Converting features
Converting line features
The out_cover option is used to convert basic TIGER/Line feature and line attribute data from file types 1 thru 6, H, and Z. If you are using a complete set of 1994/95 TIGER/Line files, the out_cover will contain line features and the following attribute tables:
- ACODE—The attribute information in this table reflects the most current geography available at the time the TIGER dataset was released. Attributes include a permanent record number TIGER/Line Identification (TLID), street address, and legal and statistical area boundaries for each line segment. This table is related to the AAT via cover-ID.
- TYPE3—Contains geographic area codes from the last census; that is, the 1994/95 TIGER/Line datasets will have the 1990 census information in this table. TYPE3 is related to the AAT via TLID.
- TYPE5—Contains alternate street names and address information for line features and is related to the AAT via TLID.
- TYPE6—Contains additional address range and ZIP Code information for line features and is related to the AAT via TLID. In the 1994/95 datasets containing ZIP+4 Codes, records in the TYPE6 file are also related to TYPEZ via redefined item TLIDSQ.
- TYPEH—Contains the source and history codes for TLIDs and is related to the AAT via TLID.
- TYPEZ—Contains ZIP+4 Postal Add-on Codes. They relate to TYPE6 records by a combination of TLID and RTSQ via redefined item TLIDSQ.
Converting area point features
The out_point_cover option is used to convert polygon locations and area attributes from file types 9, A, C, I, P, R, and S. If you are using a complete set of 1994/95 TIGER/Line files, the point cover will contain point features and the following attribute tables:
- XCODE—Contains the unique polygon identifiers. This table is related to the PAT via cover-ID.
- TYPE9—Contains Key Geographic Locations (KGLs) and is related to the PAT via redefined item CENPOLID.
- TYPEA—Contains the basic census geographic area codes (state, county, MCD, census tract, and tabulation blocks). This table is related to the PAT via cover-ID.
- TYPEC—Contains a nonhierarchical flat file containing a unique list of geographic codes. This table does not relate to any feature attribute table.
- TYPEI—Contains TLIDs and the left and right polygon identifiers for each line segment. TYPEI is related to the AAT via TLID. The TYPEI table can usually be deleted because these topological relationships are generated and maintained within the application.
- TYPER—Contains the record number range. This table does not relate to any feature attribute table.
- TYPES—Provides additional space to identify polygons and is generally used by participants in programs to return proposed geographic area codes to the Census Bureau. TYPES is related to the PAT via redefined item CENPOILD.
Converting landmarks
TIGER/Line file types 7 and 8 contain landmark points and landmark area attributes. Out_landmark_cover converts file type 7 to landmark point features and attributes and file type 8 to area attributes with a polygon identifier that can be linked to point features representing polygons in out_point_cover.
If your TIGER dataset contains both point and area landmarks, the out_landmark_cover will have point features and the following attribute tables:
- XCODE—Contains landmark attributes for points only. Landmark area attributes appear in table TYPE8. This table is related to the landmark_cover.PAT of the landmark point coverage via cover-ID.
- TYPE8—Contains Landmark area attributes. The 1994/95 Key Geographic Locations will appear in the table named TYPE9. The TYPE8 table is related to the point_cover.PAT via redefined item CENPOLID.
Examples and tables
The input TIGER file prefix allows you to enter a prefix common to all files. The U.S. Census Bureau uses the following standard filename prefix for TIGER/Line files distributed on both tape and CD–ROM.
