Environmental scientists such as hydrologists or hydrograhers locate hydrometric stations on water bodies in order to monitor and understand the movement of water through a terrestrial environment. These constructed hydrometric stations, also known as gauging stations, stream gauge or gage, are used to systemically obtain measurements of water quantity. The data captured at a hydrometric station often consists of the water surface elevation (sometimes referred to as the Stage or Gauge Height) and/or the volumetric flow (known as Discharge), together with other observations perhaps relating to biota or water chemistry. These measurements can be highly automated and for the most part are readily imported into DataSight.

Hydrologists will use measurements of Gauge Height and Discharge to produce what is know as a Rating Table or Curve. The Rating Table is a mathematically modeled relationship between the water surface elevation and the quantity of water moving through that location. These rating tables are typically derived from both hydraulic theory and actual field measurements of discharge taken at various water elevations, and they can be applied to the time series of water level record to determine a time series of discharge. Subsequent field measurements of water height and velocity across the water body (Stream Gaugings) are used to calibrate these Rating Curves. Both types of data, the Rating Table and the Stream Gaugings can be entered into DataSight using Conversion Tables and Gaugings.