TIGER Shapefile Options
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Database with rules for Tiger files. It will be in the main
program directory. You can open it and edit it like any database.
MTFCC is "MAF/TIGER Feature Class Code". It has a letter for the major category, and then 4 numbers for subcategories. The XML metadata file with each shapefile defines the codes.
<edomv>H3013</edomv>
<edomvd>Braided
Stream</edomvd>
<edomvds>U.S.
Census Bureau</edomvds>
</edom>
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MICRODEM selection form
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This window allows modifying the plotting parameters with TIGER data. This can be activated by right clicking on a map with TIGER data displayed, or on the Vector Map tab of the options form
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Roads tab TIGER uses 7 levels of roads, from interstates to trails. The TIGER shape files use only 6 levels of road, (combining levels 2 and 3 into one). |
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Boundaries tab TIGER has political boundaries, which are generally not very useful. |
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Others tab The "Feature Labels" determines whether roads and streams will be labeled. The TIGER shapefiles use only 1 water level. Powerline and Pipeline are not used very often or consistently. Feature labels determines whether text labels will be drawn. You must be really zoomed in to avoid solid text layers. |
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Autoscaling tab These shows the size in meters of the map pixel when features will appear. Notice that a small scale map, with large pixels covering a large area, will only show the most important features. Features can be labeled, but it is likely that every block will be labeled because of the way the TIGER files are organized. |
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Files tab If you set Auto appearing on Maps, or select the Overlay, All TIGER, you can set the max number of counties to automatically draw. If your map has more than this number, you will be asked if you want to proceed. To avoid that annoyance, set this number high. On the other hand, if you sometimes open very large DEMs, you might not want to open all the Tiger files that cover it, and would instead want to use data from the US National Atlas. he use of zipped files, and the use of the old ASCII files, are probably not working and are not likely to return. |
Overview of TIGER operations, and sample output.
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TIGER Shapefile record.
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Last revision 6/5/2016