Topology Aligned Least Cost Routing Model for Canals

Topography plays an important role in the development of infrastructural facilities such as irrigation canals and road networks. To determine the least-cost flow path between two geo-locations, given the grid-based Digital Elevation Models (DEMs) and a unit cost of construction per length, cost of lift to raise water up to a height of 10 meters, set of co-ordinates the resultant flow needs to pass-through. This work develops a generic model namely (i) Highly Scalable Gravitational Flow Model (HSGFM) and (ii) Lift Based Flow Model (LBFM) where anti-gravitational force or pumping is used to lift the water along the surface of the terrain. The algorithm correctness values for the 1KM resolution stand at 82.10%, whereas for 90 meters resolution stands at 82.08%. The average value stands out to be 82.09% proving that both the HSGFM and LBFM algorithms are very effective in practice.