Desktop Help 10.0 - How Basic Tiger Conversion works

This topic applies to ArcInfo only.

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 ArcInfo.
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.

Published 6/8/2010