Note: These pages are currently being edited - 5/8/2019
If you are doing an architecture project that focuses on Houston, most of the data you will need is outlined below, along with instructions for managing data and exporting to CAD, Illustrator, and Rhino. If your project is not about Houston, please talk to a staff member to get your data. For international data, Metro Extracts is a good place to find data.
Getting Started
For your project, you will be using ArcGIS Pro, the latest program from the ArcGIS Suite. If you do not have much experience in our lab, use this guide for Getting Started with ArcGIS in the GDC Lab (All Options). NOTE: this section is not currently in GIS/Data Center Guides! Also, the Getting Started is not adjusted for ArcGIS Pro.
- In ArcGIS Pro, in the Catalog Pane, right click on the Folders and choose "Add folder connection." Navigate to O:\Cataloged\Local\HarrisHouston\CityOfHouston then choose COHGIS and add it as a new folder connection.
- In the catalog pane, expand the COHGIS folder and expand the Route database. Drag the file Freeways to your map window.
Then, you should add the Streets Basemap file so you can identify the area you wish to focus on.
- In ArcGIS Pro, go to the Map pane and click Basemap.
- Select Streets.
Now you can use the basemap to find your area of interest.
Obtaining Data
Roads
STARMap is a highly detailed roads dataset produced by HGAC and used for routing by emergency vehicles.
- In ArcGIS Pro, in the Catalog Pane, right click on the Folders and choose "add folder connection" then navigate to O:\Cataloged\Local\GreaterHoustonRegion\HoustonGalvestonAreaCouncil. Choose STARMap and add it as a new folder connection. In the Catalog Pane, expand the STARMap folder and expand the Archive folder and expand the most recent STARMap database.
- Drag the file HGAC_Roads to your ArcGIS Pro window.
Now you can use the roads to find specific locations. - Select the road on the map to look at the name of a specific road, or right click on the roads layer in the content pane and select Label.
If you intend to have roads in your final product, you should clip the file. This cuts it to the area of your focus and helps ArcMap work more quickly.