INF · COLOPHON
How this was made.
Traveling Houston is a field guide and a flight. 140 places across fourteen Top 10 lists and 77 events, every one checked against its official source and recent reporting in September 2026, set inside a 3D Houston built from open map data.
THE END CREDITS
Traveling Houston
a field guide and a flight
How it was made, section by section, with figures from the site itself: the making of Traveling Houston.
The research
Every place was checked for being open in 2025 or 2026, then written up fresh: what it is, what to do or order, and one practical tip. Where a fact could not be confirmed it was left out rather than guessed, and places whose details are still being confirmed say so on their page. Hours and prices change; each entry links to its official site where it has one, and to its sources. Nothing in this guide is sponsored or paid for.
Live, right now
- The live view: LIVE flies the camera to Houston as it is this minute. Each aircraft’s tag shows an airline’s callsign, or for a private aircraft only its type, never its registration
- adsb.lol, under the Open Database License
- The tide at Galveston Pier 21, its six-minute readings in feet above mean lower low water. On the beach at 25th Street the water’s edge moves by the rise over the beach’s slope, about 1 in 50 from USGS lidar, up to 0.3 m either way
- NOAA Tides and Currents, station 8771450 (public domain)
- Buffalo Bayou at Shepherd Drive, mentioned when it runs 2 ft or more over the gage’s median for the day of the year, 1988 to 2025
- U.S. Geological Survey, site 08074000 (public domain)
- Home games at Toyota Center, Shell Energy Stadium and Reliant Stadium through 30 November 2026, copied from the clubs’ published schedules on 15 October 2026; times can change
- Houston Rockets, Houston Texans, Houston Dynamo FC, Houston Dash
The line under the header that starts LIVE is read from public sources as you look: the weather the National Weather Service last observed at Bush Intercontinental, the tide at Galveston, Buffalo Bayou when it runs high, the aircraft the city is drawing, and a home game tonight. The tide and the bayou come through this site’s own server, which asks once for everyone and passes on nothing about you.
A reading shows only while it is fresh: the weather within 2 hours of its observation, the tide within 30 minutes, the bayou within 150 minutes. When a source is down or late, its reading leaves the line until it is back. In the city, the tide moves the water’s edge on the beach at the Seawall, and a venue’s game lights show over it after dark while its game is on. The live sky switch in the header also lights the city with Houston’s real sun and weather.
The map
- Buildings, streets, freeways, bayous, lakes and parks
- © OpenStreetMap contributors, used under the Open Database License
- Coastlines and the globe
- Natural Earth (public domain)
- Climate normals, 1991 to 2020, station IAH
- NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information
- Population
- U.S. Census Bureau estimates
- The weather in the live sky: the latest observation from Bush Intercontinental, or from Hobby or Sugar Land when it has none, checked every ten minutes
- National Weather Service
- The aircraft over the city, live: positions, altitudes and tracks within 60 nautical miles, refreshed every ten seconds; aircraft on the FAA’s privacy programs are left out
- adsb.lol volunteer receivers, under the Open Database License
- METRORail’s three lines and its trains, where the timetable puts them this minute
- METRO* static GTFS schedule. Route and arrival data provided by permission of METRO. *METRO is a registered trademark of the Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County.
- The concerts, games and shows on the events board, refreshed twice a day
- Ticketmaster Discovery API; the park programs from the calendars of Buffalo Bayou Partnership, Hermann Park Conservancy, Memorial Park Conservancy, the Houston Arboretum and Midtown Houston
- The Astros’ home games at Daikin Park
- Major League Baseball’s published schedule, copied by hand from mlb.com
- The ships on the Houston Ship Channel and Galveston Bay, live: positions, courses, speeds and sizes as they broadcast them
- AIS, via aisstream.io
The landmarks (the San Jacinto Monument, the Saturn V, the shuttle on its 747, the Astrodome) are architectural models built from published dimensions.
