Kevin:
>Now that the Census has released SF3, does the LIST know of way to download
>(at once) all of the Block Group SF3 data for a county, or do I have to
>download each Tract individually and merge them?
The structure of SF 3 is one header file plus 76 (!) data files, none with
more that 250 fields, to handle the 16,520 fields in the 405 tables for
Census Tracts and above. There are "only" 5558 fields in 281 tables for
Block Groups.
Each file has all summary levels mixed together, so you have to search each
file that has the tables you want to look for the block groups or other
areas you want.
TransCAD and Maptitude users have it a lot easier. TransCAD users get the
SF 3 Data CD for their state free as part of their maintenance agreement,
plus the State Data CD with Block Group and other boundaries for their
state. Maptitude users (or TransCAD users that want other states) can buy
these CDs for $195 each. Nationwide Census Tracts, ZCTAs, counties, MSAs,
etc. come with both TransCAD and Maptitude.
The SF3 Data CDs have all 77 files merged, then split into each summary
level: Block Groups, Census Tracts, etc. With the Table Chooser for SF 3,
an add-in to TransCAD and Maptitude, you can easily pick the geography and
tables that you want, and output a geographic file (with the tables
attached) or just a tabular file.
SF 3 Data CDs are being released as the Census Bureau releases the states.
12 states are out, and seven more are due tomorrow. For more information,
please visit (http://www.caliper.com/DataCDs/SF3DataCD.htm).
Peter
----------------------------------------------------------------
Peter Van Demark
Director of GIS Products and Training Phone: 617-527-4700
Caliper Corporation Fax: 617-527-5113
1172 Beacon Street E-mail: peter(a)caliper.com
Newton MA 02461-9926 Web site: http://www.caliper.com
Thank you to all that answered my question. Hopefully, Washington State
DOT will follow the same procedure as they did after the 1990 census.
Eric Johnson
Spokane Regional Transportation Council
I used the CB FTP site (http://www2.census.gov/census_2000/datasets/Summary_File_3/) for the data:
The SF 3 files are built on the same lines as the previous releases (SF 1 and PL data). The package consists of one GEOGRAPHIC file, and 76 data files. The process I used to convert the data into a GIS (in my case Arcview) is:
1. Downloaded the shape file for BGs from the ESRI website at www.geographynetwork.com
2. Downloaded the geography file, and the datafiles from the Census Bureau FTP site at: http://www2.census.gov/census_2000/datasets/Summary_File_3/
3. Opened these files in MS Access. If you want detailed instructions, please refer to http://www2.census.gov/census_2000/datasets/Summary_File_3/0README_SF3.doc
OR
http://www.census.gov/support/SF3ASCII.html
There is also a specific website to help you open the data in MS Access. Please refer to: http://www.census.gov/support/2000/SF3/
4. Exported the database into DBF, and connected to the Arcview shapefile downloaded in step 1.
Steps 2, and 3 are the only "problem" areas to most users. The Census Bureau is providing LIVE online support, and telephonic support to accomplish these steps. For online support, please visit:
http://www.census.gov/support/SF3ASCII.html and click on the GREEN BOX with the title "LIVE HELP".
The telephonic and e-mail contact information is:
301-457-1324 Voice
301-457-1296 Fax
TechSupp(a)Census.gov
If you need more help on the Arcview/GIS side (steps 1, and 4), please refer to the FHWA Census Issues website note on SF 1 data.
http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/planning/census/sf1.htm
The steps are almost the same, the difference is that in the case of SF1, the data was at the level of census blocks, most of SF 3 data is at the level of Block Groups.
Hope the above is of use!
Thanks
Nanda Srinivasan
>>> kharrison(a)sarpc.org 08/19/02 10:34AM >>>
Now that the Census has released SF3, does the LIST know of way to download
(at once) all of the Block Group SF3 data for a county, or do I have to
download each Tract individually and merge them?
Has anybody downloaded SF3 by BG from Census or American Fact Finder??
