The Census Bureau TIGER/Line shapefiles contain data that can be used to represent different types of point,
line, and polygon geography covering the U.S. earth surface.
The TIGER/Line shapefiles, and related derivative products, play an important role
in wide-ranging geospatial analyses and decision-making information solutions.
Warren Glimpse, founder of ProximityOne, developed the Columbia, MO
GBF/DIME file used as the prototype for the TIGER/Line program
and is developer of
CommunityViewer desktop and Web-based GIS applications/tools that facilitate use of the TIGER/Line data
with other wide-ranging data in applications such as pattern/trend analysis, geospatial processing and location-based operations.
Glimpse worked with hundreds of government agencies on the Census 2010 LUCA program to improve the coverage and content of the TIGER/Line files.
Using the Census Bureau TIGER Web Map Server
... Visually examine distribution/relationship of Census 2010 geography:
see http://proximityone.com/cvxe_wms.htm
... drill-down to the census block (11+ million areas) level for anywhere in the U.S.
... based on Census 2010 TIGER/Line shapefiles
... view school district boundaries in context of other geography
... integrate views based on your shapefiles with TIGER WMS ... all free.
Creating Census 2000 PUMA Shapefiles Based on Census 2010 Geography
... application using Census 2010 TIGER/Line census block shapefiles.
... existing Census 2000 PUMA boundaries/shapefiles are used with ACS 2010 PUMS
and will be used with ACS 2011 PUMS.
... steps to create Census 2000 PUMA shapefiles using Census 2010 geography.
... view resulting Census 2000 PUMAs with any Census 2010 TIGER shapefiles
with exact edge match.
See http://proximityone.com/puma2000.htm
The TIGER/Line shapefiles include:
• boundary shapefiles for all Census 2010/2000 political and statistical tabulation areas.
• water and landmark area polygon shapefiles.
• road, rail, water and related line/segment-oriented shapefiles.
• point and specific location shapefiles (schools, shopping centers, neighborhoods, etc.)
• related reference files that facilitate geospatial processing.
The Census 2010 TIGER/Line files reflect:
• overall improvements and updates resulting from the Census 2010 LUCA program.
• extensive qualititative and coverage improvement for roads/streets.
State 2000/2010 Geography Counts with Map View & Ranking Table Links
• All
Census 2010 TIGER/Line redistricting shapefiles are now available; released 11/30/2010 through 1/25/2011.
• Tabulation area tallies shown in table below for selected types of geographic areas.
Using Links in Table
Map Views. Maps using the Census 2010 TIGER/Line files may be accessed via links in the left column/name.
Ranking Tables. Links in Ranking Tables columns provide access to interactive ranking tables for school districts (Sch Dist) and Tracts.
Data in the ranking tables are from ACS 2005-09 5-year estimates and are indirectly related to the TIGER/Line files.
The TIGER/Line files contain no demographic or other subject matter data.
Many users of the TIGER/Line files may also find these tables of interest. Related Census 2010 ranking tables will be added soon.
* U.S. 2010 tracts excluding Puerto Rico = 73,057.
Using the Census 2010 TIGER/Line Shapefiles
Application examples shown below have been developed using the CommunityViewer GIS software.
These shapefiles, and augmented/derived files, can be used with any software that can process shapefiles.
Use links in the left column of the above table to view additional examples. Click toggle +/- to view.
Alexandria & Fairfax County, Virginia TLF View 1
The following view was developed by opening several selected Census 2010 TIGER/Line shapefiles
with CommunityViewer GIS, setting layer attributes, and saving the set of shapefiles as a project.
Census tracts are shown with green boundaries. Landmark points are shown as red markers.
The graphic shows a view of Alexandria, VA (city/county equivalent) with bold gray outline and a portion of Fairfax County, VA to the south of Alexandria.
The orange fill pattern areas are Landmark Areas; to orient, the larger orange area near the bottom is Mount Vernon.
The Capital Beltway/I-495 is the red/white Primary Roads (new with Census 2010 TIGER).
The area shown near the pointer/hand in Alexandria is shown as a zoom-in in the next section.
The identify tool is used to click on a street segment and show the mini-profile at the right of the map.
This profile shows attributes of the selected street segment.
Note there are left- and right-side street attributes.
Alexandria, Virginia Zoom-in TLF View 2
The following view was developed by using the CV project described above.
The graphic shows a zoom-in view to Alexandria in the vicinity of the pointer shown in the above view.
The pointer/hand in the view below is on the same EDGE segment as profiled in the above view.
In this view the identify tool is used to click on the block "above" that street segment and display the
tabular profile.
Note the TFID value is 212181154. This value is shown in the previous view as the TFIDR value.
Some fields are not populated in this version of the TIGER/Line shapefile.
These fields will be populated in later versions (later in 2010).
This view shows Landmark Points with labels turned on as the name field value.
These points appear to be quite complete and accurately located. In addition to specific buildings
such as those shown in this view, points also exist for shopping centers, cities/places, neighborhood areas
other locations representing a central point within an area.
Examining Census Tract Boundary Change 2000-2010
While there is great consistency from census to census for boundaries of many geographic areas, boundaries for census blocks, census block groups and census tracts
often change from one census to the next. These areas are defined at the time of the census, once very 10 years, and may change for a variety
of reasons. Knowing about the nature of change is important for longitudinal demographic analysis -- how demographics of neighborhoods or trade areas
have changed between Census 2000 and Census 2010.
