README for “DOT Regions - Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) Regions 2020-Present” dataset. U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT), Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA); U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT), Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) [distributor] 2025-06-09 ---------------------------------------------------------------- LINKS TO DATASET ---------------------------------------------------------------- A. Dataset archive link: https://doi.org/10.21949/1404291 B. NTAD catalog dataset link (Current Year): https://doi.org/10.21949/1522098 ---------------------------------------------------------------- SUMMARY OF DATASET ---------------------------------------------------------------- The DOT Regions - Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) Regions 2020-Present dataset is from the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), and is part of the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT)/Bureau of Transportation Statistics’s (BTS's) National Transportation Atlas Database (NTAD). This dataset is displayed as polygons depicting the regions covered by the four FMCSA Service Centers. More information on the FMCSA Service Centers, and territories each covers, can be found at: https://www.fmcsa.dot.gov/mission/field-offices ---------------------------------------------------------------- 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: DOT Regions - Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) Regions 2020-Present [datasets] F. Update Log ---------------------------------------------------------------- A. GENERAL INFORMATION ---------------------------------------------------------------- 0. Title of Dataset: DOT Regions - Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) Regions 2020-Present [dataset] 1. Description of Dataset: The DOT Regions - Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) Regions 2020-Present dataset is from the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), and is part of the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT)/Bureau of Transportation Statistics’ (BTS's) National Transportation Atlas Database (NTAD). This dataset is displayed as polygons depicting the regions covered by the four FMCSA Service Centers. More information on the FMCSA Service Centers, and territories each covers, can be found at: https://www.fmcsa.dot.gov/mission/field-offices 2. Dataset archive link: https://doi.org/10.21949/1404291 3. Authorship Information: Principal Data Creator or Data Manager Contact Information Institution: U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT), Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) Address: 1200 New Jersey Ave SE, Washington D.C. 20590 Contact: jenny.guarino@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 as needed. This dataset is updated as needed. 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/10.21949/1522098 5. Geographic location of data collection: United States of America 6. Information about funding sources that supported the collection of the data: Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) ---------------------------------------------------------------- B. SHARING/ACCESS & POLICIES INFORMATION ---------------------------------------------------------------- 0. Recommended citation for the data: U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT), Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), U.S. Department of Transportation, Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) [distributor]. DOT Regions - Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) Regions 2020-Present [datasets]. 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 DOT Regions - Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) Regions 2020-Present dataset A. Filename: bts_NTAD_FMCSA_Regions_DMP_20250609.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. B. Filename: bts_NTAD_FMCSA_Regions_README_20250609.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. C. File List for the DOT_FMCSA_Regions_NTAD2020_Present.zip collection. Ca. NTADXXXX_GDB_Final_FMCSA_Regions_XXXX_XX_XX.gdb.zip (Folder) Short description: Compressed file folders containing the geospatial data for DOT Regions - Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) Regions 2020-Present dataset. File folders are classified by NTAD publication year and data vintage year or date respectively. Geodatabase (GDB) folders contain all the necessary components to view and otherwise interact with their data. ---------------------------------------------------------------- D. METHODOLOGICAL INFORMATION ---------------------------------------------------------------- 1. Description of methods used for collection/generation of data: The USDOT region layer for the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) was created by the Bureau and Transportation Statistics (BTS), then approved by a member of the FMCSA. BTS communicated with  FMCSA personnel to help understand where the FMCSA Service Centers are and which areas it should encompass, mostly adhering to the service centers listed via a map/table/text on FMCSA’s website https://www.fmcsa.dot.gov/mission/field-offices. As a result, Esri’s ArcPro (or any geospatial software) was utilized in creating polygons, using the U.S. Census state 2020 TIGER/Line shapefile to designate the FMCSA Service Centers boundaries by dissolving the Census state file to represent one cohesive entity/region. To populate the attributes, BTS communicated with the FMCSA to understand the address and contact information for each region via their website. Various fields were then added to the database schema to accommodate this information using the “add field” function within ArcGIS Pro, and then derived from the FMCSA’s website, filled out appropriately by BTS with FMCSA’s guidance and ultimate approval. 2. Instrument- or software-specific information needed to interpret the data: File geodatabase data can only be opened with Esri ArcGIS. The documentation files can be opened with any basic text editor. ---------------------------------------------------------------- E. DATA-SPECIFIC INFORMATION ---------------------------------------------------------------- 1. DOT Regions - Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) Regions data table Due to the size of the data, it is not described in detail here. Review the data dictionary present in the data folders for information on the data table. A. Number of variables (columns): The data dictionary found in FMCSA_Service_Centers.xlsx and FMCSA_Regions.xlsx 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 FMCSA_Service_Centers.xlsx and FMCSA_Regions.xlsx for names, definitions, and formats of variables. C. Missing data codes: None ---------------------------------------------------------------- F. UPDATE LOG ---------------------------------------------------------------- This bts_FMCSA_Regions_20250609_README.txt file was originally created on 2025-05-28 by Dominic Menegus, Geographer, dominic.menegus@dot.gov [Note changes or update to the readme.txt file, e.g.:] 2025-06-09: Original file created 2025-11-25: DOI added