README for “Intermodal Freight Facilities (IFF) 1995-Present” dataset. U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT), Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) [distributor] 2025-05-29 ---------------------------------------------------------------- LINKS TO DATASET ---------------------------------------------------------------- A. Dataset archive link: https://doi.org/10.21949/1520807 B. NTAD catalog dataset link (Current Year): https://doi.org/10.21949/1529041 ---------------------------------------------------------------- SUMMARY OF DATASET ---------------------------------------------------------------- The Intermodal Freight Facilities (IFF) 1995-Present dataset is from the Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS), and is part of the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT)/Bureau of Transportation Statistics's (BTS's) National Transportation Atlas Database (NTAD). The Intermodal Freight Facilities dataset is comprised of various layers, showing transfer/transloading locations of various commodities which don't change state. Layers included are for the TOFC/COFC commodity, Air to Truck freight transfer locations, Marine/Port Roll-On/Roll-Off commodity transfer locations, and a layer for commodities transferred via pipelines to other modes. These layers were listed as one dataset until 2019 when the layers each became their own individual dataset. The descriptions are listed below: TOFC/COFC: When available, primary sources for this dataset were the websites of the ports, as well as port operators. Every facility is associated with a port and assumed to be served by both marine and truck, and those facilities which support rail operations, the reporting code for the operating rail company is also identified. The dataset also includes at least one Navigation Unit ID (NAV_UNIT_ID) from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) Port Facilities dataset which is associated with the Ro/Ro terminal. Air-to-Truck: This dataset includes air to truck intermodal freight facilities for the top 60 airports by total freight moved in 2017. Marine Roll-on/Roll-off: When available, primary sources for this dataset were the websites of the ports, as well as port operators. Every facility is associated with a port and assumed to be served by both marine and truck, and those facilities which support rail operations, the reporting code for the operating rail company is also identified. The dataset also includes at least one Navigation Unit ID (NAV_UNIT_ID) from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) Port Facilities dataset which is associated with the Ro/Ro terminal. Pipelines: Pipeline terminals interface between pipeline mode and other transportation modes. They have the ability to receive or deliver freight commodities via pipeline and truck/rail/water. The data consists of location information, truck/rail/water mode connections, storage capacity, and a list of commodities handled at the terminal. Geographical coverage includes the United States and U.S. territories. ---------------------------------------------------------------- TABLE OF CONTENTS ---------------------------------------------------------------- A. General Information B. Sharing/Access & Policies Information C. Data and Related File Overview D. Methodological Information E. Data-Specific Information for: Intermodal Freight Facilities (IFF) 1995-Present [datasets] F. Update Log ---------------------------------------------------------------- A. GENERAL INFORMATION ---------------------------------------------------------------- 0. Title of Dataset: Intermodal Freight Facilities (IFF) 1995-Present [dataset] 1. Description of Dataset: The Intermodal Freight Facilities (IFF) 1995-Present dataset is from the Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS), and is part of the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT)/Bureau of Transportation Statistics's (BTS's) National Transportation Atlas Database (NTAD). The Intermodal Freight Facilities dataset is comprised of various layers, showing transfer/transloading locations of various commodities which don't change state. Layers included are for the TOFC/COFC commodity, Air to Truck freight transfer locations, Marine/Port Roll-On/Roll-Off commodity transfer locations, and a layer for commodities transferred via pipelines to other modes. These layers were listed as one dataset until 2019 when the layers each became their own individual dataset. The descriptions are listed below: TOFC/COFC: When available, primary sources for this dataset were the websites of the ports, as well as port operators. Every facility is associated with a port and assumed to be served by both marine and truck, and those facilities which support rail operations, the reporting code for the operating rail company is also identified. The dataset also includes at least one Navigation Unit ID (NAV_UNIT_ID) from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) Port Facilities dataset which is associated with the Ro/Ro terminal. Air-to-Truck: