Two-way compatible with USDA SWAT. SwaNET models export as standard SWAT input files; SWAT projects load directly into SwaNET. Whether you're building from the global base model or bringing in an existing watershed project, your work moves freely between SwaNET and the broader SWAT community.
The MAGNET Advantage
Everything you learn in the 19 tutorials below — DEM loading, stream delineation, outlet selection, watershed partitioning, HRU creation, weather data, USGS gage linkage — happens automatically. The Global Base Model already contains the terrain, land use, soil, climate, and stream gage data. One click orchestrates the entire pipeline.
What's automated: DEM extraction from global database · Stream network creation · Outlet placement at USGS/Canadian gages · Subbasin delineation · Land use and soil overlay · HRU generation with intelligent defaults · Weather data assignment · Input file creation
What remains is what matters: Calibration — comparing model to data to learn what needs refinement. Scenario analysis — testing land use changes, BMPs, and climate projections. Design — the creative decisions that require human expertise. The platform handles the data foundation and setup. You focus on the expertise that creates value.
Why do intelligent defaults work? For a river basin you've never visited, the global database IS your best knowledge. Nobody has better local information before the first simulation runs. The data-model comparison teaches you what to customize — and when you customize, you turn knobs (adjust parameters), not move datasets. The spatial framework is permanent. The refinement is parametric.
Global Base ModelAutomated PipelineUSGS GagesIntelligent DefaultsProgressive Refinement
⚡ Quick Tutorial
Open the workflow tutorial →
10 steps · Kalamazoo worked example · how to read the Sankey · NSE/PBIAS/RSR · refinement paths. ~15 min read.
📖 With Hydrology Background
Open the educational version →
Everything in the quick tutorial + 13 hydrology callouts: watershed delineation, water balance, HRUs, channel routing, stream gauging, calibration. ~30 min read.
Same workflow, same Kalamazoo example. The educational version weaves watershed-hydrology background into each step — for readers new to SWAT or hydrologic modeling.
🌊 Fundamentals — 13 Tutorials
Master SwaNET step by step — from loading models through calibration, visualization, land use scenarios, and pollutant load estimation.
🔧 Interactive Model Creation — 6 Tutorials
Build a SWAT model from scratch — step by step through the full pipeline. Understand what one-click automates.
📚 SWAT Foundation References
SwaNET is built on USDA's SWAT (Soil and Water Assessment Tool). These are the authoritative scientific references — the theoretical foundation, input specifications, and modeling guidance.
🛠️ Realtime Help
Realtime Help is more than a reference library — it's the knowledge layer of the platform. Modeling concepts, governing science, numerical methods, per-element operational help, visualization guidance, and the foundational engine references — organized hierarchically so you can stop at any depth and still have what you need. Especially deep on watershed-scale processes, HRU formation, calibration, sensitivity, and the SWAT input grammar.