Kevin Harrison
South Alabama Regional Planning Commission
651 Church St
Mobile, AL 36602
251.433.6541
Does anyone know when the FHWA will decide on whether it is going to use
the Census defined UAB or allow the development of modified ones by
MPO's?
I comparing Spokane County, WA 2000 Census UAs with our FHWA adopted
UAB, there's some quite significant differences, such as the river
flowing through the middle of the UA is non-urban, which splits the main
UA into two parts (and theoretically makes the bridges across the river
subject to rural funding programs instead of urban.)
Thanks for any information that develops.
Eric Johnson
GIS Supervisor
Spokane Regional Transportation Council
I have to add one more question to my previous list: should the state
consider the population of revised/adjusted urbanized area for STP-UZA
allocation? It (the Adjusted UZA) might be strictly for HPMS purpose
only as most would suggest. Thank you everyone.
I am sending this also to the MPO List - as some MPO experts may shed
some more light on the practice. (for those on the MPO list: my
original question was to do with: the State with co-operation from the
MPOs shall fix urbanized area boundaries (smoothing out is the term used
often) - for HPMS or other purposes). Following responses are
self-explanatory.
Viplav Putta
INCOG
----------------------------------------
Nancy:
I got the following responses on the issue of smoothing, which may help
others (-VP):
---------------------------------------------
Glen Ahlert [gahlert(a)swfrpc.org]
The only guidance available from FHWA on this dates from 1991, and still
contains a number of obsolete references. It will also leave a lot of
your questions unanswered, I suspect. You can download it at
http://www.fhwa.dot.gov//////legsregs/directives/fapg/g406300.htm.
You might also want to talk to Bob Diogo (bdiogo(a)swfrpc.org) in this
office, who has been trying to develop smoothed urbanized area and urban
cluster boundaries for this area, about what he has learned and how he's
gone about it.
-----------------------------------------------
John Coil [jcoil(a)drcog.org]
The FHWA requirement for smoothing urbanized areas (or creating
transportation urban areas) was focused as an MPO function in 1975, 1983
and 1992. The MPOs needed to define the transportation urban areas and
then the urban and rural functional classification to determine which
roads were eligible for federal-aid secondary (rural) and federal-aid
urban (urban) funding based on the 1974 Federal-aid Highway Act. The
MPOs paid little attention to the HPMS data reporting requirements.
With the advent of ISTEA in 1992, the need for transportation urban
areas declined to just billboard locations, HPMS data reporting and
speed limit controls. Since, the Census urbanized boundary now controls
billboard locations and the speed controls have been removed. The only
remaining need for transportation urban area definitions is the HPMS
data reporting requirement. BUT, I think FHWA and many MPOs would like
to have a consistent set of transportation urban areas for mapping and
other planning functions.
I do not know about the MPO interests in Oklahoma, but Denver MPO has no
real interest in the urbanized/ transportation urban data reporting. We
need data by the TMA to meet our Congressional transportation planning
requirements. The 1990 Clean Air Act and ISTEA changed the geography we
use in our planning and air quality conformity process. It is too bad
that FHWA did not immediately change the HMPS data reporting
requirements to match federal law.
----------------------------------------------------------
Mitchell, Steve R. [Steve.Mitchell(a)ahtd.state.ar.us]
Go to the following link
(http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/planning/census/faqa2cdt.htm#20 ) for
information and contacts on the urbanized area boundary smoothing. It
was a very big deal after the 1990 Census and ISTEA because there was a
nation-wide functional reclassification of the entire roadway network.
Back then there was guidance and workshops to help with the process.
The FHWA Division offices (states) are now responsible for assisting the
states and the information given out is very fragmented and confusing
for everyone, not just those who haven't done it before. The
information I have has never given a finite limit to the amount of
adjustment...just that everyone involved must agree that it is
reasonable. The smoothing affects what is classified as urban and rural
by the State and Federal government which affects many things they do
and could affect funding. The smoothing may be done for all areas
classified as urban, not just urbanized areas above 200,000 population.
