County Boundaries

Metadata:

• Identification_Information
• Data_Quality_Information
• Spatial_Data_Organization_Information
• Spatial_Reference_Information
• Entity_and_Attribute_Information
• Distribution_Information
• Metadata_Reference_Information

Identification_Information:

Citation:

Citation_Information:

Originator:

U.S. Department of Commerce, U.S. Census Bureau, Geography Division

Publication_Date: 2010

Title: County Boundaries

Edition: 2010

Geospatial_Data_Presentation_Form: vector digital data

Online_Linkage: <http://www.census.gov/geo/www/tiger>

Larger_Work_Citation:

Citation_Information:

Online_Linkage: <http://www.bts.gov/programs/geographic_information_services/>

Description:

Abstract:

County boundaries with shorelines cut in. 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 primary legal divisions of most States are termed counties. In Louisiana, these divisions are known as parishes. In Alaska, which has no counties, the equivalent entities are the organized boroughs, city and boroughs, and municipalities, and for the unorganized area, census areas. The latter are delineated cooperatively for statistical purposes by the State of Alaska and the Census Bureau. In four States (Maryland, Missouri, Nevada, and Virginia), there are one or more incorporated places that are independent of any county organization and thus constitute primary divisions of their States. These incorporated places are known as independent cities and are treated as equivalent entities for purposes of data presentation. The District of Columbia and Guam have no primary divisions, and each area is considered an equivalent entity for purposes of data presentation. The Census Bureau treats the following entities as equivalents of counties for purposes of data presentation: Municipios in Puerto Rico, Districts and Islands in American Samoa, Municipalities in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, and Islands in the U.S. Virgin Islands. The entire area of the United States, Puerto Rico, and the Island Areas is covered by counties or equivalent entities. The 2010 Census boundaries for counties and equivalent entities are as of January 1, 2010, primarily as reported through the Census Bureau's Boundary and Annexation Survey (BAS).

Purpose:

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.

Time_Period_of_Content:

Time_Period_Information:

Single_Date/Time:

Calendar_Date: 2011

Currentness_Reference: publication date

Status:

Progress: Complete

Maintenance_and_Update_Frequency:

TIGER/Line Shapefiles are extracted from the Census MAF/TIGER database. No changes or updates will be made to this version of the TIGER/Line Shapefiles. Future releases of TIGER/Line Shapefiles will reflect updates made to the Census MAF/TIGER database.

Spatial_Domain:

Bounding_Coordinates:

West_Bounding_Coordinate: -179.168567

East_Bounding_Coordinate: 179.748709

North_Bounding_Coordinate: 71.389610

South_Bounding_Coordinate: 17.881241

Keywords:

Theme:

Theme_Keyword_Thesaurus: ISO 19115 Topic Categories

Theme_Keyword: boundaries

Theme_Keyword: county

Theme_Keyword: polygon

Theme_Keyword: line

Theme:

Theme_Keyword_Thesaurus: None

Theme_Keyword: State or equivalent entity

Theme_Keyword: Polygon

Place:

Place_Keyword_Thesaurus:

INCITS.38-200x (R2004),INCITS.31-200x (R2007),INCITS.454-200x,INCITS 455-200x,INCITS 446-2008

Place_Keyword: United States of America

Place_Keyword: U.S.

Place_Keyword: U.S.A

Stratum:

Stratum_Keyword: gound

Temporal:

Temporal_Keyword: 2010

Temporal_Keyword: 2011

Access_Constraints: None

Use_Constraints:

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.

Point_of_Contact:

Contact_Information:

Contact_Organization_Primary:

Contact_Organization:

Research and Innovative Technology Administration's Bureau of Transportation Statistics (RITA/BTS)

Contact_Person: Office of Geospatial Information Systems

Contact_Address:

Address_Type: mailing and physical address

Address: 1200 New Jersey Ave, SE

City: Washington

State_or_Province: DC

Postal_Code: 20590

Country: USA

Contact_Voice_Telephone: 202-366-DATA

Contact_Facsimile_Telephone: 202-366-3640

Contact_Electronic_Mail_Address: answers@bts.gov

Native_Data_Set_Environment:

Microsoft Windows XP Version 5.1 (Build 2600) Service Pack 3; ESRI ArcCatalog 9.3.1.4000

Cross_Reference:

Citation_Information:

Online_Linkage: <http://www.bts.gov/programs/geographic_information_services/>

Larger_Work_Citation:

Citation_Information:

Online_Linkage: <http://www.bts.gov/programs/geographic_information_services/>

Data_Quality_Information:

Attribute_Accuracy:

Attribute_Accuracy_Report:

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.