This example converts a set of 1995 BBSP files to create TIGERLINE, TIGERPNT, and TIGERLAND. The following files are in the current workspace directory:
tgr28019.bw1 tgr28019.bw7 tgr28019.bwI tgr28019.bw2 tgr28019.bw8 tgr28019.bwP tgr28019.bw3 tgr28019.bw9 tgr28019.bwR tgr28019.bw4 tgr28019.bwA tgr28019.bwS tgr28019.bw5 tgr28019.bwC tgr28019.bwZ tgr28019.bw6 tgr28019.bwH
Tool settings:
- Input TIGER file prefix: TGR28019
- Output coverage: TIGERLINE
- Output point coverage: TIGERPNT
- Output landmark coverage: TIGERLAND
Coverage file output:
TYPE NAME INTERNAL NAME NO. RECS LENGTH ---------------------------------------------------- TIGERLINE.TIC ARC0000DAT 4 20 TIGERPNT.TIC ARC0001DAT 4 20 TIGERLAND.TIC ARC0002DAT 4 20 TIGERLAND.TIC ARC0002DAT 4 20 TIGERLINE.BND ARC0004DAT 1 32 TIGERPNT.BND ARC0011DAT 1 32 TIGERLAND.BND ARC0020DAT 1 32 TIGERLINE.ACODE ARC0003DAT 31685 232 TIGERLINE.TYPE3 ARC0005DAT 31685 112 TIGERPNT.TYPEI ARC0012DAT 31685 52 TIGERLINE.TYPE5 ARC0006DAT 4203 70 TIGERLINE.TYPE6 ARC0007DAT 4385 76 TIGERLINE.TYPEH ARC0008DAT 3603 62 TIGERLINE.TYPEZ ARC0009DAT 13993 26 TIGERPNT.XCODE ARC0010DAT 8934 48 TIGERPNT.TYPEA ARC0013DAT 8934 98 TIGERPNT.TYPES ARC0017DAT 8934 120 TIGERPNT.TYPER ARC0014DAT 4 46 TIGERPNT.TYPE9 ARC0015DAT 20 88 TIGERPNT.TYPEC ARC0016DAT 91 112 TIGERLAND.XCODE ARC0018DAT 176 78 TIGERLAND.TYPE8 ARC0019DAT 696 70
The attribute items of the coverage files are described in the subsequent sections.
Attribute table templates
Attribute items for tigerline.ACODE:
COLUMN ITEM NAME WIDTH OUTPUT TYPE 1 tigerline-ID 4 10 B 5 RT 1 1 C 6 VERSION 4 4 I 10 TLID 10 10 I 20 SIDE1 1 1 I 21 SOURCE 1 1 C 22 FEDIRP 2 2 C 24 FENAME 30 30 C 54 FETYPE 4 4 C 58 FEDIRS 2 2 C 60 CFCC 3 3 C 63 FRADDL 11 11 I 74 TOADDL 11 11 I 85 FRADDR 11 11 I 96 TOADDR 11 11 I 107 FRIADDL 1 1 I 108 TOIADDL 1 1 I 109 FRIADDR 1 1 I 110 TOIADDR 1 1 I 111 ZIPL 5 5 I 116 ZIPR 5 5 I 121 FAIRL 5 5 I 126 FAIRR 5 5 I 131 TRUSTL 1 1 I 132 TRUSTR 1 1 I 133 CENBBSEL 1 1 C 134 BBSPPART 1 1 C 135 STATEL 2 2 I 137 STATER 2 2 I 139 COUNTYL 3 3 I 142 COUNTYR 3 3 I 145 FMCDL 5 5 I 150 FMCDR 5 5 I 155 FSMCDL 5 5 I 160 FSMCDR 5 5 I 165 FPLL 5 5 I 170 FPLR 5 5 I 175 CTBNAL 6 6 I 181 CTBNAR 6 6 I 187 BLKL 4 4 C 191 BLKR 4 4 C 195 FRLONG 10 10 I 205 FRLAT 9 9 I 214 TOLONG 10 10 I 224 TOLAT 9 9 I
