Elevation-Derived Hydrography READ Rules: Lake/Pond
A Lake/Pond is a standing body of water with a predominantly natural shoreline surrounded by land.
Attribute/Attribute Value
Each feature requires domain codes to be entered into the attribute table for the feature class (Elevation-Derived Hydrography Feature type description, associated geometry, and use classification table in the Elevation-Derived Hydrography Data Acquisition Specifications 2023 revision A2). See “Field Definitions and Domain Values for Attributes” section for more information on Elevation-Derived Hydrography code definitions.
Delineation
The limit of lake/pond where stream/river enters, or leaves is determined by the conformation of the land.
The limit of lake/pond is the position of the visible edge of the waterbody (date of lidar collection).
Representation Rules
When delineating a feature, it must be created with the appropriate geometry, either point, line, or polygon, which is determined by the size of the feature or the length along different axes of the feature (table 10).
Special conditions: none.
Table 10. Lake/Pond Representation Rules.
| Kind of feature object | Area | Shortest Axis | Longest Axis |
| 0-dimensional (point) | -- | -- | -- |
| 1-dimensional (line) | -- | -- | -- |
| 2-dimensional (polygon) | greater than 0 | -- | -- |
Data Extraction
Capture Conditions
For required lidar base specification breakline acquisition, waterbodies with a surface area of 2 acres (8,000 square meters) or greater at the time of collection shall be flattened.
For Elevation-Derived Hydrography feature collection, if lake/pond is greater than or equal to 0.25 acres (1,000 square meters),
then capture.
Attribute Information
FClass 1—Hydrography feature defined within the collection criteria of the elevation-derived hydrography specifications.
FCode 39000—Lake/pond (a standing body of water with a predominantly natural shoreline surrounded by land).
EClass 11— Polygon created from breakline—Polygon derived from the breaklines used for hydroflattening the elevation surface (3D polygon).
OR
FClass 1—Hydrography feature defined within the collection criteria of the elevation-derived hydrography specifications.
FCode 39000— Lake/pond (a standing body of water with a predominantly natural shoreline surrounded by land).
EClass 12—Polygon created from hydroflattened surface—Polygon corresponding to a hydroflattened surface, but breakline is either not available or not horizontally or vertically aligned appropriately with the DEM surface. For use in Alaska or where breaklines do not meet cartographic or horizontal requirements.
OR
FClass 1—Hydrography feature defined within the collection criteria of the elevation-derived hydrography specifications.
FCode 39000— Lake/pond (a standing body of water with a predominantly natural shoreline surrounded by land).
EClass 13— Polygon created without using elevation breakline and the surface of the waterbody is not hydroflattened in the source DEM.
Source Interpretation Guidelines
Do not capture dry lakes as lake/pond. See “Playa” section.
Refer to the feature definition to decide how to categorize a given feature instance. Do not use the proper name of the feature as a guide. Features that are known as “Reservoirs” or labeled on the topographic map as “Reservoirs” will be captured as lake/pond. If it does not appear to be contained by a constructed basin, capture it as lake/pond.
The minimum size for islands within lake/pond is 0.12 acres (or approximately 500 square meters)
For lidar base specification hydroflattening, permanent islands 1 acre (4,000 square meters) or larger shall be delineated within all waterbodies and excluded from hydroflattening.
For examples of islands and intermittently submerged islands that may be apparent on elevation surface, see “Additional Elevation-Derived Hydrography Treatments and Elevation Specific Features” section.