Logical_Consistency_Report:

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.

Completeness_Report:

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.

Lineage:

Source_Information:

Source_Citation:

Citation_Information:

Originator:

U.S. Department of Commerce, U.S. Census Bureau, Geography Division

Publication_Date: Unpublished Material

Title: Census MAF/TIGER database

Online_Linkage: <http://www.bts.gov/programs/geographic_information_services/>

Larger_Work_Citation:

Citation_Information:

Online_Linkage: <http://www.bts.gov/programs/geographic_information_services/>

Type_of_Source_Media: online

Source_Time_Period_of_Content:

Time_Period_Information:

Range_of_Dates/Times:

Beginning_Date: 201001

Ending_Date: 201007

Source_Currentness_Reference: publication date

Source_Citation_Abbreviation: MAF/TIGER

Source_Contribution:

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.

Process_Step:

Process_Description:

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.

Source_Used_Citation_Abbreviation: Census MAF/TIGER

Process_Date: 2010

Spatial_Data_Organization_Information:

Indirect_Spatial_Reference:

Federal Information Processing Standards (FIPS), ANSI, and feature names.

Direct_Spatial_Reference_Method: Vector

Point_and_Vector_Object_Information:

SDTS_Terms_Description:

SDTS_Point_and_Vector_Object_Type: G-polygon

Point_and_Vector_Object_Count: 3221

Spatial_Reference_Information:

Horizontal_Coordinate_System_Definition:

Geographic:

Latitude_Resolution: 0.000000

Longitude_Resolution: 0.000000

Geographic_Coordinate_Units: Decimal degrees

Geodetic_Model:

Horizontal_Datum_Name: D_WGS_1984

Ellipsoid_Name: WGS_1984

Semi-major_Axis: 6378137.000000

Denominator_of_Flattening_Ratio: 298.257224

Entity_and_Attribute_Information:

Detailed_Description:

Entity_Type:

Entity_Type_Label: county

Entity_Type_Definition: ESRI shapefile of the United States counties

Entity_Type_Definition_Source: ESRI and RITA/BTS

Attribute:

Attribute_Label: FID

Attribute_Definition: Internal feature number.

Attribute_Definition_Source: ESRI

Attribute_Domain_Values:

Unrepresentable_Domain:

Sequential unique whole numbers that are automatically generated.

Attribute:

Attribute_Label: Shape

Attribute_Definition: Feature geometry.

Attribute_Definition_Source: ESRI

Attribute_Domain_Values:

Enumerated_Domain:

Enumerated_Domain_Value: "polygon"

Enumerated_Domain_Value_Definition:

A "polygon" is an area feature comprised of points and line segments.

Enumerated_Domain_Value_Definition_Source: Assigned

Attribute_Domain_Values:

Unrepresentable_Domain: Coordinates defining the features.

Attribute:

Attribute_Label: STFIPS

Attribute_Definition: State FIPS code

Attribute_Definition_Source: Bureau of the Census (BOC)

Attribute_Domain_Values:

Codeset_Domain:

Codeset_Name: Federal Information Processing Standard, Publication 6-4

Codeset_Source: National Institute for Standards and Technology

Attribute:

Attribute_Label: CTFIPS

Attribute_Definition: County FIPS code

Attribute_Definition_Source: Bureau of the Census (BOC)

Attribute_Domain_Values:

Codeset_Domain:

Codeset_Name: Federal Information Processing Standard, Publication 6-4

Codeset_Source: National Institute for Standards and Technology

Attribute:

Attribute_Label: STATE

Attribute_Definition: State name

Attribute_Definition_Source: Bureau of the Census (BOC)

Attribute_Domain_Values:

Codeset_Domain:

Codeset_Name: Offical List of State Names

Codeset_Source: Bureau of the Census (BOC)

Attribute:

Attribute_Label: COUNTY

Attribute_Definition: County name

Attribute_Definition_Source: Bureau of the Census (BOC)

