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Create Your Own NHD State Product

By National Hydrography

Been missing the NHD state downloadable products? We’re working on a fix, but in the meantime, here are instructions for DIY versions of the NHD state products.

TIP: Creating the Geometric Network Manually

National Hydrography Dataset (NHD) state products are usually automatically refreshed bi-monthly (Feb, Apr, Jun, Aug, Oct, Dec) and available at the Hydrography downloadable products website and The National Map. However, the system responsible for producing these products is currently experiencing software limitations when performing the extraction process for the NHD state products and these products have not updated recently. USGS has redesigned the extraction process and is currently testing output products.

In the meantime, users can follow the instructions below.

 

Create NHD state products using ArcMap tools

File explorer view of unzipped files move into a single folder
Sources/Usage: Public Domain. View Media Details
NHD State Product Step 3
  1. Request a list of HU8s contained in the state of interest by emailing National Hydrography Support. The USGS will process this request and provide a list of HU8’s back to the user.
  2. Download all HU8 geodatabase (GDB) data for the state of interest on the NHD Downloadable Products Page.
    ► Remember, hydrologic boundaries do not typically follow state boundaries. 
  3. Unzip all files and move them into a single folder.

 

  1. Open ArcCatalog.
    NHD State Product Step 5: Remove geometric network
    Sources/Usage: Public Domain. View Media Details
    NHD State Product Step 5 
  2. Remove the geometric network (HYDRO_NET in the Hydrography feature dataset) by right clicking the HYDRO_NET file and selecting delete. Select ‘yes’ to remove all associated files. Do this for each GDB that is to be merged.

 

  1. Utilize batch processing in the Append tool in ArcMap to combine each dataset’s feature classes and tables into one geodatabase. (The USGS recommends appending to the lowest numbered HU). Both Hydrography and WBD feature datasets, as well as all tables, must be appended.

 

NHD State Product Step 6, part 1: Utilize batch processing in the Append tool in ArcMap
Sources/Usage: Public Domain. View Media Details
NHD State Product Step 6, View 1.
NHD State Product Step 6, part 2: Add Datasets to Append tool in ArcMap
Sources/Usage: Public Domain. View Media Details
NHD State Product Step 6, View 2.

 

  1. Run the Delete Identical tool on the NHD feature classes: NHDFlowline, NHDWaterbody, NHDArea, NHDLine, and NHDPoint using the 'Permanent_Identifier' field to find identical records for deletion. Utilize the batch processing feature in the tool to run it on multiple feature classes at a time.

 

NHD State Product Step 7: Run the Delete Identical tool
Sources/Usage: Public Domain. View Media Details
NHD State Product Step 7, View 1.
NHD State Product Step 7 Part 2: Run the Delete Identical tool Tables /Field View
Sources/Usage: Public Domain. View Media Details
NHD State Product Step 7, View 2: 

 

  1. Run the Delete Identical tool on the following NHD tables and fields: 'NHDReachCodeMaintenance' (Permanent_Identifier), 'NHDMetadata' (Meta_ProcessID), 'NHDFlowlineVAA' (Permanent_Identifier) using the batch processing feature.





 

 

NHD State Product Step 8: Run the Delete Identical tool on the following NHD tables and fields
Sources/Usage: Public Domain. View Media Details
NHD State Product Step 8: 

 

►TIP: If needed, the geometric network can be built manually following these directions. If that link is not available, please send a request to National Hydrography Support.

 

*Any use of trade, product, or firm names is for descriptive purposes only and does not imply endorsement by the U.S. Government.