Streambank Erosion Logger
Bank condition survey — erosion severity, bank height/angle, vegetation, infrastructure risk and BEHI-style notes; GPS-pinned offline.
New bank reach inspection
Survey reaches annually and after flood events; photo-monitor priority banks each season from fixed points.
Field guide: Streambank Erosion Logger
Streambanks fail by sequence, and the survey's job is reading where a bank sits in it: raw face → undercut → tension cracks along the top → slump blocks in the channel. Tension cracks are the finding worth flagging hardest — they mark the failure surface of the next collapse, and anything between crack and edge (fences, trees, the road shoulder) is already spoken for. This logger captures the BEHI-style ingredients (height, angle, vegetation, undercutting) without requiring the full protocol on every reach.
The infrastructure-at-risk panel converts erosion into budget language: a meander eating a farm field is a watershed story, the same meander 4 m from a bridge approach is an emergency capital project. The cause field matters because treatments differ completely — urban-flashiness erosion outflanks any bank armoring that ignores the hydrology, and bed incision (downcutting) makes bank-only fixes fail from below.
Field tips
- Survey at low water — undercuts, toe condition and slump blocks are all wet-season secrets a dry-season walk reveals.
- Photograph from fixed, GPS-logged points across the channel; bank retreat measured between photo pairs beats any adjective.
- Walk the top of bank as well as the channel: tension cracks announce themselves up there first, often behind grass.
Records are stored only in this browser (localStorage) — export regularly. This tool aids field documentation; it does not replace your agency's official inspection procedures or engineering judgment.
Streambank Erosion Logger — Bank condition survey — erosion severity, bank height/angle, vegetation, infrastructure risk and BEHI-style notes; GPS-pinned offline. Free, offline-first and GPS-aware: open it on any phone, log in seconds, and hand your GIS team clean GeoJSON.
About Streambank Erosion Logger
Streambanks fail by sequence, and the survey's job is reading where a bank sits in it: raw face → undercut → tension cracks along the top → slump blocks in the channel. Tension cracks are the finding worth flagging hardest — they mark the failure surface of the next collapse, and anything between crack and edge (fences, trees, the road shoulder) is already spoken for. This logger captures the BEHI-style ingredients (height, angle, vegetation, undercutting) without requiring the full protocol on every reach.
How to use Streambank Erosion Logger
- 1Enter the stream & reach and tap 📍 GPS to pin the bank reach's exact location (or type coordinates).
- 2Work through the bank reach checklist — every field matches what a real inspection program records.
- 3Pick a condition on the Stable / Moderate erosion / Severe — prioritize / Infrastructure at risk ⚠ scale; actionable findings are tallied automatically.
- 4Add notes and log the inspection — it saves instantly to your device, even with zero signal.
- 5Export the round as CSV for your asset system, GeoJSON for the GIS, or print a clean report.
Why use Streambank Erosion Logger?
- ✓100% free, no sign-up — built for crews, not per-seat licences
- ✓Offline-first: records save to your device instantly and survive dead zones
- ✓One-tap GPS tagging with accuracy capture on every record
- ✓Exports CSV for asset systems, GeoJSON for GIS, and print-ready reports
- ✓Checklist and guidance aligned with Rosgen BEHI methodology
Frequently asked questions
What is BEHI and do I need the full protocol?+
Bank Erosion Hazard Index (Rosgen): a scored assessment using bank height ratio, root depth/density, bank angle, surface protection and bank material. The full protocol suits design projects; for screening surveys, capturing its core observations — height, angle, vegetation, undercutting — lets a specialist compute or prioritize later. That's the layer this log records.
Why do tension cracks matter more than raw banks?+
A raw face is past erosion; a tension crack is future failure with a date attached — it traces the slip surface of a mass-wasting block that will detach in some coming storm or thaw. Anything atop that block is recoverable now and unrecoverable after. Cracks near infrastructure justify immediate setback measures and engineering.
Does armoring (riprap) fix eroding banks?+
It can hold a bank while exporting the energy downstream — the next unarmored bank often pays. Modern practice prefers root-strength (riparian buffers, bioengineering), toe protection where needed, and fixing drivers (stormwater detention, livestock exclusion, grade control for incision). The cause field exists precisely to keep treatment honest.
How fast do banks actually retreat?+
From centimeters per decade on vegetated stable systems to meters per single flood on flashy urban streams or outside meander bends. That range is why fixed-point photo monitoring matters: your own measured rate, even from two visits, outperforms regional averages for deciding when the road shoulder runs out of margin.
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