2003 TIGER/Line® Files
The TIGER/Line files are extracts of selected geographic and cartographic information from the Census Bureau's TIGER® (Topologically Integrated Geographic Encoding and Referencing) database.
The Census Bureau replaced the metadata files for eleven counties or statistically equivalent entities to correct the horizontal positional accuracy data. The TIGER/Line files are unchanged. The eleven counties or statistically equivalent entities with corrected metadata are: Kent County, Delaware (FIPS code 10001); Montgomery County, Georgia (FIPS code 13209); Twiggs County, Georgia (FIPS code 13289); St. James Parish, Louisiana (FIPS code 22093); Charles County, Maryland (FIPS code 24017); Ashland County, Ohio (FIPS code 39005); Darke County, Ohio (FIPS code 39037); Licking County, Ohio (FIPS code 39089), Custer County, South Dakota (FIPS code 46033); Union County, South Dakota (FIPS code 46127); and Ziebach County, South Dakota (FIPS code 46137).
The Census Bureau is releasing the 2003 TIGER/Line files by county or statistically equivalent entity based on the latest available governmental unit boundaries (January 1, 2003). The 2003 TIGER/Line file coverage is as follows: all counties, parishes, boroughs, census areas and equivalent entities for each state, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the Island Areas.
Changes to File Structure
The Census Bureau has made some changes to the 2003 TIGER/Line file format. We have added some new fields to Record Type A including the new Metropolitan and Micropolitan Statistical Areas (field name CBSACU), New England City and Town Areas, Metropolitan Divisions, Combined Statistical Areas, and current (post-Census 2000) 3- and 5-digit ZCTAs. Record Type E, which was not included with the 2002 TIGER/Line files, appears for the first time in the 2003 TIGER/Line files and contains the 2002 Economic Census geographic entities. The record layout for Record Type E was updated from that shown in the record layouts for the 2002 TIGER/Line files. We also have made some changes to Record Type C to include the new Metropolitan and Micropolitan Statistical Area codes and to accomodate the inclusion of the 2002 Economic Census geography.
Feature Updates
The 2003 TIGER/Line files contain very few updates to street features or address ranges from the Census 2000 versions of the TIGER/Line files. Some additional features may have been added in some counties or statistical equivalent entities where the Census Bureau realigned the street feature coordinates. The Census Bureau expects the 2004 TIGER/Line files to be the first version of the TIGER/Line files to include a significant number of counties with realigned steet features that have progressed through the MAF/TIGER Accuracy Improvement Project.
County Based Metadata
For the first time the Census Bureau is including county based Federal Geographic Data Committee (FGDC) compliant metadata with the TIGER/Line files. The metadata, in ASCII text format, is included as part of the compressed TIGER/LIne files and uses the naming convention tgrssccc.met where "ss" is the state FIPS code and "CCC" is the county FIPS code.
The Census Bureau produces the TIGER/Line files in ASCII text format only; therefore, the data are NOT in the form of map images. To create maps with the TIGER/Line files, one would typically use a Geographic Information System (GIS) package or other mapping software.
Users are responsible for converting or translating the files into a format used by their specific software package. For information on how to use the TIGER/Line data with a specific software package one should contact the company that produced that software.
Think we've missed a few counties? The 2003 TIGER/Line files are based on the boundaries of counties or statistically equivalent entities as reported to the U.S. Census Bureau to be legally in effect on January 1, 2003.[PDF] or
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