U.S. Census Bureau TIGER/Line Files, 1990, 2000-2002, 2004-2009

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2007 First Edition TIGER/Line Files

The TIGER/Line Shapefiles are extracts containing selected geographic and cartographic information from the Census Bureau's MAF/TIGER® (Master Address File / Topologically Integrated Geographic Encoding and Referencing) database. The MAF/TIGER database was developed at the Census Bureau to support a variety of geographic programs and operations including functions such as mapping, geocoding, and geographic reference files that are used in decennial and economic censuses and sample survey programs. Spatial data for geographic features such as roads, railroads, rivers, and lakes, as well as legal and statistical geographic areas are included in the product. Other information about these features, such as the name, the type of feature, address ranges, and the geographic relationship to other features, also are included. The TIGER/Line Shapefiles are made available to the public and are typically used to provide the digital map base for a Geographic Information System or for mapping software.

The 2007 TIGER/Line Shapefiles contain current geographic areas (boundaries of governmental units as of January 1, 2007) and Census 2000 vintage geography. The shapefiles also contain some additional post January 1, 2007 feature updates reported in the Boundary and Annexation Survey (BAS). The 2007 TIGER/Line Shapefiles contain realigned street feature coordinates as a result of the MAF/TIGER Accuracy Improvement Project. The Census Bureau is providing a list of counties that have not been realigned via the MTAIP process on their Web site, which is the source of the material included here.

The MAF/TIGER database provides support for the following:

• Creation and maintenance of a digital geographic database that includes complete coverage of the United States, Puerto Rico, and the Island Areas

• Production of maps from the MAF/TIGER database for all Census Bureau enumeration and publication programs

• Assigning individual addresses to geographic entities and census blocks based on polygons formed by features such as roads and streams

The organizational structure of the TIGER/Line Shapefiles is based on the hierarchical relationship of geographic entities.

Nation-Based Files

State-Based Files

County-Based Files

American Indian Area-Based Files

File Naming Conventions

The name of each file is:

fe_2007_<extent>_<layer>.<ext> 
	fe = internal US Census Bureau use 

	2007 = the version of the files 

	<extent> = entity ID code, variable length 

		The entity ID code identifies the geographic extent by specific entity for
		which the file contains data. It is of variable length depending on the type
		of file: 

		Nation-based: 2-characters, "us" 
		State-based: 2-digit numeric state FIPS code 
		County-based: 5-digit numeric state-county FIPS code 
		American Indian area-based: 4-digit American Indian area census code  

	<layer> = layer tag, variable length 

		The layer tag specifies the type of geography or feature the file contains.
		If '00' appears at the end of the layer tag, the file contains Census 2000 
		geography. If '00' does not appear, the file contains current geography. 

	<ext> = the file extension 

Examples