Workshop Description 

 

2013 Boundary and Annexation Survey (BAS) Workshop 

 

Description: 

 

The BAS workshops will provide participants with an overview of the 2013 BAS, an explanation 
of the geographic boundaries collected and managed by the Census Bureau, an explanation of 
the type of information collected by the BAS, and a review of the procedures for responding to 
the BAS using the digital and paper-based submission methods. Participants may bring a 
laptop with boundary data or paper boundary maps to the workshops as there will be an 
opportunity to ask Census staff any questions specific to their local boundaries. 

 

The Digital BAS portion of the workshop will include demonstrations on how to create a valid 
digital submission file using ArcGIS and the MAF/TIGER Partnership Software (MTPS). The 
MTPS is a free GIS application offered by the Census Bureau, which BAS respondents may use 
as an alternative to ArcGIS when creating the digital submission file. The Paper BAS portion of 
the workshop will offer a demonstration on how to create a valid paper-based submission 
package. Participants will learn how to read a BAS mapsheet, record legal boundary changes 
on the mapsheet(s), complete the accompanying BAS forms, and send the completed 
submission package to the Census Bureau. 

 

Specific topics: 

 

• Introduction to Census Geography 

• Census Population and Map products 

• Overview of the 2013 BAS 

• Information on why it is important to respond to the BAS 

• Consolidated BAS agreements – for county or regional governments that plan to report 
for municipal governments 

• Review of the procedures for reporting changes to the BAS 

• Demonstration on reporting boundary updates to the BAS – using ArcGIS, MAF/TIGER 
Partnership Software (MTPS), and annotating paper mapsheets. 

 

These workshops also provide an opportunity for you to ask Census staff any questions you 
may have about your boundary information. 

 

Intended Audience: 

 

These workshops are intended for government employees and officials that wish to participate 
in the 2013 BAS. The demonstrations are designed to be useful for GIS managers with various 
levels of GIS proficiency. The ArcGIS demonstration is intended for government staff proficient 
in GIS. The MTPS demonstration is designed for novice through experienced GIS users, and 
participants should strongly consider MTPS as an alternative to the traditional paper BAS 
response method. Experienced GIS users may find MTPS to be a useful alternative to ArcGIS. 
The paper demonstration is for governments that wish to report boundary updates using the 
traditional paper BAS method. This demonstration is useful for governments that do not have 
GIS capabilities or staff proficient in using GIS. 

 

 

Contact 

Phone: 1-800-972-5651 E-Mail: geo.bas@census.gov 

Website: http://www.census.gov/geo/www/bas/bashome.html 

Created November 27, 2012