The build
- The pages
- Next.js, React and TypeScript
- The world
- three.js, drawn through one WebGL canvas with every game as a view inside it
- Motion
- GSAP and Lenis
- Sound design
- Web Audio, synthesized live in the browser, which also mixes the radio
- The Houston theme’s instruments: the radio’s station idents, the arrival over the city, the Top 10’s stops and its finale
- The FluidR3_GM soundfont by Frank Wen, one note to a file by Benjamin Gleitz (midi-js-soundfonts), under CC BY 3.0
- Type
- Archivo, Instrument Serif and IBM Plex Mono, with Trickr Logo by ffeeaarr (free for commercial use) for the opening title’s name and Syncopate by Astigmatic (Apache 2.0) for the words under it; the Vietnamese edition sets its italic in Newsreader, the Arabic edition its letters in IBM Plex Sans Arabic and Noto Naskh Arabic, and the Chinese edition in the reader’s own system fonts
- The Barrel Race’s horse and rider (rigged models, posed and refinished here)
- “Horse” and “Animated Woman” by Quaternius, CC0, via Poly Pizza
- The Houston Zoo’s elephants, giraffes, tortoises, alligators and flamingos, and Brazos Bend’s alligators (models simplified, animated and refinished here)
- “Asian Elephant” by Dhruvin743, “Giraffe+motions” by Kapi777 and “Tortoise PM” by Avidwilsonvi, “Alligator animation” by dinomaster and “Flamingo” by fudailshajahan, CC BY 4.0, via Sketchfab
- The people seen up close, where drawn as modeled avatars (simplified, recolored and moved by their own motion capture here)
- Microsoft Rocketbox Avatar Library, © 2020 Microsoft, MIT License
- Armand Bayou’s bison, George Ranch’s longhorns and horses, the dogs of the parks and patios, Galveston’s gulls and the Bolivar ferry’s dolphins (models simplified, animated and refinished here)
- “БИЗОН BISON” and “Dog” by victory_mirosya, “Cow+motions” by Kapi777, “Rigged Mid Poly Horse” by antemeossa, “1 seagull” by deathcow, “Model 61A - Bottlenose Dolphin” by DigitalLife3D, “Crow” by alexanders823, “Blue Heron” by jrshah, “Duck_Walk (Free)” by Nyilonelycompany and “Running Squirrel Turned Into Stone” by marvelvsdcvscapcomvssega, CC BY 4.0, via Sketchfab
- The cars, pickups, vans, box trucks and buses, where drawn as models (simplified, refit and repainted here, their decals removed)
- “Generic passenger car pack” and “Generic civil service vehicles pack” by comrade1280 and “2017 Allerauto Wolf (Interior coming soon!)” by NNXST, CC BY 4.0, via Sketchfab; “Truck” by Quaternius, CC0, via Poly Pizza
- The motorcycles and scooters in the traffic and at the bars (models simplified and refinished here)
- “Honda NR750 1994” by comrade1280, “Harley Davidson Iron 883 2018” by EmanuelRestrepoVelez and “MOPED Derbi DS-50 Scooter” by jake.martinez, CC BY 4.0, via Sketchfab (Objaverse)
- The Next Act’s instruments and stage gear: the drum kit, the guitar and the bass, the keys, the microphones and their stands, the monitors, the amps, the line arrays and the subs, the truss and its lights (models simplified and refinished here)
- “Drum Kit” by Serg.Morgun, “MK2 1210 Turntable - Old” by GRIP420, “DJ Mixer Lowpoly” by gusnk, “Yamaha Dx7” by TehMerow, “Shure SM58” by GRIP420, “Stage Monitor Speaker” and “Stage Speaker - black” by sousinho, “Line Array” by Wilmer.Jose.Saumeth.Suarez, “Laptop (FREE)” by dr.badass2142, “Headphones Skullcandy Crusher Wireless” by Ankledot, “Square Truss Straight Segment 21” by akerStudio and “Stage Light” by daniyalmalik, CC BY 4.0, via Sketchfab (Objaverse)
- Make my film, the plan’s film saved as MP4 or WebM (packaged in the browser)
- mp4-muxer and webm-muxer by Vanilagy, MIT License, MIT License
No photographs of real places were generated or faked; the satellite and aerial imagery under the models is NASA’s and the USDA’s, credited here.
In five languages
Traveling Houston is also in Spanish, Vietnamese, Chinese and Arabic, for the city that speaks them and the visitors it welcomes: about 44% of Houstonians are Hispanic, Bellaire Boulevard is the heart of one of the largest Vietnamese communities in the country and of the city’s Chinese-speaking Asiatown, and families from across the Arab world come to Houston for the Texas Medical Center. The editions were translated for this site with AI assistance and checked for consistency against the English, which stays the source for every fact. Names of places, dishes and programs stay as they are. Found a line that reads wrong? Tell us.