Attribute_Domain_Values:

Codeset_Domain:

Codeset_Name: Official List of U.S. County Names

Codeset_Source: Bureau of the Census (BOC)

Attribute:

Attribute_Label: VERSION

Attribute_Definition: Version of the database

Attribute_Definition_Source:

Research and Innovative Technology Administration's Bureau of Transportation Statistics (RITA/BTS)

Attribute_Domain_Values:

Range_Domain:

Range_Domain_Minimum: 00

Range_Domain_Maximum: 99

Distribution_Information:

Distributor:

Contact_Information:

Contact_Organization_Primary:

Contact_Organization:

Research and Innovative Technology Administration's Bureau of Transportation Statistics (RITA/BTS)

Contact_Person: Office of Geospatial Information Systems

Contact_Address:

Address_Type: mailing address

Address: 1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE

City: Washington

State_or_Province: DC

Postal_Code: 20590

Country: USA

Contact_Voice_Telephone: 202-366-DATA

Contact_Facsimile_Telephone: 202-366-3640

Contact_Electronic_Mail_Address: answers@bts.gov

Resource_Description: National Transportation Atlas Databases (NTAD) 2011

Distribution_Liability:

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.

Standard_Order_Process:

Digital_Form:

Digital_Transfer_Information:

Format_Name: ESRI Shapefile

Format_Version_Date: 2011

File_Decompression_Technique: PK-ZIP, version 1.93 A or higher

Transfer_Size: 0.068

Digital_Transfer_Option:

Online_Option:

Computer_Contact_Information:

Network_Address:

Network_Resource_Name: <http://www.census.gov/geo/www/tiger>

Access_Instructions:

The NTAD DVD can be ordered from the online bookstore at www.bts.gov. NTAD can also be downloaded from the Geographic Information Program web sit at <http://www.bts.gov/programs/geographic_information_services/>.

Offline_Option:

Offline_Media: DVD

Recording_Format: ISO 9660

Fees:

The online copy of the TIGER/Line files may be accessed without charge.

Ordering_Instructions:

Call (202-366-DATA), fax (202-366-3640), or E-mail (answers@bts.gov) RITA/BTS to request the National Transportation Atlas Databases (NTAD) 2011 DVD. The NTAD DVD can be ordered from the online bookstore at www.bts.gov. Individual datasets from the NTAD can also be downloaded from the Office of Geospatial Information Systems website at <http://www.bts.gov/programs/geographic_information_services/>.
To obtain more information about ordering TIGER/Line shapefiles visit <http://www.census.gov/geo/www/tiger>

Technical_Prerequisites:

Software that can process GIS files.
The TIGER/Line shapefiles contain geographic data only and do not include display mapping software or statistical data. For information on how to use the TIGER/Line shapefile data with specific software package users shall contact the company that produced the software.

Available_Time_Period:

Time_Period_Information:

Single_Date/Time:

Calendar_Date: 2011

Metadata_Reference_Information:

Metadata_Date: 20110422

Metadata_Contact:

Contact_Information:

Contact_Organization_Primary:

Contact_Organization:

Research and Innovative Technology Administration's Bureau of Transportation Statisitics (RITA/BTS)

Contact_Person: Office of Geospatial Information Systems

Contact_Address:

Address_Type: mailing address

Address: 1200 New Jersey Ave.

City: Washington

State_or_Province: DC

Postal_Code: 20590

Country: USA

Contact_Voice_Telephone: 202-366-DATA

Contact_Facsimile_Telephone: 202-366-3640

Contact_Electronic_Mail_Address: answers@bts.gov

Metadata_Standard_Name: FGDC Content Standards for Digital Geospatial Metadata

Metadata_Standard_Version: FGDC-STD-001-1998

Metadata_Time_Convention: local time

Metadata_Extensions:

Online_Linkage: <http://www.esri.com/metadata/esriprof80.html>

Profile_Name: ESRI Metadata Profile

Metadata_Extensions:

Online_Linkage: <http://www.esri.com/metadata/esriprof80.html>

Profile_Name: ESRI Metadata Profile

Metadata_Extensions:

Online_Linkage: <http://www.esri.com/metadata/esriprof80.html>

Profile_Name: ESRI Metadata Profile