信水義河

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Hydrological survey form

Help us record the current condition of Xinyi District's watercourses and your environmental observations.

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Layer guide

What each layer on the map shows and how to use it.

🕰️ Historical Maps

Historical maps from different periods, tracing changes in Xinyi District's hydrology:

  • • 1904 Taiwan Baotu (cadastral survey) - A topographic map from the early Japanese colonial period, showing major watercourses such as the Liu-kong-tsun Canal.
  • • 1921 Topographic Map - A survey from the mid-colonial period, by which time irrigation infrastructure had become more established.
  • • 1939 Liu-kong-tsun Irrigation District Map - A detailed record of the Liu-kong-tsun Canal's irrigation area, showing the layout of its watercourses.
  • • 1944 US Military Topographic Map - A wartime topographic survey recording the hydrological conditions of the time.
  • • 1989 Topographic Map - Topography after modern urbanisation, by which point many watercourses had been culverted or rerouted.

Observations on hydrological change:

Comparing maps from different periods shows how Xinyi District's hydrological system gradually changed from natural waterways into a modern drainage network. Winding watercourses were straightened and many ponds were filled in, reflecting the profound impact of urbanisation on the hydrological environment.

🛰️ Satellite imagery

Live satellite imagery and environmental indices:

• Esri satellite imagery

High-resolution satellite imagery showing the actual landscape.

• Sentinel-2 true colour

The most recent true-colour satellite imagery, close to what the eye would see.

• Sentinel-2 vegetation index (NDVI)

Measures vegetation health and density. Colours correspond to:

Red - Sparse or no vegetation (dry ground / buildings)
Yellow - Moderate vegetation
Green - Dense vegetation (healthy / moist)

• Sentinel-2 moisture index (MOISTURE-INDEX)

Measures moisture content in soil and vegetation. Colours correspond to:

Orange-red - Very dry (water-deficient)
Yellow - Moderate moisture
Cyan - Moist
Dark blue - Very moist (water bodies / high moisture content)

🌳 Open data layers

Taipei City open data:

  • • Street tree shade - Street tree canopy coverage (roadside trees only, not including parks)
  • • Parks and woodland - Area-based green space such as parks, grassland and woodland, filling the gaps in the street tree dataset — including Xiangshan (Elephant Mountain) and the district's parks.
  • • Pavement extent - Walkable pavement areas
  • • Urban planning zones - Xinyi District's urban planning zones

🌡️ Temperature layer

A live temperature distribution map showing the urban heat island effect and temperature variation across Xinyi District.

🚶 Routes and stops

Four guided hydrology routes:

  • • Route 1 - Liu-kong-tsun Canal
  • • Route 2 - The Source of Xinyi
  • • Route 3 - Wufenpu Branch Line
  • • Route 4 - The Three Main Drains
Historical Imagery

信水義河: History and change

Xinyi District has a long hydrological history. From the early Liu-kong-tsun Canal to today's drainage systems, every watercourse bears witness to the city's growth.

The era of the 1904 Taiwan Baotu survey

At that time, the Xinyi area was largely paddy fields and ponds, with watercourses following their natural, winding paths.

The impact of modern urbanisation

As urban development progressed, many watercourses were covered over to become roads or underground drainage culverts.

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Changelog

信水義河 Interactive Map · Version history

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信水義河 Waters of Xinyi · NTU GIBP × Xinyi Community College

中EN
← All projects
NTU GIBP — "Smart City and Digital Democracy" × Taipei Xinyi Community College

信水義河

Weaving Xinyi District's local memory from its watercourses and landscape.

🌡️Take the thermal comfort survey→

Features

How this site helps you explore the community's hydrology

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Guided-walk alumni: revisiting the experience

Have you taken part in a hydrology-themed guided walk with Xinyi Community College? This map lets you revisit that experience across time. You can review the four carefully planned routes and their rich stop content whenever you like, and record what you saw and heard back then — as "voice notes or text" — so that the learning from the walk continues, becoming a lasting digital memory.

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Self-guided exploration: GPS field surveys

Even without joining a guided walk in person, you can follow the map's precise markers for your own "personal hydrology mini-excursion." Turn on GPS positioning on your phone, and as you walk, compare the watercourse remains and old tree shade you pass with what the map shows. After your survey, share your genuine impressions and new discoveries — and become a present-day explorer of the city's urban rivers.

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Across time: comparing multiple map layers

Whether you took part in a guided walk or simply have an interest in local history, you can freely overlay and compare multiple map layers — including the Baotu cadastral maps of the Japanese colonial period (1895–1945), Taisho-era topographic maps, and Liu-kong-tsun Canal district maps. Use the opacity slider to compare, layer by layer, how the landscape changed from Qing-dynasty (1644–1912) ponds, to canals of the colonial period, to today's main drains — and examine how hydrology and urban development have shaped each other.

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Local residents: finding home across a century

If you live in Xinyi District, this is a local history archive built around your own neighbourhood. Use the layer overlay to find the block where you currently live, then compare your street with the century-old Taiwan Baotu survey. You may find that your home once stood on green paddy fields, or beside a babbling tributary of the Liu-kong-tsun Canal.

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"Digital brick-laying": a community co-creation record

Hydrological history does not only live in books — it lives on in people's memories, too. On the map, you can browse feedback, old photographs and oral histories left by other residents and past participants. Through this process of "digital brick-laying," the community is collectively weaving together a warm, ever-growing "community digital hydrological gazetteer."