Subject: [public-news-alert] Census Bureau News Date: Tue, 6 Feb 2001 11:58:00 -0500 (EST) From: "Angela C. Baker (PIO)" <baker001(a)info.census.gov> To: press-release(a)info.census.gov FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2001 Public Information Office CB01-22 301-457-3030/301-457-3670 (fax) 301-457-1037 (TDD) e-mail: pio(a)census.gov Leo Dougherty 301-457-1128 Census Bureau Breaks New Ground with Release of DVD Products The release on Digital Versatile Discs (DVDs) of two geographic products, the fourth version of the TIGER/Census Tract Street Index (CTSI 4) and the federal geographic data viewer called LandView , makes the Census Bureau one of the first federal agencies to publish huge amounts of digital data on DVD and signals a move by the agency to supplement lower-capacity CD-ROMs. The Census Bureau has a tradition of pioneering new technologies to disseminate large public-use files. It used CD-ROMs to disseminate the results of the 1990 Census of Population and Housing, as well as extracts from its Topologically Integrated Geographic Encoding and Referencing (TIGER) system, and it has been in the forefront of federal agencies taking advantage of the Internet as a dissemination vehicle. CTSI 4, used by banks and other financial institutions to meet statutory reporting requirements for assigning property addresses on loan applications to the 1990 census tract in which they are located, was released on a single DVD last Nov. 27. Released Nov. 14 on a single DVD rather than 13 CD-ROMs, LandView IV contains both database management software and mapping software, as well as Census Bureau digital map data, U.S. Geological Survey geographic names, data on Environmental Protection Agency-regulated sites and 1990 census demographic and socioeconomic data. The Census Bureau expects a substantial increase in the amount of Census 2000 data published on disc compared to 1990. All machine-readable files will be published on disc. In 1990, only some files were available on CD-ROM. Even with its efforts to reduce file sizes by using compressed data formats, the Census 2000 CD-ROM series could approach 1,000 individual discs (about seven times the total published in 1990). To service customers who want all states in a series (federal depository libraries, census information centers, etc.), the Census Bureau will put each series (Summary Files 1 through 4) on a much smaller number of DVDs, depending on file sizes and formats, after individual state files have been issued on recordable CD-ROMs. DVD was developed by the optical disc industry as the next evolutionary stage in compact disc technology. DVD-ROM uses the same basic technology as DVD video discs, which contain entire feature-length movies. Other Census Bureau geographic products planned for DVD include the TIGER/Line files, beginning with the Redistricting Census 2000 TIGER/Line Files. -X- Editor's note: The embargoed data can be accessed at http://www.census.gov/dcmd/embargo.html. Call the Public Information Office for a password. After the release time, go to http://www.census.gov/geo/www/tiger