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This course will teach you how to download, evaluate, and prepare GIS data from public online sources and set up a project in ArcGIS Pro.

Obtaining the Tutorial Data

There are three ways of obtaining the tutorial data. The best option for getting the full experience is to follow option 1 and practice downloading the data from the source websites. Not only will you learn, but you will gain exposure to the best GIS data websites for the Houston region. If Before beginning the tutorial, you will copy all of the required tutorial data onto your Desktop. Follow the applicable set of instructions below depending on the particular computer you are using.Accessing tutorial data from Fondren Library using the gistrain profile
If you are completing this tutorial from a public computer in Fondren Library and are logged on using the gistrain profile, follow the instructions below:
1. On the Desktop, double-click the Computer icon  gisdata (\\fon-gis04) (O:)  Short_Courses  Getting_Started_with_ArcGIS_Series > Introduction_to_GIS.
2. To create a personal copy of the tutorial data, drag the IntroTutorialData folder onto the Desktop.
3. Close all windows.
Accessing tutorial data online using a personal computer
If you are completing this tutorial from a personal computer, you will need to download the tutorial data online by following the instructions below:
1. Using a web browser, go to the Introduction to GIS short course webpage at: http://library.rice.edu/gis-intro
2. At the bottom of the webpage, under the Resources section, click the Introduction to GIS – Tutorial Data link to download the tutorial data.
3. Unzip the IntroTutorialData folder.
4. Copy the unzipped IntroTutorialData folder to your Desktop or another location of your choice. Ensure that you note the file path of the location you have selected.
Any time throughout the tutorial that you see reference to the file path C:\Users\gistrain\Desktop\IntroTutorialData, you will need to substitute it with the file path you have just selected.
The following step-by-step instructions and screenshots are based on the Windows 7 operating system with the Windows Classic desktop theme and ArcGIS for Desktop 10.1 SP1 software with an Advanced license. If your personal system configuration varies, you may experience minor differences from the instructions and screenshots.

OPTION 1: Obtaining tutorial data from source websites

If you need to download the tutorial data from their source websites or want to practice finding and obtaining data from online sources, follow these instructions:

Houston METRO

The Houston METRO website provides GIS data for the public transit system in Houston provided by METRO. For this tutorial, you will need the bus stops and bus routes data which is included in the downloadable zip-file containing all of the GIS data available on the site. To obtain this data:1.

  1. Using a web browser, go to the Houston METRO home page at: http://www.ridemetro.org/Pages/index.aspx

...

  1. At the top of the webpage, there should be 6 columns. Click the NEWS Meetings and Media column.

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  1. Scroll down to the bottom of the webpage until you see the Downloads subheading. Click on Downloads.

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  1. Scroll down to the bottom of the webpage until you see 4 links at the bottom of the page. Click on METRO GIS Data Layers. The data file should automatically begin downloading.

COHGIS Public Data

The COHGIS (City of Houston GIS) website provides over 100 datasets with data such as flood hazards, recent crimes, transportation, and government boundaries. For this tutorial, we’ll need the super neighborhoods (available in the Federal data sets) and freeways data (available in the COHGIS Lines dataset). To obtain this data:1.

  1. Using a web browser, go to the COHGIS Public Data Page at: http://gisdata.houstontx.gov/cohgis/

...

  1. Click on the Download icon for the COHGIS Lines section for the Freeways data. The data file should automatically being downloading to the Downloads folder.

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  1. For the Superneighborhoods data, go back to the COHGIS Public Data Page. Click on the Download icon for the Federal datasets.

The HCAD (Harris County Appraisal District) Public Data is another great online source that provides similar data such as highways, utilities, and water districts and is available at: http://pdata.hcad.org/GIS/index.html

OPTION 2: Accessing tutorial data from Fondren Library using the gistrain profile

If you are completing this tutorial from a public computer in Fondren Library and are logged on using the gistrain profile, follow the instructions below:

  1. On the Desktop, double-click the Computer icon  gisdata (\\fon-gis04) (O:)  Short_Courses  Getting_Started_with_ArcGIS_Series > Introduction_to_GIS.
  2. To create a personal copy of the tutorial data, drag the IntroTutorialData folder onto the Desktop.
  3. Close all windows.

OPTION 3: Accessing tutorial data online using a personal computer

If you are completing this tutorial from a personal computer, you will need to download the tutorial data online by following the instructions below:

  1. Using a web browser, go to the Introduction to GIS short course webpage at: http://library.rice.edu/gis-intro
  2. At the bottom of the webpage, under the Resources section, click the Introduction to GIS – Tutorial Data link to download the tutorial data.
  3. Unzip the IntroTutorialData folder.
  4. Copy the unzipped IntroTutorialData folder to your Desktop or another location of your choice. Ensure that you note the file path of the location you have selected.

Any time throughout the tutorial that you see reference to the file path C:\Users\gistrain\Desktop\IntroTutorialData, you will need to substitute it with the file path you have just selected.
The following step-by-step instructions and screenshots are based on the Windows 7 operating system with the Windows Classic desktop theme and ArcGIS for Desktop 10.1 SP1 software with an Advanced license. If your personal system configuration varies, you may experience minor differences from the instructions and screenshots.

Accessing the downloaded data

Once you have downloaded the Bus Stops and Bus Routes data from Houston METRO and the SuperNeighborhoods and Freeways data from COHGIS, you should be able to find the data files in your Downloads folder. You will see that all the files are zipped, meaning they contain compressed files of data within them (you can tell a file is zipped when the file type column reads “Compressed (zipped) Folder”). You will need to unzip the folders to be able to see the data inside them. To do that:
1. In your Downloads folder, click in the gray space next to your file path at the top. This should highlight your file path. Right click and copy your file path.
2. Click on one of the data files in your Downloads folder. Once it’s highlighted, right click on the file and select Extract All…
3. For the file destination, right click and paste the file path that you copied in the first step.
4. Click on the Extract button.
5. Repeat this process for however many zipped data files you have.
Your data should now be in a file folder in its decompressed format and ready to be brought into ArcMap.