This dataset includes air to truck intermodal freight facilities for the top 60 airports by total freight moved in 2017. Marine Roll-on/Roll-off: When available, primary sources for this dataset were the websites of the ports, as well as port operators. Every facility is associated with a port and assumed to be served by both marine and truck, and those facilities which support rail operations, the reporting code for the operating rail company is also identified. The dataset also includes at least one Navigation Unit ID (NAV_UNIT_ID) from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) Port Facilities dataset which is associated with the Ro/Ro terminal. Pipelines: Pipeline terminals interface between pipeline mode and other transportation modes. They have the ability to receive or deliver freight commodities via pipeline and truck/rail/water. The data consists of location information, truck/rail/water mode connections, storage capacity, and a list of commodities handled at the terminal. Geographical coverage includes the United States and U.S. territories. 2. Dataset archive link: Https://doi.org/10.21949/1520807 3. Authorship Information: Principal Data Creator or Data Manager Contact Information Institution: U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT), Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) Address: 1200 New Jersey Ave SE, Washington D.C. 20590 Contact: bts@dot.gov Data Distributor Contact Information Name: National Transportation Atlas Database (NTAD) Institution: U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT), Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS), Office of Spatial Analysis and Visualization (OSAV) Address: 1200 New Jersey Ave. SE, Washington D.C. 20590 Email: ntad@dot.gov 4. Date of data collection and update interval: This dataset is updated every two to three years. 5. Geographic location of data collection: United States of America 6. Information about funding sources that supported the collection of the data: Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS), Department of Transportation (DOT) ---------------------------------------------------------------- B. SHARING/ACCESS & POLICIES INFORMATION ---------------------------------------------------------------- 0. Recommended citation for the data: U.S. Department of Transportation, Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS). Intermodal Freight Facilities (IFF) 1995-Present [datasets]. Https://doi.org/10.21949/1520807 1. Licenses/restrictions placed on the data: These data are in the Public Domain. 2. Was data derived from another source?: No. 3.This document was created to meet the requirements enumerated in the U.S. Department of Transportation's 'Plan to Increase Public Access to the Results of Federally-Funded Scientific Research' Version 1.1 << https://doi.org/10.21949/1520559 >> and guidelines suggested by the DOT Public Access website << https://doi.org/10.21949/1503647 >>, in effect and current as of December 03, 2020. ---------------------------------------------------------------- C. DATA & RELATED FILE OVERVIEW ---------------------------------------------------------------- 1. File List for the Intermodal Freight Facilities (IFF) 1995-Present dataset. A. Filename: Air-to-Truck_NTAD2019_Present.zip, Marine_Roll-on_Roll-off_NTAD2019_Present, Pipeline_Terminals_NTAD2021_Present.zip, Rail_TOFC_COFC_NTAD1995_NTAD1998.zip, Rail_TOFC_COFC_NTAD2019_Present, and Terminal_NTAD1999_NTAD2019.zip Short description: Compressed file folders containing the geospatial data for Intermodal Freight Facilities (IFF) 1995-Present dataset. File folders are classified first by initial NTAD publication year and secondly by the final year of publication. B. Filename: bts_NTAD_Intermodal_Freight_Facilities_DMP_20250529.pdf Short description: A PDF file containing the Data Management Plan that was created for current and future management of the data and associated files. C. Filename: bts_NTAD_Intermodal_Freight_Facilities_README_2025-05-29.txt Short description: The README.txt file that includes human-readable information about the data, variable definitions, contact information, and other contextual information. The file you are reading now. 2. File List for the Air-to-Truck_NTAD2019_Present.zip, Marine_Roll-on_Roll-off_NTAD2019_Present, Pipeline_Terminals_NTAD2021_Present.zip, Rail_TOFC_COFC_NTAD1995_Present.zip, Rail_TOFC_COFC_NTAD2019_Present and Terminal_NTAD1999_NTAD2019.zip collections A. Filename: NTADXXXX_SHP_Final_XXXXXX_XXXX.zip or NTADXXXX_GDB_Final_IFF_XXXXXX_XXXX_XX_XX*.zip Short description: Compressed file folders containing the geospatial data for Intermodal Freight Facilities (IFF) 1995-Present dataset. File folders are classified by NTAD publication year, dataset name, and data vintage date respectively. Geodatabase (GDB) folders contain all the necessary components to view and otherwise interact with their data. 3. File List for the NTADXXXX_SHP_Final_XXXXXX_XXXX.zip collections. A. Filename: TOFCCOFC_XXXX.shp or facility.shp Short description: A shapefile