlets file - A point feature giving the location of outlets or internal monitoring points. The attribute "id" may be used to specify an identifier (e.g. stream flow recorder number) associated with these monitoring points. The value -1 is reserved to indicate "no identifier". There is no default filename for outlet files.
Stream Reach file - A polyline file giving the links in a stream network. This is created by the "Stream Shapefile and Watershed Grid" function and has attributes tabulated below. The default filename for this shapefile is "*net.shp", where * is the base DEM name.
Watershed Shapefile - A polygon shapefile demarcating each reach watershed. This is created by the function "Watershed grid to shapefile". The only attribute of this shapefile is polygon_id, identifier. This corresponds with the WSNO watershed number in the *net.shp file. The default filename for this shapefile is "*w.shp", where * is the base DEM name.

Stream Reach Shapefile Attributes

Attributes	Description
LINKNO	Link Number. A unique number associated with each link (segmentof channel between junctions). This is an arbitrary number that varies depending on the number of processes used.
DSLINKNO	Link Number of the downstream link. -1 indicates that this does not exist.
USLINKNO1	Link Number of first upstream link . -1 indicates no links upstream.
USLINKNO2	Link Number of second upstream link. -1 indicates no links upstream.
DSNODEID	Node identifier for node at downstream end of stream reach. This identifier corresponds to the "id" attribute from the Outlets shapefile used to designate nodes.
Order	Strahler Stream Order
Length	Length of the link
Magnitude	Shreve Magnitude of the link. This is the total number of sources upstream
DS_Cont_Ar	Drainage area at the downstream end of the link. Generally this is one grid cell upstream of the downstream end because the drainage area at the downstream end grid cell includes the area of the stream being joined.
Drop	Drop in elevation from the start to the end of the link
Slope	Average slope of the link (computed as drop/length)
Straight_L	Straight line distance from the start to the end of the link
US_Cont_Ar	Drainage area at the upstream end of the link
WSNO	Watershed number. Cross reference to the w.shp and w grid files giving the identification number of the watershed draining directly to the link.
DOUT_END	Distance to the outlet from the downstream end of the link
DOUT_START	Distance to the outlet from the upstream end of the link
DOUT_MID	Distance to the outlet from the midpoint of the link

Text Files

Text files are used to store the Stream Network Tree and Stream Network Coordinate files, giving network topological connectivity and coordinates and attributes associated with points on the stream network.

Stream Network Tree File

This file defines the topological linkage of the stream network. The default filename is "*tree.dat", where * is the base DEM name. The Stream Network Tree File is created by the function "Stream order grid and network files". Columns are as follows:

#	Description
1	Link Number. A unique number associated with each link (segmentof channel between junctions). This is an arbitrary number that varies depending on the number of processes used.
2	Start Point Number in Network Coordinates (*coord.dat) file (Indexed from 0)
3	End Point Number in Network Coordinates (*coord.dat) file (Indexed from 0)
4	Next (Downstream) Link Number. Points to Link Number. -1 indicates no links downstream, i.e. a terminal link.
5	First Previous (Upstream) Link Number. Points to Link Number. -1 indicates no upstream links.
6	Second Previous (Upstream) Link Numbers. Points to Link Number. -1 indicates no upstream links. Where only one previous link is -1, it indicates an internal monitoring point where the reach is logically split, but the network does not bifurcate.
7	Strahler Order of Link
8	Monitoring point identifier at downstream end of link. -1 indicates downstream end is not a monitoring point.
9	Network magnitude of the link, calculated as the number of upstream sources (following Shreve).

Stream Network Coordinate File

This file defines the coordinates and attributes of points along the stream network. The default filename is "*coord.dat", where * is the base DEM name. The Stream Network Coordinate File is created by the function "Stream Reach and Watershed". Columns are as follows:

#	Description
1	X coordinate
2	Y coordinate
3	Distance along channels to the downstream end of a terminal link
4	Elevation
5	Contributing area