The radio
The dial in the corner has nine stations of original songs, 158 in all, written for this site by Digital Wonders and produced with Suno and Mureka. The 20 Suno songs were made for the stations: honky-tonk, western swing, newgrass and Texas blues rock, Tejano cumbia, conjunto and mariachi, Frenchtown zydeco, Third Ward gospel and blues, an H-Town rap anthem, Afrobeats, Gulf Coast surf and yacht rock, and Montrose jazz and soul-pop. The 138 Mureka songs are 11 hits written for the whole dial, 126 place songs, each one written for a single place in the guides, from lion-dance trap for Bellaire Boulevard and a bouzouki-and-darbuka dance anthem for a Mediterranean tasting menu to a sea shanty for the Bolivar ferry, and Bring It Back, a crunk chant for the Astrodome’s imagined next act. The stations play both. The lyrics are about real places in the guide, and a stop with a song of its own plays it as the camera arrives, cutting in at its chorus. The way down from the Moon has a score of its own, an instrumental also made with Mureka: heard as if through the hull at first, it opens up as you fall toward the city.
The voices of Mission Control
- Apollo 11, the landing
- NASA · Wikimedia Commons
- “The Eagle has landed”
- NASA · Wikimedia Commons
- Armstrong's first step
- NASA · Wikimedia Commons
- Apollo 11 launch day, via Canary Station
- NASA · Wikimedia Commons
- Apollo 8 on the way home
- NASA · Wikimedia Commons
- Apollo 13, “Houston, we've had a problem” (the page for a wrong address)
- NASA · Wikimedia Commons
- Apollo 11’s descent on the Public Affairs loop, 102:31 to 102:47: the alarms and calls in Land the Eagle
- NASA · Apollo Lunar Surface Journal
The real ones: NASA recordings, public domain, from Wikimedia Commons.
The Earth in the opening
- Blue Marble Next Generation (July 2004)
- NASA Earth Observatory
- Black Marble 2016
- NASA Earth Observatory
- Blue Marble clouds
- NASA Earth Observatory
- The ground under the city: aerial imagery of the Houston region, National Agriculture Imagery Program (NAIP), public domain
- USDA Farm Service Agency, served by USGS The National Map
- The Lunar Module’s descent stage, RCS thrusters and antennas, refinished here in foil and aluminum; the ascent stage and the cabin were built for this site
- NASA 3D Resources, under NASA’s media usage guidelines; no endorsement by NASA is implied
- The Moon the city’s lights make in the Top 10’s finale: the near side’s brightness, from the CGI Moon Kit (LRO camera data)
- NASA’s Scientific Visualization Studio, public domain
NASA's too: satellite imagery from NASA Earth Observatory, public domain.
The archive
- “Sallie Johnson / Billy in the Low Ground”
- Eck Robertson, 1922
- “Arkansaw Traveler”
- Henry C. Gilliland and Eck Robertson, 1922
- “Wreck of the Old 97”
- Vernon Dalhart, 1924
- “The Prisoner's Song”
- Vernon Dalhart, 1924
- “Maple Leaf Rag”
- Scott Joplin (piano roll), 1916
- “The Entertainer”
- Scott Joplin, composer (piano roll), 1902
- “The Yellow Rose of Texas”
- United States Coast Guard Band, 2006
Channel 10 plays public-domain records, from Wikimedia Commons.
Field recordings at a stop
- A livestock auctioneer at the New York State Sheep & Wool Festival, 2010, recorded by gezortenplotz
- CC BY 3.0
- Interview with Laura Smalley, Hempstead, Texas, 1941, recorded by John Henry Faulk; American Folklife Center, Library of Congress
- No known restrictions (Library of Congress)
- Cleofé López and Eulalia Martínez, “La vida del bandido,” recorded by John and Ruby Lomax, 9 April 1939; Library of Congress
- No known restrictions (Library of Congress)
- US Fish and Wildlife Service sound library
- Public domain
The places, in field recordings
- “Cicadas in backyard of Briar Hills”
- dpattonwhite, Atlanta, Georgia · CC0
- “DMP010037 CRICKETS TEXAS”
- martypinso, Texas · CC0
- “AMBSubn-Summer_Golf Course at Night, crickets, frogs, insects, distant traffic_QCF_Gulf Shores Alabama_Zoom H1n”
- treytatum3, Gulf Shores, Alabama · CC0
- “crowd ext medium courtyard terrasse restaurant spanish voices slight echo walla Oaxaca, Mexico”
- kyles, Oaxaca, Mexico · CC0
- “AMBSwmp_Lake Water Lapping at Rocks with Surrounding Fauna_HushAndHarmony”
- HushAndHarmonyNow, Brazoria National Wildlife Refuge, Texas · CC BY 4.0
- “WATRSurf-Gulf of Mexico_Predawn Beach, calm surf 530AM_QCF_Gulf Shores Alabama_Zoom H3VR”
- treytatum3, Gulf Shores, Alabama · CC0
- “Bats Houston”
- elkinjn, Houston, Texas · CC0
- “Distant Highway Sound.”