containing the geospatial data for Intermodal Freight Facilities (IFF) 1995-Present dataset. This includes associated files with extensions .prj, .dbf, .sbn, .sbx, .shx. B. Filename: TOFCCOFC.MET, or facility.txt and facility.shp.xml Short description: Text files containing key metadata and documentation information such as methodology, procedures, data dictionary, etc. C. Filename: Commodi.dbf, Directio.dbf, Shipment.dbf Short description: Database files containing tables of ancillary data for Intermodal Freight Facilities (IFF) 1995-Present dataset Terminals. ---------------------------------------------------------------- D. METHODOLOGICAL INFORMATION ---------------------------------------------------------------- 1. Description of methods used for collection/generation of data: The Intermodal Freight Facilities dataset is a concatenation of the Intermodal Freight Facilities datasets for Air-to-Truck, Marine Roll-on/Roll-off, Pipeline Facilities, and Rail TOFC/COFC facilities. How those individual datasets are processed are as follows: The Major TOFC/COFC Rail Intermodal Facilities dataset was created through a compilation of Class I and Class II railroads primary and secondary data. Each railroad provided detail on its intermodal facilities, often through their websites and subsequent PDFs. Placement of the points were determined through Google Street View imagery. Each intermodal facility is represented by a single point, which is located within 100-feet inside the facility’s entrance gate. If a facility has more than one entrance gate, then the location of the main gate is used to assign the location of the point in the dataset. The Air-Truck Intermodal Freight Facilities dataset was created by using both the airport's own website as well as satellite imagery from ESRI with Google Maps for verification as needed. The facilities can often be found under the master plan or map on the airport's site. If clear information is not available, Google Maps' location data (stored as "pinpoint" on map) was referenced to help identify the estimated center point of the building. Estimated area is calculated to the nearest square foot. The pinned point is checked, and the airline name referenced from the Official Airline Guide is listed. The Major Ro/Ro Intermodal Facilities data was created through source collection, AIS data, and formatted as a point-shape file. The source of the data preferably were the rail companies and ports or the shipping carrier management companies. If unavailable, aerial imagery confirms the port. Points were georeferenced on ArcMap with the remaining fields populated from excel. The Pipeline Facilities dataset was created via the process of both public and government data being collected, consolidated, and validated to identify pipeline intermodal terminals in the United States and U.S. territories. The terminals sources include but were not limited to the Energy Information Administration (EIA), the Homeland Infrastructure Foundation-Level (HIFLD), the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) ExSTARS, and individual corporate public websites. Information from the various sources was validated by satellite images from Google map, Bing map and Zoom Earth map to verify and identify the physical location of each terminal. The public freight network data includes National Pipeline Mapping System (NPMS) Public Viewer, the North American Rail Network (NARN), along with satellite images and information from individual company public website were combined to verify the pipeline, water, rail and truck mode for each terminal. 2. Instrument- or software-specific information needed to interpret the data: The data and documentation files can be opened with Esri ArcMap and any GIS software package. ---------------------------------------------------------------- E. DATA-SPECIFIC INFORMATION ---------------------------------------------------------------- 1. Intermodal Freight Facilities (IFF) data table This dataset is updated every two to three years. Dataset Manager is contacted to verify changes to data resulting in NTAD update. The metadata is updated in the same manner. For the most recent data, please visit the NTAD catalog at https://doi.org/10.21949/1529041 A. Number of variables (columns): The data dictionary found in (PDF documentation) provides definitions for the variables B. Data Dictionary/Variable List: Because of the large number of variables, please refer to the Data Dictionary found within the file Intermodal_Freight_Facilities.txt for names, definitions, and formats of variables. C. Missing data codes: None ---------------------------------------------------------------- F. UPDATE LOG ---------------------------------------------------------------- This bts_Intermodal_Freight_Facilities_20250529_README.txt file was originally created on 2021-03-15 by Dominic Menegus, Geographer, dominic.menegus@dot.gov [Note changes or update to the readme.txt file, e.g.:] 2021-03-15: Original file created 2025-05-29: File revision, including dataset descriptions and file organization