1990 decennial census geographic entity codes
Attribute items for tigerline.TYPE3:
COLUMN ITEM NAME WIDTH OUTPUT TYPE 1 RT 1 1 C 2 VERSION 4 4 I 6 TLID 10 10 I 16 STATE90L 2 2 I 18 STATE90R 2 2 I 20 COUN90L 3 3 I 23 COUN90R 3 3 I 26 FMCD90L 5 5 I 31 FMCD90R 5 5 I 36 FPL90L 5 5 I 41 FPL90R 5 5 I 46 CTBNA90L 6 6 I 52 CTBNA90R 6 6 I 58 RS1 3 3 C 61 RS2 3 3 C 64 RS3 3 3 C 67 RS4 3 3 C 70 BK90L 4 4 C 74 BK90R 4 4 C 78 AIRL 4 4 I 82 AIRR 4 4 I 86 RS5 3 3 I 89 RS6 3 3 I 92 ANRCL 2 2 I 94 ANRCR 2 2 I 96 RS7 4 4 I 100 RS8 4 4 I
Alternate feature names
Attribute items for tigerline.TYPE5:
COLUMN ITEM NAME WIDTH OUTPUT TYPE 1 RT 1 1 C 2 VERSION 4 4 I 6 TLID 10 10 I 16 RTSQ 3 3 I 19 STATE 2 2 I 21 COUNTY 3 3 I 24 NAME 8 8 I 32 FEDIRP 2 2 C 34 FENAME 30 30 C 64 FETYPE 4 4 C 68 FEDIRS 2 2 C
Additional ZIP Codes
Attribute items for tigerline.TYPE6
COLUMN ITEM NAME WIDTH OUTPUT TYPE 1 RT 1 1 C 2 VERSION 4 4 I 6 TLID 10 10 I 16 RTSQ 3 3 I 19 FRADDL 11 11 I 30 TOADDL 11 11 I 41 FRADDR 11 11 I 52 TOADDR 11 11 I 63 FRIADDL 1 1 C 64 TOIADDL 1 1 C 65 FRIADDR 1 1 C 66 TOIADDR 1 1 C 67 ZIPL 5 5 I 72 ZIPR 5 5 I ** REDEFINED ITEMS ** 6 TLIDSQ 13 13 I
TLID history codes
Attribute items for tigerline.TYPEH:
COLUMN ITEM NAME WIDTH OUTPUT TYPE 1 RT 1 1 C 2 VERSION 4 4 I 6 STATE 2 2 I 8 COUNTY 3 3 I 11 TLID 10 10 I 21 HIST 1 1 C 22 SOURCE 1 1 C 23 TLIDFR1 10 10 I 53 TLIDTO2 10 10 I
Link to polygons
Attribute items for tigerline.TYPEI:
COLUMN ITEM NAME WIDTH OUTPUT TYPE 1 RT 1 1 C 2 VERSION 4 4 I 6 TLID 10 10 I 16 STATE 2 2 I 18 COUNTY 3 3 I 21 RTLINK 1 1 C 22 CENIDL 5 5 I 27 POLYIDL 10 10 I 37 CENIDR 5 5 I 42 POLYIDR 10 10 I 52 FILLER 1 1 C
ZIP+4 Codes
Attribute items for tigerline.TYPEZ:
COLUMN ITEM NAME WIDTH OUTPUT TYPE 1 RT 1 1 C 2 VERSION 4 4 I 6 TLID 10 10 I 16 RTSQ 3 3 I 19 ZIP4L 4 4 I 23 ZIP4R 4 4 I ** REDEFINED ITEMS ** 6 TLIDSQ 13 13 I
Polygon identifiers
Attribute items for tigerpnt.XCODE:
