How to start a new 1D river network

As soon as you start up the Flood Modeller interface, you can define a new 1D river network, even before you have specified your project. You can work in the default project that is set up on start-up (although not necessary, it is recommended you save your model to a specific project for improved data management). To start your new 1D river network, you can use either of the following methods:

1. Click on the 'New' button in the 'River Networks' section of the main toolbar 'Home' tab.

   

2. Go to the '1D River Build' tab of the main toolbar and click on the node type icon you wish to start your network. Useful tip: Reaches generally start with some type of boundary input node, for example flow/time boundary, at the upstream end.

   

3. With both methods, you will be prompted to provide a name, description and location for your new 1D network before you can start adding nodes to the map view. The name and description for your network is defined by clicking in the appropriate box and typing. The filename is specified by clicking the browse button and using the Explorer window displayed. 1D network files are saved with a '.dat' file extension. A name and filename must be provided but, adding a description is optional. The name entry will be the displayed name for the network in the project view.

   

4. Click the 'OK' button once you have specified your network name. The new network will be added to the networks section of your project view and the '1D River Build' tab will be selected automatically in the main toolbar. If you started by selecting your first node type, the mouse pointer will change to a pencil icon, signifying you can start adding nodes to your map view. Note that within your project structure the new network will be added into the top-level fixed folder called Networks. If you want the new network to be stored in any sub-folder you have defined in your project then you will need to drag and drop it into the required location after it has been created.

5. Click on the map where you want to add a node. You will be prompted to provide a node name and then the node will be created on the map at your click location. Repeat this process to add further nodes of the same type or select a different node type in the toolbar to add those to your network.

6. Use the 'Save' (or 'Save As') functions in the 'River Networks' section of the 'Home' tab to save changes made to your 1D network regularly (note, the 'Save As' function will actually save your changes as a new network).

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