The TIGER/Line Files are shapefiles and related database files (.dbf) that are an extract of selected geographic and cartographic information from the U.S. Census Bureau's Master Address File / Topologically Integrated Geographic Encoding and Referencing (MAF/TIGER) Database (MTDB). The MTDB represents a seamless national file with no overlaps or gaps between parts, however, each TIGER/Line File is designed to stand alone as an independent data set, or they can be combined to cover the entire nation. The Census Bureau includes landmarks such as military installations in the MTDB for locating special features and to help enumerators during field operations. In 2008, the Census Bureau obtained the inventory and boundaries of most military installations from the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) for Air Force, Army, Marine, and Navy installations and from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) for Coast Guard installations. In a few cases, the files supplied to the Census Bureau contained older, unverified information than that obtained from the DOD for Census 2000; in those cases the military installations in MTDB were reviewed, but not updated to match the files obtained in 2008.
In order for others to use the information in the Census MAF/TIGER database in a geographic information system (GIS) or for other geographic applications, the Census Bureau releases to the public extracts of the database in the form of TIGER/Line Shapefiles.
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The TIGER/Line Shapefile products are not copyrighted however TIGER/Line and Census TIGER are registered trademarks of the U.S. Census Bureau. These products are free to use in a product or publication, however acknowledgement must be given to the U.S. Census Bureau as the source. The boundary information in the TIGER/Line Shapefiles are for statistical data collection and tabulation purposes only; their depiction and designation for statistical purposes does not constitute a determination of jurisdictional authority or rights of ownership or entitlement and they are not legal land descriptions.Coordinates in the TIGER/Line shapefiles have six implied decimal places, but the positional accuracy of these coordinates is not as great as the six decimal places suggest.
4600 Silver Hill Road, Stop 7400
Accurate against Federal Information Processing Standards (FIPS), FIPS Publication 6-4, and FIPS-55 at the 100% level for the codes and base names. The remaining attribute information has been examined but has not been fully tested for accuracy.
The Census Bureau performed automated tests to ensure logical consistency and limits of shapefiles. Segments making up the outer and inner boundaries of a polygon tie end-to-end to completely enclose the area. All polygons are tested for closure. The Census Bureau uses its internally developed geographic update system to enhance and modify spatial and attribute data in the Census MAF/TIGER database. Standard geographic codes, such as FIPS codes for states, counties, municipalities, county subdivisions, places, American Indian/Alaska Native/Native Hawaiian areas, and congressional districts are used when encoding spatial entities. The Census Bureau performed spatial data tests for logical consistency of the codes during the compilation of the original Census MAF/TIGER database files. Most of the codes for geographic entities except states, counties, urban areas, Core Based Statistical Areas (CBSAs), American Indian Areas (AIAs), and congressional districts were provided to the Census Bureau by the USGS, the agency responsible for maintaining FIPS 55. Feature attribute information has been examined but has not been fully tested for consistency. For the TIGER/Line Shapefiles, the Point and Vector Object Count for the G-polygon SDTS Point and Vector Object Type reflects the number of records in the shapefile attribute table. For multi-polygon features, only one attribute record exists for each multi-polygon rather than one attribute record per individual G-polygon component of the multi-polygon feature. TIGER/Line Shapefile multi-polygons are an exception to the G-polygon object type classification. Therefore, when multi-polygons exist in a shapefile, the object count will be less than the actual number of G-polygons.
Data completeness of the TIGER/Line Shapefiles reflects the contents of the Census MAF/TIGER database at the time the TIGER/Line Shapefiles were created.
The selected geographic and cartographic information (line segments) are derived from the U.S. Census Bureau's Master Address File Topologically Integrated Geographic Encoding and Referencing (MAF/TIGER) database.
TIGER/Line Shapefiles are extracted from the Census MAF/TIGER database by nation, state, county, and entity. Census MAF/TIGER data for all of the aforementioned geographic entities are then distributed among the shapefiles each containing attributes for line, polygon, or landmark geographic data.
Internal feature number.
ESRI
Feature geometry.
ESRI
Current official code for the landmark for use by federal agencies for data transfer and dissemination
U.S. Census Bureau
Area landmark identifier
U.S. Census Bureau
Concatenation of expanded text for prefix qualifier, prefix direction, prefix type, base name, suffix type, suffix direction, and suffix qualifier (as available) with a space between each expanded text field
U.S. Census Bureau
MAF/TIGER feature class code
U.S. Census Bureau
Face
U.S. Census Bureau
Current land area
U.S. Census Bureau
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U.S. Census Bureau
Current water area
U.S. Census Bureau
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U.S. Census Bureau
Current latitude of the internal point
U.S. Census Bureau
Blank
U.S. Census Bureau
Current longitude of the internal point
U.S. Census Bureau
Blank
U.S. Census Bureau
Part flag identifying if all or part of the Current entity is within the file
U.S. Census Bureau
Blank
U.S. Census Bureau
4600 Silver Hill Road, Stop 7400
No warranty, expressed or implied is made with regard to the accuracy of these data, and no liability is assumed by the U.S. Government in general or the U.S. Census Bureau in specific as to the spatial or attribute accuracy of the data. The act of distribution shall not constitute any such warranty and no responsibility is assumed by the U.S. government in the use of these files. The boundary information in the TIGER/Line Shapefiles is for statistical data collection and tabulation purposes only; their depiction and designation for statistical purposes do not constitute a determination of jurisdictional authority or rights of ownership or entitlement and they are not legal land descriptions.
To obtain more information about ordering TIGER/Line shapefiles visit http://www.census.gov/geo/www/tiger
4600 Silver Hill Road, Stop 7400