The smoothing is supposed to be done in cooperation with the MPO in
large areas. Make suggestions to your DOT as you think appropriate to
make data management easier
-----------------------------------------------------
Hello Viplava. Here in Montana we had some of the same questions you have.
In particular, we had trouble reconciling new Census definitions (Federal
Register/Vol.67, No. 51 - March 15, 2002) with what currently exists in USC
Titles 23 and 49 relating to urban areas. My understanding is that FHWA is
looking into this and will provide further guidance on establishing urban
boundaries and the "smoothing" criteria states can use relating to census
blocks and urban clusters.
With respect to establishing urbanized boundaries, FHWA HQ has asked that we
follow the same federal-aid policy guidelines used for the 1990 census.
These guidelines (Chapter 4 - Urban area Boundaries) can be found at the
link attached below. You will note that the urbanized boundaries under
these guidelines CAN encompass fringe areas having residential, commercial,
industrial, transportation terminals, and national defense significance if
they lie within a reasonable distance (no qualifications on what this
distance can be). One of the goals for Census 200 was to bring the urban
area criteria back to a single set of rules and eliminate any subjectivity
in delineating the new UA and UC census boundaries. I don't know if this is
the same goal FHWA has in designating urban and urbanized boundaries -
especially if we use the 1990 criteria.
http://www.fhwa.dot.gov//////legsregs/directives/fapg/g406300.htm
-----Original Message-----
From: Putta, Viplava [mailto:vputta@incog.org]
Sent: Thursday, August 15, 2002 1:53 PM
To: ctpp-news(a)chrispy.net
Subject: [CTPP] Adjusted Urbanized Area
"The Federal Highway Administration approves adjusted urbanized-area
boundaries that include the census-defined Urbanized Area plus
transportation centers, shopping centers, major places of employment,
satellite communities and other major trip generators near the edge of
the Urbanized Area, including development expected to be in place
shortly."
Our state (Oklahoma) is conducting this exercise currently with all
towns in Oklahoma. I am trying to find out more about this practice.
Can someone point me to the federal register/the directive related to
this?
- Is the sole purpose here is to get the HPMS representation right or
should we know more about the usage in apportionment.
- What are the limits of such 'smoothening' the urbanized area by the
above definition?
- Is this intended for all towns/cities (both in and outside of the
TMA?)
- When the DOT 'smoothen' the boundary I assume they should include
block group if they decide to go out and any other parameters one should
be aware of?
Thanks.
Viplav Putta
INCOG
Hello Viplav Putta:
I have attached a copy of the federal register that has the control
totals (the population within the urban area) for all of the mpo areas
in the US. It also describe each urban area and what happened to it.
This is a text file; you can get a better looking pdf by search for this
reference in google: [Docket Number 010209034-2084-04]
You will have to download the most recent tiger map and find all of the
urban area census blocks. These block's population should total to the
control total that is listed in the attached document. Go to Census
bureau site.
I have no idea what smoothing is; basically if a block touches another
block with a common boundary or a common corner (!!!!!), its in the
urban area. You can quickly get odd shaped urban area that have no
relation to reality, but that's the rules.
Good luck.
Mike LeBlanc, AICP, Planner II
Lafayette Consolidated Government
Traffic and Transportation Dept.
Lafayette, Louisiana
-----Original Message-----
From: 941 - Mike Hollier [mailto:mhollier@lafayettegov.com]
Sent: Thursday, August 15, 2002 3:33 PM
To: Mike LeBlanc
Subject: Fw: [CTPP] Adjusted Urbanized Area
Mike - - -
You might want to pass your experience on to this guy.
Mike H.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Putta, Viplava" <vputta(a)incog.org>
To: <ctpp-news(a)chrispy.net>
Sent: Thursday, August 15, 2002 2:52 PM
Subject: [CTPP] Adjusted Urbanized Area
> "The Federal Highway Administration approves adjusted urbanized-area
> boundaries that include the census-defined Urbanized Area plus
> transportation centers, shopping centers, major places of employment,
> satellite communities and other major trip generators near the edge of
> the Urbanized Area, including development expected to be in place
> shortly."
