cb_2017_us_county_20m.shp.iso.xml
eng
UTF-8
dataset
2018-03
ISO 19115 Geographic Information - Metadata
2009-02-15
https://www2.census.gov/geo/tiger/GENZ2017/shp/cb_2017_us_county_20m.zip
complex
3220
INCITS (formerly FIPS) codes
2017 Cartographic Boundary File, Current County and Equivalent for United States, 1:20,000,000
2018-03
publication
The 2017 cartographic boundary shapefiles are simplified representations of selected geographic areas from the U.S. Census Bureau's Master Address File / Topologically Integrated Geographic Encoding and Referencing (MAF/TIGER) Database (MTDB). These boundary files are specifically designed for small-scale thematic mapping. When possible, generalization is performed with the intent to maintain the hierarchical relationships among geographies and to maintain the alignment of geographies within a file set for a given year. Geographic areas may not align with the same areas from another year. Some geographies are available as nation-based files while others are available only as state-based files.
The primary legal divisions of most states are termed counties. In Louisiana, these divisions are known as parishes. In Alaska, which has no counties, the equivalent entities are the organized boroughs, city and boroughs, municipalities, and for the unorganized area, census areas. The latter are delineated cooperatively for statistical purposes by the State of Alaska and the Census Bureau. In four states (Maryland, Missouri, Nevada, and Virginia), there are one or more incorporated places that are independent of any county organization and thus constitute primary divisions of their states. These incorporated places are known as independent cities and are treated as equivalent entities for purposes of data presentation. The District of Columbia and Guam have no primary divisions, and each area is considered an equivalent entity for purposes of data presentation. The Census Bureau treats the following entities as equivalents of counties for purposes of data presentation: Municipios in Puerto Rico, Districts and Islands in American Samoa, Municipalities in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, and Islands in the U.S. Virgin Islands. The entire area of the United States, Puerto Rico, and the Island Areas is covered by counties or equivalent entities.
The generalized boundaries for counties and equivalent entities are based on those as of January 1, 2017, primarily as reported through the Census Bureau's Boundary and Annexation Survey (BAS).
These files were specifically created to support small-scale thematic mapping. To improve the appearance of shapes at small scales, areas are represented with fewer vertices than detailed TIGER/Line Shapefiles. Cartographic boundary files take up less disk space than their ungeneralized counterparts. Cartographic boundary files take less time to render on screen than TIGER/Line Shapefiles. You can join this file with table data downloaded from American FactFinder by using the AFFGEOID field in the cartographic boundary file. If detailed boundaries are required, please use the TIGER/Line Shapefiles instead of the generalized cartographic boundary files.
completed
notPlanned
Boundaries
theme
ISO 19115 Topic Categories
2017
SHP
Borough
Cartographic Boundary
Census Area
City
City and Borough
County
County equivalent
District
Generalized
Independent City
Island
Municipality
Municipio
Parish
State
theme
None
United States
US
place
ISO 3166 Codes for the representation of names of countries and their subdivisions
otherRestrictions
Access Constraints: None
Use Constraints:The intended display scale for this file is 1:20,000,000. This file should not be displayed at scales larger than 1:20,000,000.
These products are free to use in a product or publication, however acknowledgement must be given to the U.S. Census Bureau as the source. The boundary information is for visual display at appropriate small scales only. Cartographic boundary files should not be used for geographic analysis including area or perimeter calculation. Files should not be used for geocoding addresses. Files should not be used for determining precise geographic area relationships.
vector
20000000
eng
boundaries
The cartographic boundary files contain geographic data only and do not include display mapping software or statistical data. For information on how to use cartographic boundary file data with specific software package users shall contact the company that produced the software.
-179.174265
179.773922
17.913769
71.352561
publication date
2018-03
2018-03
true
Feature Catalog for the 2017 Current County and Equivalent 1:20,000,000 Cartographic Boundary File
https://meta.geo.census.gov/data/existing/decennial/GEO/CPMB/boundary/2016cb/county_20m/2016_county_20m.ea.iso.xml
SHP
PK-ZIP, version 1.93A or higher
HTML
The online cartographic boundary files may be downloaded without charge.
To obtain more information about ordering Cartographic Boundary Files visit https://www.census.gov/geo/www/tiger.
https://www2.census.gov/geo/tiger/GENZ2017/shp/cb_2017_us_county_20m.zip
Shapefile Zip File
https://www.census.gov/geo/maps-data/data/tiger-cart-boundary.html
Cartographic Boundary Shapefiles
Simplified representations of selected geographic areas from the Census Bureau's MAF/TIGER geographic database
dataset
The cartographic boundary files are generalized representations of extracts taken from the MAF/TIGER Database. Generalized boundary files are clipped to a simplified version of the U.S. outline. As a result, some off-shore areas may be excluded from the generalized files. Some small geographic areas, holes, or discontiguous parts of areas may not be included in generalized files if they are not visible at the target scale.
The cartographic boundary files are generalized representations of extracts taken from the MAF/TIGER Database. Generalized boundary files are clipped to a simplified version of the U.S. outline. As a result, some off-shore areas may be excluded from the generalized files. Some small geographic areas, holes, or discontiguous parts of areas may not be included in generalized files if they are not visible at the target scale.
The Census Bureau performed automated tests to ensure logical consistency of the source database. Segments making up the outer and inner boundaries of a polygon tie end-to-end to completely enclose the area. All polygons were tested for closure. The Census Bureau uses its internally developed geographic update system to enhance and modify spatial and attribute data in the Census MAF/TIGER database. Standard geographic codes, such as INCITS (formerly FIPS) codes for states, counties, municipalities, county subdivisions, places, American Indian/Alaska Native/Native Hawaiian areas, and congressional districts are used when encoding spatial entities. The Census Bureau performed spatial data tests for logical consistency of the codes during the compilation of the original Census MAF/TIGER database files. Feature attribute information has been examined but has not been fully tested for consistency.
For the cartographic boundary files, the Point and Vector Object Count for the G-polygon SDTS Point and Vector Object Type reflects the number of records in the file's data table. For multi-polygon features, only one attribute record exists for each multi-polygon rather than one attribute record per individual G-polygon component of the multi-polygon feature. Cartographic Boundary File multi-polygons are an exception to the G-polygon object type classification. Therefore, when multi-polygons exist in a file, the object count will be less than the actual number of G-polygons.
Spatial data were extracted from the MAF/TIGER database and processed through a U.S. Census Bureau batch generalization system.
2018-03-01T00:00:00
Geo-spatial Relational Database
Census MAF/TIGER database
MAF/TIGER
U.S. Department of Commerce, U.S. Census Bureau, Geography Division, Geographic Customer Services Branch
originator
Source Contribution: All spatial and feature data
201706
201705
notPlanned
This was transformed from the Census Metadata Import Format