MARCH 1998 U.S. BUREAU OF THE CENSUS Statistical Area TIGER/Line Census TIGER and TIGER/Line are registered trademarks of the U.S. Bureau of the Census. WHAT'S NEW The Statistical Area TIGER/Line files include updates from the Redistricting Data Program, Phase I, the Block Boundary Suggestion Program (BBSP), the 1997 Boundary and Annexation Survey, and other Census Bureau programs that update the TIGER data base. It is important to note that even though each TIGER/Line file represents a whole county, all new features in existence may not have been added in this release. The extent of updates in any given county will vary by program, number of participants, type of participant, time of participation, and a participant's degree of participation in a program. USING THIS CD-ROM The Statistical Area TIGER/Line CD-ROMs contain digital cartographic data files and related documentation. The files include the counties, parishes, boroughs, census geographic areas, and equivalent entities for each state (or territory). The data is organized in subdirectories by county (or county equivalent) within a state. Each state subdirectory is named using the two-digit FIPS code and the Post Office abbreviation for the state (ex. 02_AK for Alaska). Within the state subdirectory each county file has the name TGRssccc.ZIP, where the "ss" is the FIPS state code and "ccc" is the county FIPS code. The data for each county is stored in this single compressed file that when decompressed results in up to 17 separate files representing each of the TIGER/Line record types that exist for that county. Some counties did not require all of the 17 record types and therefore will have less than 17 files. If the types of data contained in record types 4, 6, 7, 8, 9 and Z are not appropriate for a given county then the files for those record types will not be included. The name of each of these files uses a modification of the above convention (TGRssccc.RTx) where "x" is the Record Type. Appendix A of the documentation provides a list of counties and their FIPS codes by state. Information on the content of each record type can be found in Chapter 6 of the TIGER/Line documentation. Information on decompressing the data files is found below under the heading DATA DECOMPRESSION. The files use the TIGER/Line record formats as described in the accompanying documentation. When decompressed they are fixed length ASCII with record separators (carriage return, line feed). The CD-ROM is in ISO 9660 format. Users with PCS will require Microsoft CD-ROM Extensions Version 2.0 or higher. This CD-ROM does not contain software to display or generate maps. Nor is the data on this CD-ROM in the form of a map image. To create maps with the data on this CD-ROM, one would typically use a Geographic Information System package or other mapping software. For information on how to use the TIGER/Line data with a specific package contact the company that produced the package. For information on companies that sell products that use TIGER/Line data or that provide various TIGER/Line-related services refer to the "Vendor's List" on the TIGER Page at the Census Bureau's World Wide Web site described below. ADDITIONAL CONTENTS OF THE CD-ROM: COUNTSss.TXT Each CD-ROM contains COUNTSss.TXT files in the subdirectory for each state under the TIGER directory. The COUNTSss.TXT files show record type file record counts by county for all states that are included on the compact disk. Note that all counties are listed for a given state. The layout of COUNTSss.TXT is as follows: FIPS state code 16:17 FIPS county code 20:22 Creation date 25:30 Record type 33:33 Record Count 36:43 README.TXT The document that you are presently reading. WHERE.TXT This file describes a variety of places from where one can download software to decompress the TIGER/Line data files on this disk. Software exists for a variety of platforms including DOS, Windows, Macintosh, and UNIX. DOCUMENTATION The documentation for the TIGER/Line files is contained in the DOC subdirectory. The file name is TIGER97B.PDF and is provided in the PDF format which requires the ADOBE(TM) Acrobat 3.0 reader. We are including the installation software for both the Windows 3.1 (16bit) and the Windows 95 (32bit) versions of the reader. They are included in the "WIN31" and "WIN95" subdirectories under the "DOC/ADOBE" directory. To install one of these versions, copy the software from the appropriate subdirectory on the CD-ROM on to a subdirectory on your hard drive (which you named ADOBE or some other name). This program will install the ADOBE Acrobat reader on the hard drive of your computer. When the installation is complete you can view the TIGER/Line documentation by running the ADOBE reader and selecting the TIGER97B.pdf file from the "Open" menu. PARTICIPANT STATISTICAL AREAS PROGRAM GUIDELINES The documentation for the Participant Statistical Areas Program guidelines is contained in the DOC subdirectory. The file name for the guidelines is PSAPGUIDE.txt. The guidelines provide participants with detailed instructions and assistance in submitting specific statistical areas as part of the Census 2000 Participant Statistical Areas Program. Please review all guidelines for which you are interested in submitting plans. Please note that chapters 9 & 10 of the guidelines include specific instructions on creating, and transmitting a polygon equivalency file to the Census Bureau. DATA COMPRESSION The TIGER/Line data on this disk has been compressed into an archive file to save space and reduce the number of disks required for the data. If the files were not compressed it would require over 40 CD-ROM disks to hold the data needed to cover the entire United States. Use software compatible with PK-ZIP 1.93A or higher to decompress the data. Info-ZIP's software (Zip, Unzip and related utilities) are examples of packages that can be used. The Info-ZIP software is free and can be obtained as source code or executables from various bulletin boards and on line services software archive sites such as those listed in the WHERE.TXT file on this disk. KNOWN PROBLEMS AND ANOMALIES WITH THIS TIGER/LINE DATA SET: MISSING ZIP+4 RECORDS In the current release of the TIGER/Line 1997 files, data users may note a significant reduction in the number of ZIP+4 Add On Codes in Record Type Z (ZIP4L and ZIP4R fields) for some areas. This reduction occurs as a result of operations to update the TIGER data base in preparation for Census 