GEOSPATIAL DATA REPORT : Finding and Using GIS Data

http://www.census.gov/geo/www/tiger/tgrshp2009/tgrshp2009.html
(or directly from http://www2.census.gov/geo/tiger/)

2009 version just came out on 10/1/09! Previous versions are also linked from this site.

The TIGER/Line Shapefiles are extracts containing selected geographic and cartographic information from the Census Bureau’s MAF/TIGER® database. Unlike the previous Cartographic Boundary Files site, this site includes block boundary files as well as hydrography, transportation/streets and landmark data files. Users can also download multiple TIGER/Line Shapefiles at a time via this FTP site.

Again, these files contain no demographic information but are designed to be used with decennial census population and housing data as well as other related federal datasets.

http://www.irs.gov/efile/article/0,,id=118376,00.html#DR

[Image left: showing % change in average adjusted gross income (AGI) between 2004 and 2007 (tax year) - click on the image to enlarge.]

Another IRS data – source for community (zipcode) economic/income level. Unfortunately, income ranges data isn’t available from this file – which is available for fee. See: SOI Tax Stats – Individual Tax Statistics – Zip Code Data

Pros: available annually since tax year 2004 at a relatively small geographic level (i.e. zip code.)

Cons: incomplete data – the data doesn’t include people who didn’t send tax forms.

Data fields included are:

• Age of primary taxpayers by range (<30, 30-44, 45-60, >60)
• Average adjusted gross income (AGI)
• Average refund
• County
• Town
• Zipcode
• and many tax form related fields

http://sedac.ciesin.columbia.edu/usgrid/

“The U.S. Census Grids provide raster data sets that include not only population and housing counts, but a wide variety of socioeconomic characteristics. These gridded data sets transform irregularly shaped census block and block group boundaries into a regular surface – a raster grid – for faster and easier analysis. Data sets are currently available for the year 2000. Data sets for 1990 are scheduled for release in early 2007.” Accessed on 1/19/09.

Visit also Berkeley/Penn Urban & Environmental Modeler’s Dataset for similar raster datasets.

http://sedac.ciesin.columbia.edu/plue/cenguide.html

I prefer to use block data for community analysis as long as data is available. You probably know you can obtain 1990 & 2000 census block level data (SF1/STF1 and also boundary files) quite easily, but if you want to map 1980 data at a block level, you need this CIESIN’s archival dataset!

The Archive of Census Related Products is a collection of georeferenced data files containing census information. 1980 Census boundary files, including blocks, are available from here in the BNA format – see under “Boundary Files“. Once you download BNA files, you can convert the BNA files to MapInfo MIF format files using BNA2MIF.exe (DOS executable – download from ftp://ftp.ciesin.org/pub/census/usa/contrib/bna2mif/), and then convert MIF to Shapefiles using ArcView tool, MIF to Shape (available in ArcView 3.x or ArcCatalog’s ArcView 8x Tools set.)

Here is how the BNA2MIF.exe works:

1. Save bna2mif.exe and input files (.bna file) in the same directory.
2. Open a command prompt (cmd.exe), change directory (cd) to the directory where bna2mif.exe and input files reside.
3. Run (syntax: start) the executable using the following syntax:

Syntax: (program)   (input)             (output)
bna2mif     bxxxxx.bna     bxxxxx

4. This will generate:  bxxxxx.mif and bxxxxx.mid, MapInfo import files. Note: Input and output files do not necessarily need to have the same name.

<Example>
C:\>cd C:\thedirectory
C:\thedirecoty>start bna2mif bxxxxx.bna output

Once you have the 1980 block boundary files, all you need is accompanying attribute data. Obtain 1980 block statistics attribute data, Census of Population and Housing 1980 Summary Tape File 1B, from ICPSR, http://dx.doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR07975

http://www.nhgis.org/

Download historical census data & cartographic boundary files (states, counties & tracts.) The National Historical Geographic Information System (NHGIS) is a project to create and freely disseminate a database incorporating all available aggregate census information for the United States between 1790 and 2000.  Registration (free!) is required to access files.

Census tract data was first collected in 1910 for selected cities only (NYC, Chicago, Philadelphia, Cleveland, St. Louis, Baltimore, Boston, and Pittsburgh) and was later expanded to the whole nation in 1940 (still urbanized areas only.) [Reference - learn more about the Census tract data history from this Census's history website or from the following book: Bulmer, Martin. 1986. The Chicago School of Sociology. P. 157-.]

http://www.esri.com/data/download/census2000_tigerline/

Another resource for GIS census data. TIGER base line data, streets & railroads, and also detailed boundary files, blocks, (not available from the US Census boundary files site above) are available. Users can also download accompanying basic demographic and housing data from the 2000 Census Summary File 1 for various geographic levels.

