Seasonal goodies from the TUFLOW team

Whilst there isn't a new TUFLOW release in time for Christmas, we've been working on a new version with lots of goodies including SWMM integration which is available in the latest 2023-03-AD beta, that doesn't mean users are left empty handed in this festive season. TUFLOW is mostly known as a fast, robust and accurate 1D and 2D simulation engine, but with it's GIS format approach, any GIS software can be utilised as it's user interface.  This is of particular interest with the availability of QGIS, and with the development of the TUFLOW QGIS Plugin, TUFLOW now has the tools of a conventional user interface with a number of tools that have been provided for hydraulic modellers, whether using TUFLOW or not, which are freely available to use and continually developed and released.  The most obvious tool is the TUFLOW viewer, which enables the user to visualise and process TUFLOW results, whether 1D, 2D or 3D as well as other software, for instance 2D results from XP-SWMM, or even 1D results.

Within the TUFLOW QGIS plugin are also tools which allow the user to generate TUFLOW project folders and files, an arch bridge editor, a 1D integrity tool to check for common errors in 1D data, various hydrology tools and various symbology tools, including a 1D stability checking style. 

TUFLOW also has a series of free utilities, which can be used to pre- and post-process input/output data used in hydraulic modelling.  These utilities are standalone executables which can be utilised from batch files.  However, it is possible to use the utilities directly from the TUFLOW QGIS plugin (see here), simplifying the use of these tools whilst also allowing the generation of batch files for more advanced use.

For the coastal modellers out there, there is a SWAN GIS Model Builder which provides a set of tools to build SWAN spectral wave models, either as standalone spectral wave models, or as dynamically linked with TUFLOW FV simulations.

However, just in time for the holiday period, there's a number of goodies in a series of newer tools which have been made available recently which are worth highlighting.  The first is a new favourite, the TUFLOW Copy Command tool.  This allows the user to select a TUFLOW layer and to copy the appropriate command and file reference directly into the TUFLOW control file.  No longer is it required to go back to the manual to find the correct command syntax for a particular type of TUFLOW file.  It even works when selecting multiple layers.

The second tool, is part of the TUFLOW toolbox which gets added to the QGIS processing toolbox as part of the TUFLOW QGIS Plugin.  Amongst a host of processing tools are two particularly useful ones.  The first is a toolbox which converts a TUFLOW model GIS format.  Whether it's converting an old MapInfo MIF model to a Shapefile model, or utilising the more modern GeoPackage and GeoTiff formats, the tool allows the users to point to a TCF file, and rapidly convert all the GIS files, vector and raster files, to a specified format.  Not only are the GIS files converted, but all the TUFLOW control files are updated to reflect the change in GIS format.  Using the tool to convert the existing GIS file formats to the latest formats, can significantly save disk space, with testing revealing that model sizes can be reduced by up to 90%.  Not only will your IT administrators become your new best friend if you reduce your disk storage but in a world where data storage carbon emissions are now greater than aviation emissions, you'll be doing your bit for the planet too.

The second useful processing tool is the package model tool.  This uses the existing package model functonality within the TUFLOW executable, but rather than using a batch file, this uses a QGIS Processing tool interface to select a model TCF, select the relevant scenarios and events and get TUFLOW to package up a model.  A neat addition to the processing tool, is the option to also zip the output for easy transfer to a colleague, client or to the TUFLOW team as part of a support query. 

So although there isn't a TUFLOW release for Christmas, there is a lot of recent tools for the TUFLOW modelling community to enjoy.  Make sure you update your TUFLOW QGIS Plugin to take advantage and update regularly.  We have plans to add more tools to both the TUFLOW QGIS Plugin and Processing toolbox over the year.  What tools would you like to see in the future?