Proceedings of the Symposium on Global and Environmental Monitoring: Proceedings of the Symposium on Global and Environmental Monitoring

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Persistent identifier:: 856665355

Title:: Proceedings of the Symposium on Global and Environmental Monitoring

Sub title:: techniques and impacts ; September 17 - 21, 1990, Victoria Conference Centre, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada

Year of publication:: 1990

Place of publication:: Victoria, BC

Publisher of the original:: [Verlag nicht ermittelbar]

Identifier (digital):: 856665355

Language:: English

Document type:: Multivolume work

Volume

Persistent identifier:: 856669164

Title:: Proceedings of the Symposium on Global and Environmental Monitoring

Sub title:: techniques and impacts; September 17 - 21, 1990, Victoria Conference Centre, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada

Scope:: XIV, 912 Seiten

Year of publication:: 1990

Place of publication:: Victoria, BC

Publisher of the original:: [Verlag nicht ermittelbar]

Identifier (digital):: 856669164

Illustration:: Illustrationen, Diagramme, Karten

Signature of the source:: ZS 312(28,7,1)

Language:: English

Usage licence:: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Editor:: International Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing, Commission of Photographic and Remote Sensing Data

Publisher of the digital copy:: Technische Informationsbibliothek Hannover

Place of publication of the digital copy:: Hannover

Year of publication of the original:: 2016

Document type:: Volume

Collection:: Earth sciences

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Title:: [WP-5 LARGE SHARED DATABASES]

Document type:: Multivolume work

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Title:: PIXELS AND CENSELS: PUTTING PEOPLE IN THE PICTURE. Robert W. Marx

Document type:: Multivolume work

Structure type:: Chapter

■ »¡§1 PIXELS AND CENSELS: PUTTING PEOPLE IN THE PICTURE Robert W. Marx* Chief, Geography Division U.S. Bureau of the Census Washington, D.C. - U.S.A. ISPRS Commission VII The Geography Division, one component of the United States Bureau of the Census, developed the TIGER System to automate the full range of cartographic and geographic support processes necessary to serve the data collection, tabulation, and dissemination needs of the 1990 decennial census. In doing this, the Geography Division provided a new “tool” that could support the cartographic and geographic requirements of all the other statistical programs at the Census Bureau — the economic, agriculture, and governments censuses; the numerous monthly, quarterly, and annual sample surveys; and the analytical needs of those staff members using geographic information system (GIS) technology to study the results of its statistical programs. The Census Bureau also has made this new tool available to support the work of other Federal agencies, state and local governments, academic institutions, and those commercial organizations that share an interest in GIS applications. Although the TIGER data base is not a GIS in the traditional context of such systems, the way in which the Census Bureau collects and tabulates data is by “polygon.” The geographic structure of the 1990 census, as documented in the TIGER data base, provides machine-usable geographic units (polygons) similar to the ones used by the people collecting and studying soils or land use/land cover information. More importantly, in creating its “people polygons,” the Census Bureau routinely uses as the boundaries for its geographic units the same earth surface features most people appear to want — and that many already include — in their GIS: streets, roads, streams, railroads, governmental unit boundaries, and so forth. Thus, the TIGER data base is a very valuable source of information that can form a critical component of a GIS. In a GIS environment, a data analyst using the TIGER data base can examine numerous geographically distributed data sets in the context of the governments responsible for managing an area, in the context of the characteristics of the people who occupy the land, in the context of those people’s homes and farms, and in the context of the businesses and industrial activities that support the economy. The Census Bureau completed release of the second TIGER Extract product — the Precensus TIGER/Line files — in February 1990; they contain more than 19 gigabytes of geographic information that can be used in a GIS. For most data users, the quickest and easiest way to start using the TIGER/Line files is to obtain, from a vendor, software appropriate for the specific task envisioned and for the computer hardware available in the office where the files are to be used. To prepare for the future and the ongoing maintenance of the TIGER data base, the Census Bureau is participating in several experimental programs with other Federal agencies and some state governments to evaluate possible methodologies for updating the feature and geographic entity information. The approach finally selected probably will be some combination of cooperative programs and traditional approaches. KEY WORDS: TIGER, 1990 census, GIS, polygons, census geography. Many years ago, Miguel de Cervantes recognized the value and intrigue of maps by having his creation, the crazy but occasionally profound dreamer Don Quixote, exclaim that “...in a map, one could journey over all the universe, without the expense and fatigue of traveling, without suffering the inconveniences of heat, cold, hunger, and thirst.” Even in his wildest dreams, Don Quixote could not have conceived of the maps people are creating these days. Using computerized mapping and geographic infor mation system techniques, people can create map visualizations that range in coverage from the vastness of outer space, through the familiar range of small- and large-scale maps, to the largest end of the map scale continuum where humans constantly strive for greater and greater detail, which demands greater and greater accuracy in observation and measurement. The fore going leads, somewhat inexplicably at this point in the paper, to a discussion about tigers. BACKGROUND People normally visualize a tiger as a large, yellow, cat like animal with black stripes. The TIGER to which this paper refers is an altogether different creature. It is an acronym that the United States Bureau of the Census * Robert W. Marx has been responsible for planning, administering, and coordinating all geographic and cartographic activities that affect and support the statistical programs of the Census Bureau since April 1983. Most significant among these activities has been the development of the TIGER System. 493 created to refer to its new computerized geographic support system: the Topologically Integrated Geo graphic Encoding and Referencing System (Marx, 1986; U.S. Bureau of the Census, 1985b). The Goal The Geography Division, one component of the Census Bureau (U.S. Bureau of the Census, 1988), developed the TIGER System in response to a major goal the agency set in 1981: To automate the full range of cartographic and geographic support processes necessary to serve the data collection, tabulation, and dissemination needs of the 1990 decennial census - the Bicentennial Census of the United States. The charge to the Geography Division included having the initial set of cartographic and geographic products from the TIGER System ready when the preparatory field activities for the 1990 census began in early 1988. It also included providing other geographic services and products at specified times throughout the 1990 census cycle (Marx, et al., 1990b). This charge gave the Geography Division six short years: • To design, develop, test, and implement a computer data structure like none in existence before (Kinnear, 1987); a data structure that would handle both the carto graphic and geographic tasks for which the Geography Division is responsible within the Census Bureau. • To identify, procure, install, and - most significantly - learn to use, the graphic work stations, computer- WL mri

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