Click on “Preview and Download” on the left to access the files.

http://www.census.gov/geo/www/cob/

“The boundary files available here are selected generalized extracts from the Census Bureau’s TIGER geographic database and are designed for use in a Geographic Information System (GIS) or similar mapping system. These are not map images. They have been developed for various internal Census Bureau projects and have been made available here to the general public on an “as is” basis.”

These files do not contain any demographic information but are designed to be used with decennial census population and housing data as well as other US federal datasets.

See also the U.S. Census 2007 TIGER/Line® Shapefiles page (new!)

http://www.nass.usda.gov/Data_and_Statistics/

A variety of agriculture related data is available from the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) web site. Currently included datasets are:

- Annual agricultural statistics going back as far as 1866 (at state level) or 1909 (at county level)

- 2002 Census of Agriculture

Older historical agricultural census data are available from the following sites:

• Historical, Demographic, Economic, and Social Data: The United States, 1790-2000 (including Census of Agriculture for 1840 – 1910 at 10 year interval)
  http://dx.doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR02896
  Or http://www.ciser.cornell.edu/ASPs/search_athena.asp?CODEBOOK=CPH-206&IDTITLE=2210

• County and City Data Book
  Basic agriculture census variables, such as: land in farms, sales ($) of crops and livestock and the number of farms, are available from this print series. The cited variables slightly vary by year. The 1956 CCDB contains the 1954 Census of Agriculture (CA) data, 1962 CCDB contains 1959 CA data, 1967 CCDB contains 1964 CA data, 1972 CCDB contains 1969 CA data, 1977 CCDB contains 1974 CA data and 1983 CCDB contains 1978 CA data, and so on. Download County and City Data Book data from the following ICPSR sites (Note: read the codebooks to check variables availability.)
  http://dx.doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR07736 (1947 – 1977)
  http://dx.doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR08256 (1983)

• AgCensus: the U.S. Census of Agriculture 1987, 1992 & 1997
  http://www.nass.usda.gov/Data_and_Statistics/Quick_Stats/

• [Electronic reports - not databases] Historical Census of Agriculture reports 1840 – 1950 (10 year interval)
  http://www.agcensus.usda.gov/Publications/Historical_Publications/

Note: Censuses of Agriculture between 1950 – 1987 (1954, 59, 64, 69, 74, 78, 82) do exist but appear to be available in the print format only – go to a local federal depository library to find the print reports. Here is a useful guide for print resources: http://infodome.sdsu.edu/research/guides/gov/censusag.shtml

http://dcrp.ced.berkeley.edu/research/footprint/index.php

“The Berkeley/Penn Urban and Environmental Modeler’s Datakit consists of a series of viewable and downloadable ESRI shapefiles and grids describing many of the physical, administrative, transportation, demographic, economic, land use and land cover, and environmental characteristics of the 48 contiguous United States. This website and the accompanying data were constructed as part of the URBAN & ENVIRONMENTAL FOOTPRINT 2050 PROJECT at the Institute of Urban and Regional Development (IURD) at the University of California, Berkeley under a grant from the National Science Foundation.  “

http://www.nationalatlas.gov/atlasftp.html

Nationalatlas.gov™ provides a comprehensive, maplike view into the enormous wealth of geospatial and geostatistical data collected for the United States. Nearly all data available in the National Atlas Map Maker can be downloaded at no cost.

The data categories posted are:

• Agriculture: Agriculture Census 2002 – Crops, Expenses, Farmland…
• Biology: Bat Ranges, Butterflies, Forests, Invasive Species, Land Cover…
• Boundaries: Congressional Districts, Counties, Federal lands, States…
• Climate: Precipitation, Hazard Events, Hurricanes, Sea Temperature…
• Environment: Air Releases, Hazardous Waste, Toxics Release…
• Geology: Earthquakes, Landslides, Shaded Relief, Volcanoes…
• History: Presidential General Election 2000 County and State Results.
• Map Reference: Cities and Towns, Urban Areas…
• People: Census, Crimes, Energy Consumption, Mortality…
• Transportation: Airports, Parkways and Scenic Rivers, Railroads, Roads…
• Water: Aquifers, Dams, Watersheds, Streams and Waterbodies…