Combining the Census Tiger Files and Geographic Information System Technology for More Effective Transportation Planning

by Howard J. Simkowitz, Caliper Corp, United States,



Document Type: Proceeding Paper

Part of: Microcomputer Applications in Transportation III

Abstract:

The Bureau of the Census, in cooperation with the U.S. Geological Survey, has created a topological data base containing every street and block face in the United States for use in the 1990 census. This new system is called TIGER, which stands for Topologically Integrated Geographic Encoding and Referencing. The relationships between TIGER, GBF/DIME, and Census data products are discussed. With the introduction of TIGER, an agency need no longer go through the expensive and time-consuming process of digitizing a street network to create a base map for a geographic information system (GIS). The paper describes how TIGER can be used to provide the necessary information to develop such a digital base map. It goes on to explain the steps a transportation planner must follow to integrate TIGER into the transportation planning process and discusses an FHWA TIGER demonstration project that illustrated these steps. Additional aspects of the subject are discussed.

Subject Headings: Geographic information systems | Information systems | Mapping | Geological surveys | Streets | Information management | Databases | United States

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