>
> Our state (Oklahoma) is conducting this exercise currently with all
> towns in Oklahoma. I am trying to find out more about this practice.
>
> Can someone point me to the federal register/the directive related to
> this?
>
> - Is the sole purpose here is to get the HPMS representation right or
> should we know more about the usage in apportionment.
>
> - What are the limits of such 'smoothening' the urbanized area by the
> above definition?
>
> - Is this intended for all towns/cities (both in and outside of the
> TMA?)
>
> - When the DOT 'smoothen' the boundary I assume they should include
> block group if they decide to go out and any other parameters one
should
> be aware of?
>
> Thanks.
>
> Viplav Putta
> INCOG
>
"The Federal Highway Administration approves adjusted urbanized-area
boundaries that include the census-defined Urbanized Area plus
transportation centers, shopping centers, major places of employment,
satellite communities and other major trip generators near the edge of
the Urbanized Area, including development expected to be in place
shortly."
Our state (Oklahoma) is conducting this exercise currently with all
towns in Oklahoma. I am trying to find out more about this practice.
Can someone point me to the federal register/the directive related to
this?
- Is the sole purpose here is to get the HPMS representation right or
should we know more about the usage in apportionment.
- What are the limits of such 'smoothening' the urbanized area by the
above definition?
- Is this intended for all towns/cities (both in and outside of the
TMA?)
- When the DOT 'smoothen' the boundary I assume they should include
block group if they decide to go out and any other parameters one should
be aware of?
Thanks.
Viplav Putta
INCOG
The Iowa County Engineers Association Service Bureau (ICEASB) with the
support of the Iowa Department of Transportation and the Iowa Research
Board has developed such a project.
Please visit the ICEASB website or contact Mr. De Vries.
Contact:
Steve De Vries
515.244.0779
http://cfapps.iceasb.org/DocumentLibrary/default.cfm
Steven Bowman
Iowa Dept. of Transportation
800 Lincoln Way
Ames, Iowa 50010
Ph.515.239.1337
"Daryl Scott"
<dscott(a)swrpa.org To: <ctpp-news(a)chrispy.net>
> cc:
Sent by: Subject: [CTPP] TIP/STIP management application
owner-ctpp-news@c
hrispy.net
07/24/02 09:41 AM
Do any transportation planners at MPOs use a TIP/STIP management
application that they would highly recommend to other MPOs? The South
Western Region Metropolitan Planning Organization has an outstanding
contract with a consultant to develop an application to manage the TIP/STIP
for the planning region. The application should be able to generate
various reports designed for public officials and the general public, keep
track of official decisions about projects, store important comments, and
have some document management capabilities. I need to provide detailed
application specifications to the consultants before they begin work. I
hope to get some good ideas from members of this list serve. If you use an
excellent TIP/STIP application, please send me some documentation about the
program? Thank you in advance for your assistance. Regards, Daryl
--
Daryl Scott
South Western Regional Planning Agency
Stamford Government Center
888 Washington Blvd., 3rd Floor
Stamford, CT 06901
Tel: (203) 316-5190
Fax: (203) 316-4995
E-mail: dscott(a)swrpa.org
TO: CTPP-News; TMIP Listserv
Abstracts for this TRB conference are due this Friday, August 16.
Ninth Conference on the Application of Transportation Planning Methods
Baton Rouge, LA, April 6-11, 2003
Conference website: http://www.ltrc.lsu.edu/TRBConference/
Call for Abstracts (pdf format): http://www.ltrc.lsu.edu/TRBConference/ConferenceDocuments/CallforAbstracts.…
Send abstracts to Dick Walker of Portland Metro. His address is in the Call for Abstract PDF file.
"The goal of the conference is to provide an outlet for new techniques and methods without the time lag associated with traditional journals and conferences. The program emphasizes practical, innovative, and timely technical and policy approaches to transportation planning."