Here are a variety of maps or diagrams of rivers I have found useful in thinking about visual presentation.
This map is of Fox River, Illinois. It has symbols which show places to eat, boating areas, and factories. It marks where the water becomes shallow, where islands are, and even includes photos along some stretches (found: http://mappery.com/Ottawa-IL-Illinois-River-Fox-River-Map)
The next map is a 'pocket guide to tideway navigation' for rowers along the Thames river (www.thames-rrc.org). It outlines bridges, crossings, and lines to follow when preceding the ebb, against the stream and with the flood (I never knew rowing was so complicated!). It marks out change of the river width according to low and high tides, too. It is an example of specialized information, a picture or idea of the river according to rowers.
soil type
waterflow
salinity
stream edge/overflow area
things found (insects, fish, plants, pollution or rubbish?)
sediment
width of channel
length of stream
temporary streams ("ephemeral stream")
canopy type
temperature
depth
how might two or more of these be documented in relation to each other to talk about that water's story? Could I map, for example, several stream's depths in different rainfall conditions, and what I find there?
Another type of story? Progression/ travel:
Waitemata Harbour -> Orakei Basin -> Omaru Creek -> Taranaki River-> Panmure Basin -> Pakuranga Creek.
A website I found interesting talks about different spatial scales of rivers and streams, the flows between source and mouth (http://www.nature.com/scitable/knowledge/library/rivers-and-streams-life-in-flowing-water-16819919). Biological community changes along the length of rivers, due to changes in oxygen level which relates to the speed of water flow, temperature, depth, debris and canopy-type. These factors are all very interrelated, and I'm beginning to think about how to document these (information-collection and visual communication). I'm still not sure what kind of data I will be collecting, but I am sure I want to collect it at certain intervals along a body of water. This way I can communicate the story of a water body and its changes as it travels.
