HSPF ToolKit™

HSPFToolKit™ is really the third generation of a set of tools created by Engenious Systems, Inc. The first two generations were never released because they did not feel right upon final review. They did not bring anything to the table that was not already available elsewhere!

In order to understand this new generation of the toolkit, you must understand the previous generations and what we felt they lacked. The previous generations were front ends to HSPF in the same vein as Basins, from the USGS, WWHM funded by the Washington State DOE, and WHAM (better known as MGSFlood™), funded by the Washington State DOT.  Of the three mentioned above, Basins is the most comprehensive front end, supporting all the HSPF features.  WWHM and WHAM are what we would consider black box type front ends that hides HSPF from the users.  Both offer a narrow subset of all the HSPF capabilities.  Both are highly tailored for localized communities.  Both are designed to utilize a narrow subset of HSPF's abilities. 

Our first two generations of the toolkit were similar to the latter two, and at the end of the day, we always reverted back to the "raw" HSPF batch code to understand the data and develop a sense of what the model was doing.  We found that relying on the use of the front ends, while expedient (because they do work), didn't seem to give the engineer the sense of empowerment that comes with understanding the data and what the model is doing.  At the end of the day, we found that HSPF is such a powerful program, that the only way to "develop" that sense of "knowing" your data was to get down and dirty and use the hspf batch language. 

HSPFToolKit™ is a reflection of that belief.  It is our third attempt to come up with an interface to HSPF that is not limited in the way the above front ends are limiting.  Yet at the same time, enables users to fully utilize all the features of the HSPF batch language (hereafter called UCI format).   In order to use the toolkit, you must be familiar with the format and syntax of the batch commands used in the UCI file OR have a desire to broaden their professional experience by learning to run HSPF via the UCI commands.

10/2008 - HSPFToolkit™ now includes a schematic layout view.  This view has the ability to create schematics from existing UCI files.  The schematic is not a grid based format where nodes are placed in a standard xy type grid.  Instead, the schematic is a free form layout that enables users to move and place nodes at any location.  The schematic directly supports the SCHEMATIC, RCHRES and EXT TARGETS blocks of the UCI file format.

The toolkit is a targeted at the high level user, who needs to or wants to make use of all the functionality that HSPF offers.  In fact, it is nothing more than a text editor.  One specifically designed for HSPF!  HSPFToolKit is actually two (2) programs, one is an editor to assist in the creation and editing of the UCI file and the other is a set of tools to look at the time series inside the WDM file created by HSPF. 

Select this link for a review of program features.