Drainage explorer

Understand your selected terrain

Checking US data services…

Find a location

Search sends the address you enter to the US Census geocoder. A street-range match is an approximate location. Draw and confirm your own study boundary.

Define your study area

Use a box at map center

Focus the map and use arrow keys to position it. This button creates an approximately 328 ft square at the center; you can then adjust the boundary.

Choose a polygon or rectangle. No landowner or cadastral data is collected.

Map rendering

Analysis layer

Flow paths Depressions

Display units

Run terrain analysis

Terrain context buffer

The buffer includes surrounding terrain. Maximum 4 million cells. Native 1 m coverage is required; unsupported areas are rejected explicitly.

Include USDA soil information (optional)

Sends the boundary of your drawn study area to the USDA Soil Data Access service. Regional survey information, not a site investigation.

Elevation analysis looks up USGS coverage around your study area. Starting a new area replaces this tab’s saved preview.

Native 1 m USGS elevation · About 3.28 ft grid spacing
CONUS pilot · Coverage and source dates vary