Houston Historic Overlay and Geographic Information System

The Houston Historic Overlay and Geographic Information System (HHO/GIS) project was undertaken at the request of the Environmental Affairs Division of the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) to develop advanced research and planning tools for streamlining archaeological and historical assessments of road construction projects within a six-county area surrounding Houston, Texas.

PBS&J’s experienced team of historians, archaeologists, cartographers, and GIS development specialists provided the necessary combination of skills needed to meet the client’s critical scheduling and budgetary needs. Phase 1 evaluated the research potential of key archival/historical map repositories within Texas to develop a prioritized inventory of more than 1,300 maps as sources for identifying historic building and archaeological site localities. Phase 2 focused on acquisition and georeferencing of selected source maps, and the creation of a GIS populated with more than 12,000 cultural resource localities.

The GIS product was customized for TxDOT using Bentley MicroStation, ESRI ArcGIS, and Microsoft Access database software. The development of a specialized geographic registration technique was unique in providing higher levels of geographic translational accuracy than previously available using conventional map overlay and rubber-sheeting techniques. The successful development of the HHO/GIS product resulted in PBS&J expanding the geographic and temporal coverage of the six-county project area to include georeferenced imagery of almost 300 historic period maps.