The view presented below shows 2000 tracts (black boundary line) and 2010 census tracts (green boundary line)
for Alexandria, VA and Fairfax County, VA (see checked layers in legend at left in view).
Using this type of map view, it is easy to see which Census 2000 tracts have changed.
The identify tool is used to click on a Census 2000 tract; the mini-profile is shown to right of map.
The Census 2000 tract is subdivided into three Census 2010 tracts.
Examining Shopping Centers in Fairfax County, VA
The county by county landmark point shapefile contains a reference/name for many types of geographic entities.
Among these are shopping centers. Other points/locations of interest include hospitals and schools. Many others.
The following list provides an example of the 82 shopping centers by name and id for Fairfax County, VA.
A similar list could be prepared for any county.
See examples of viewing landmark points in context of other geography in the above map graphics.
While the landmark point file does not contain the census tract or other geographic area code, these codes can be added.
One tool to perform that operation is the Point to Geocode software.
With the census block, or census tract, codes added to the record, other subject matter such as sales or median household income
can be attached to each point record.
Link your subject matter data using the no cost DMILab Tools software. Options for analysis are enormous.
The following table shows the list of Census 2010 TIGER/Line shapefile names and the corresponding GIS caption name shown in the legend panel in the
above views. The caption name is assigned by the GIS project developer as a meaningful (to that user) description of that layer.
Click on a link to view fields/attributes available for the particular shapefile. These same fields (dbf file structure)
are common to that shapefile structure for all areas in the U.S. for which that file type is distributed. For example,
the dbf (dbase) fields in the tl_2010_51059_edges (51: Virginia 059: Fairfax County) shapefile (see link below) are the same as for tl_2010_48201_edges
(48: Texas 201: Harris County).
We provide all types of tools and solutions to make effective use of TIGER/Line data
... custom software ... customized TIGER/Line shapefiles ... integrate subject matter into the shapefiles
... build custom GIS projects ... integrated packages ... create end-use results from geospatial analyses ... geocoding
... training and learning options ... whatever is needed to achieve desired results.
Join us in a Webinar to see how to develop and use the views shown in these applications.
DMILab Tools
Use the no-cost Decision-Making Information (DMI) Lab tools
(http://proximityone.com/dmilab.htm)
to dynamically create reference and thematic maps using the TIGER/Line shapefiles.
Use DMILab tools to integrate Census Bureau FactFinder-sourced, as well as other wide-ranging,
subject matter data into TIGER/Line shapefiles. DMILab tools is a program that operates on Win32/64 computers.
It has no 3rd party dependencies. DMILab components include:
• GeoGateway -- interactively download TIGER/Line and other shapefiles to your computer.
• MapCompiler -- use the downloaded shapefiles to build a GIS project.
• GISViewer -- create custom maps for reference, thematic views/analysis, related apps.
• DataIntegrator -- import FactFinder (and other) subject matter data,
convert to alternative file structures,
merge with other files based on user specified keys (shapefile dbfs or otherwise)
More information.
Role and Scope of TIGER/Line Shapefiles
TIGER/Line shapefiles are created from the Census Bureau's TIGER
(Topologically Integrated Geographic Encoding and Referencing) database
of selected geographic and cartographic information. TIGER is used by the Census Bureau
to support the mapping and related
geographic activities required by the decennial and economic censuses
and statistical survey programs. TIGER/Line shapefiles are available for
public use and are typically used to provide the digital map base
for GIS (Geographic Information System) and mapping applications.
TIGER/Line shapefiles are neither maps nor images.
TIGER/Line shapefiles do not contain any demographic or other subject matter data
though wide-ranging subject matter data can be knit-together with TIGER/Line shapefiles.
Reference and thematic maps may be created using
TIGER/Line shapefiles using GIS or mapping software like CommunityViewer GIS and
DMILab tools.
Importance of TIGER/Line Shapefiles
Visual analysis made possible by maps is essential to effective decision-making.
Development of underlying data often depends on the ability to relate data organized by one type of geography
to data organized for another type of geography. The Census Bureau TIGER/Line
shapefiles play an indispensable role in
meeting these needs. They provide the underlying vector-oriented geographic data used in most
U.S. mapping and GIS applications.
TIGER/Line File Augmentation
We augment Census Bureau TIGER/Line files, improving quality and developing new, related, geographic data resources.
Examples of augmentation include:
• adding and updating road segments with right- and left-side geocoding to the census block level
• adding/updating address ranges for road segments where missing/incomplete in original files.
• adding alternative road names.
• reclassifying roads (e.g. some counties have too many/too few roads classified as primary/secondary).
• coding right- and left-side road segments with ZIP+4 Codes.
Additional Information
Proximity develops geographic-demographic-economic data and analytical tools and helps organizations knit together and use diverse data in a decision-making and analytical framework. We develop custom demographic/economic estimates and projections, develop geographic and geocoded address files, and assist with impact and geospatial analyses.
Wide-ranging organizations use our tools (software, data, methodologies) to analyze their own data integrated with other data.
Contact Proximity (888-364-7656) with questions about data covered in this section or to discuss
custom estimates, projections or analyses for your areas of interest.
Using Links in Table