2000. These operations may replace address ranges or change the 5-digit ZIP Code, but do not automatically update or transfer the ZIP+4 codes to the new ranges. Because the Add On codes are valid for specific 5-digit ZIP Codes and address ranges, the previous Add On codes may no longer apply to the new address ranges. In nearly all situations, an automated match between the Census TIGER data base and the USPS ZIP+4 file is the source of ZIP+4 Add On Codes in TIGER products. With update operations for Census 2000 underway for large portions of the nation, we have not yet performed this automated match to refresh these codes. Future releases of TIGER/Line will contain refreshed codes that will reflect a more current USPS ZIP+4 file for the address range improvements that we are now making. ADDRESS ANOMALIES IN PUERTO RICO AND QUEENS COUNTY, N.Y. The TIGER/Line files contain some address range coverage for Puerto Rico. However, use of this information for geocoding purposes may be problematic and the data user should proceed with caution. These address ranges are preliminary attempts at using Puerto Rico address ranges in Census Bureau files. Due to the lack of software or resources to handle some of the more unique aspects of addressing in Puerto Rico, the address ranges were entered without the standard edits and quality checks used in other parts of the United States. Improvements in software and address standardization for Puerto Rico are expected in the future. At present, there are inconsistencies, overlaps, and duplication of address ranges. Address ranges may lack alpha character prefixes or have hyphenated prefixes. The files also lack the community names used in a four-line address that the U.S. Postal Service requires to avoid duplicate addresses. Errors in the reference files, and other factors may limit the usefulness of this product for geocoding purposes. Address range data for Queens County, NY in TIGER/Line does not show a consistent use of hyphenated and non-hyphenated addressing. The Census Bureau intends to correct this in future versions of TIGER products. ROAD FEATURE ANOMALIES The Census Bureau extracts TIGER/Line files from the TIGER data base which is in continual update. We created some TIGER/Line files that were in process for update and in so doing introduced some anomalies in chains represented in Record Types 1 and 2. Road features may appear in the TIGER/Line files unconnected to other road features (so-called floating features) or severely skewed in relation to surrounding line features of any type. This was the result of a TIGER/Line file being created before normal Census Bureau correction operations. The disconnected or skewed features will be fixed before the next public product. The following county files have the greatest likelihood of road feature anomalies: FIPSCODE County name, State STCOU County name, State 01073 Jefferson, AL 04013 Maricopa, AZ 06071 San Bernardino, CA 06073 San Diego, CA 08069 Larimer, CO 13089 DeKalb, GA 13121 Fulton, GA 13135 Gwinnett, GA 17077 Jackson, IL 18097 Marion, IN 21001 Adair, KY 21011 Bath, KY 21065 Estill, KY 21067 Fayette, KY 21095 Harlan, KY 21109 Jackson, KY 21131 Leslie, KY 21165 Menifee, KY 21175 Morgan, KY 21189 Owsley, KY 21203 Rockcastle, KY 22017 Caddo, LA 24003 Anne Arundel, MD 24035 Queen Anne's, MD 26093 Livingston, MI 26115 Monroe, MI 26125 Oakland, MI 26147 St. Clair, MI 26161 Washtenaw, MI 26163 Wayne, MI 34003 Bergen, NJ 36029 Erie, NY 36055 Monroe, NY 37119 Mecklenburg, NC 42003 Allegheny, PA 42007 Beaver, PA 42019 Butler, PA 42071 Lancaster, PA 42125 Washington, PA 42129 Westmoreland, PA 45031 Darlington, SC 45057 Lancaster, SC 45071 Newberry, SC 46099 Minnehaha, SD 47037 Davidson, TN 48229 Hudspeth, TX 48453 Travis, TX 50003 Bennington, VT 50007 Essex, VT 50015 Lamoille, VT 50021 Rutland, VT 55025 Dane, WI NAMING STANDARDS IN RECORD TYPE 1 The Census Bureau changed its naming standards in Record Type 1 affecting the data in the Feature Direction, Prefix (FEDIRP), Feature Name (FENAME), Feature Type (FETYPE), and Feature Direction, Suffix (FEDIRS) fields. In previous TIGER/Line products, directional prefixes and suffixes could appear for any type of line feature. For the TIGER/Line 1997, only road features, those features with a Census Feature Class Code (CFCC) in the A class, should have feature directional data in the directional fields. Other types of chains representing other types of features (for example, hydrologic features in CFCC class H) no longer are standardized to show directional information. The Census Bureau also modified the extraction of feature directional, name, and type information to improve the standardization of road feature information. The improvement parses a greater number of road chains into the correct feature identifier fields. INTERNAL POINT PLACEMENT ERRORS We discovered that some polygons in TIGER have an internal point that falls outside the polygon. This occurred for highly irregular polygons. When linking data to the internal point users may find that it will not appear within the correct polygon in all cases. The Census Bureau will fix this error in subsequent TIGER/Line products. QUESTIONS AND ADDITIONAL INFORMATION Technical questions about the Census TIGER/Line files and future plans for this and other TIGER-related products may be directed to the Products and Services Staff of the Geography Division at (301) 457-1128 or to the e-mail address tiger@census.gov. In addition to this Statistical Areas version of TIGER/Line the Census Bureau also produces a version of TIGER/Line for public sale and a variety of related products based on TIGER data. General information about these products is available from the TIGER page on the Census Bureau's World Wide Web site (http://www.census.gov/ftp/pub/geo/www/tiger/). This Web site also is a source of information that is of specific interest to TIGER/Line users and of general interest regarding the geographic programs at the Census Bureau. As appropriate, additional information about this product will be posted, such as ERRATA or USER NOTES. There is a TIGER Special Interest Group (SIG) which meets at various professional conferences in an informal setting to discuss issues relating to the use of TIGER/Line and future developments. Announcements telling the location of upcoming TIGER SIG meetings is posted on the TIGER Web page. There also is a list of vendors that provide services or products related to TIGER/Line.