The present work aims to present and to evaluate a method for topologically structuring large databases, implemented as a set of AML routines for ArcINFO workstation named Hidrodata. The results proved that the processing time for delineating drainage areas and extracting their morphometric characteristics was kept low and constant. The use of a topologically structured database resulted in a lower demand of processing capacity. It was concluded that the presented approach can be applied for any watershed, independently of its size, even with the use of less-sophisticated computers.
Amazon basin; topologically structured datasets; hydrographically-conditioned digital elevation models