COLUMN ITEM NAME WIDTH OUTPUT TYPE 1 TIGER2-ID 4 6 B 5 RT 1 1 C 6 VERSION 4 4 I 10 STATE 2 2 I 12 COUNTY 3 3 I 15 CENID 5 5 I 20 POLYID 10 10 I 30 POLYLONG 10 10 I 40 POLYLAT 9 9 I ** REDEFINED ITEMS ** 15 CENPOLID 15 15 C
Additional polygon geographic entity codes
Attribute items for tigerpnt.TYPEA
ITEM NAME WIDTH OUTPUT TYPE RT 1 1 C VERSION 4 4 I STATE 2 2 I COUNTY 3 3 I CENID 5 5 I POLYID 10 10 I FAIR 5 5 I FMCD 5 5 I FPL 5 5 C CTBNA 6 6 I BLK 4 4 C CD106 2 2 I CD108 2 2 C SDELM 5 5 C SDMID 5 5 C SDSEC 5 5 C SDUNI 5 5 C TAZ 6 6 C UA 4 4 I URBFLAG 1 1 C CTPP 4 4 C RS9 9 9 C ** REDEFINED ITEMS ** CENPOLID 15 15 C
Polygon landmarks
Attribute items for Tigerland.TYPE8
COLUMN ITEM NAME WIDTH OUTPUT TYPE 1 RT 1 1 C 2 VERSION 4 4 I 6 STATE 2 2 I 8 COUNTY 3 3 I 11 CENID 5 5 I 16 POLYID 10 10 I 26 LAND 10 10 I 36 SOURCE 1 1 C 37 CFCC 3 3 C 40 LANAME 30 30 C 70 FILLER 1 1 C ** REDEFINED ITEMS ** 11 CENPOLID 15 15 C
Key geographic location codes
Attribute items tigerpnt.TYPE9:
COLUMN ITEM NAME WIDTH OUTPUT TYPE 1 RT 1 1 C 2 VERSION 4 4 I 6 STATE 2 2 I 8 COUNTY 3 3 I 11 CENID 5 5 I 16 POLYID 10 10 I 26 SOURCE 1 1 C 27 CFCC 3 3 C 30 KGLNAME 30 30 C 60 NUMBER 11 11 I 71 ZIP 5 5 I 76 ZIP4 4 4 I 80 NAME 5 5 I 85 FILLER 1 1 I ** REDEFINED ITEMS ** 11 CENPOLID 15 15 C
Polygon return codes
Attribute items for tigerpnt.TYPES:
COLUMN ITEM NAME WIDTH OUTPUT TYPE 1 RT 1 1 C 2 VERSION 4 4 I 6 STATE 2 2 I 8 COUNTY 3 3 I 11 CENID 5 5 I 16 POLYID 10 10 I 26 WATER 1 1 C 27 CSMA 4 4 C 31 MA 4 4 C 35 FAIR 5 5 I 40 AIR 4 4 C 44 TRUSTL 1 1 C 45 ANRC 2 2 C 47 CSTATE 2 2 C 49 CCOUNTY 3 3 C 52 FCCITY 5 5 C 57 FMCD 5 5 I 62 FSMCD 5 5 C 67 FPLC 5 5 I 72 CTBNA 6 6 I 78 BLK 4 4 C 82 RS10 1 1 C 83 CDC 2 2 I 85 SSDC 6 6 C 91 SHDC 6 6 C 97 VTD0 6 6 C 103 RS11 6 6 C 109 RS12 1 1 C 110 RS13 5 5 C 115 RS14 5 5 C 120 FILLER 1 1 C ** REDEFINED ITEMS ** 11 CENPOLID 15 15 C
Landmark point attributes
Attribute items for TIGERLAND.XCODE:
COLUMN ITEM NAME WIDTH OUTPUT TYPE 1 TEST3-ID 4 6 B 5 RT 1 1 C 6 VERSION 4 4 I 10 STATE 2 2 I 12 COUNTY 3 3 I 15 LAND 10 10 I 25 SOURCE 1 1 C 26 CFCC 3 3 C 29 LANAME 30 30 C 59 LONG 10 10 I 69 LAT 9 9 I 78 FILLER 1 1 C
U.S. Bureau of the Census. TIGER/Line Files, Technical Documentation. Prepared by the Bureau of the Census, Washington, D.C.