- Tom_Kaszuba · CC0
- “High Force Waterfall, Bottom of Gorge, Massive Roar, Teesdale UK - Stereo”
- Hear_it_use_it, Teesdale, England · CC BY 4.0
- “WALLA Ballpark Chatter”
- AshFox, Rangers Ballpark in Arlington, Texas · CC BY 3.0
- “Campfire 02”
- HECKFRICKER · CC0
- “Large Crowd at an Outdoor Reception”
- timothyd4y · CC0
- “thunderstorm texas”
- LV121, Texas · CC0
- “Excellent thunder & rain 25 Sept ’21”
- gepetto3548, Dordogne, France · CC0
- “Jet Cabin During Flight”
- CHallSmith, a Boeing 737 in flight · CC0
- “Boeing 737-800 Takeoff (inside)”
- Walking.With.Microphones, a Boeing 737-800 cabin · CC BY 4.0
- “Inside Airplane.wav”
- Mrthenoronha, an airliner cabin · CC0
- “Plane Landing.mp3”
- courter, a Boeing 737 landing at Raleigh-Durham · CC0
- “Landing approach Airbus A350-900 extend landing gear”
- Marschal, an Airbus A350-900 on approach to Vienna · CC0
- “In the cabin of an Airbus A350-900 landing flaps are adjusted during the approach for landing”
- Marschal, an Airbus A350-900 on approach · CC0
- “Downtown LA 12”
- Williebug, downtown Los Angeles · CC0
- “SummerWindThroughOakLeaves41HzSampleRateJuly21st2018.WAV”
- kvgarlic, a Midwestern forest of oak, beech and pine · CC0
- “Air Conditioner Fan Hum.wav”
- LilMati, an air conditioner fan · CC0
- “bbq rumble sizzle 09.flac”
- TRP, meat on a barbecue · CC0
- “Birds_Great-Tailed Grackle Ixtapa.wav”
- fredrummer, Ixtapa, Mexico · CC0
- “Bird-one Mockingbird with many songs.wav”
- Bansemer, a single mockingbird · CC0
- “Mourning Doves Palm Springs.wav”
- JoeMilner, Palm Springs, California · CC0
- “AMBSea-Summer_migratory bird nesting area at the beach, birds, distant boat traffic, morning, Perdido Pass_QCF_Gulf Shores Alabama”
- treytatum3, Perdido Pass, Gulf Shores, Alabama · CC0
- “AMBUrbn_URBAN Light Rail Train Sounds, Crosswalk Bells, PA Voice and Urban Traffic”
- HushAndHarmonyNow, METRORail by Hermann Park, Houston · CC BY 4.0
- “Ship Horn.mp3”
- Grotelue, a cruise ship in the harbor of Hamburg · CC0
- “ship horn.wav”
- monotraum, a seaport · CC0
- “Train passing at 200 meters with loud horn, rail vibration, crickets and road hum, recorded at night in Pampa, Texas”
- felix.blume, Pampa, Texas · CC0
- “Passing Car (Wet road)”
- Breviceps, a wet road · CC0
Houston Hits
The radio’s jukebox lists real Houston and Texas records. They belong to their artists and labels, so none is hosted, sampled or re-recorded here: each plays through Spotify’s own embedded player, loaded only when you press play (previews for listeners who are not signed in to Spotify).
Accessibility
Every page is complete without the 3D layer, which is decoration. Every game has keyboard controls and none is needed to read the guide. With reduced motion set, the camera cuts instead of flying.
Privacy
No accounts. Your saved plan lives in your own browser (localStorage) and leaves it only if you share it as a link.
Visits are counted with Umami, an analytics service that sets no cookies and stores nothing on your device. It is told which page was read, the site you came from, your screen size and browser language, and a handful of actions (opening directions, adding a stop to a plan, sharing a postcard), with every address cut off at any ? or #, and never anything you type. Browsers that ask not to be tracked (Do Not Track) are not counted.
When something on a page breaks, an error report goes to Sentry so it can be fixed: what failed, the page's address cut off at any ? or #, and the browser and device type. It carries no IP address, no cookies and nothing you type.
Terms of use
The 3D world on this site, with its models, textures and other assets, is here to be explored in your browser. None of it may be extracted, downloaded for reuse or used outside the site, and none of it may be used to train AI. Parts of it are licensed from others, including MetaHuman characters and items under the Fab Standard License, on terms that require this.
A PRODUCTION OF
Digital Wonders
Houston, Texas
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