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Places

Metadata Updated: October 21, 2025

The Places dataset was published on September 22, 2025 from the U.S. Department of Commerce, U.S. Census Bureau, Geography Division and is part of the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT)/Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) National Transportation Atlas Database (NTAD). This resource is a member of a series. The TIGER/Line shapefiles and related database files (.dbf) are an extract of selected geographic and cartographic information from the U.S. Census Bureau's Master Address File / Topologically Integrated Geographic Encoding and Referencing (MAF/TIGER) System (MTS). The MTS represents a seamless national file with no overlaps or gaps between parts, however, each TIGER/Line shapefile is designed to stand alone as an independent data set, or they can be combined to cover the entire nation. The TIGER/Line shapefiles include both incorporated places (legal entities) and census designated places or CDPs (statistical entities). An incorporated place is established to provide governmental functions for a concentration of people as opposed to a minor civil division (MCD), which generally is created to provide services or administer an area without regard, necessarily, to population. Places always nest within a state but may extend across county and county subdivision boundaries. An incorporated place is usually a city, town, village, or borough, but can have other legal descriptions. CDPs are delineated for the decennial census as the statistical counterparts of incorporated places. CDPs are delineated to provide data for settled concentrations of population that are identifiable by name but are not legally incorporated under the laws of the state in which they are located. The boundaries for CDPs are often defined in partnership with state, local, and/or tribal officials and usually coincide with visible features or the boundary of an adjacent incorporated place or another legal entity. CDP boundaries often change from one decennial census to the next with changes in the settlement pattern and development; a CDP with the same name as in an earlier census does not necessarily have the same boundary. The only population/housing size requirement for CDPs is that they must contain some housing and population. The boundaries of most incorporated places in this shapefile are as of January 1, 2024, as reported through the Census Bureau's Boundary and Annexation Survey (BAS). The boundaries of all CDPs were delineated as part of the Census Bureau's Participant Statistical Areas Program (PSAP) for the 2020 Census, but some CDPs were added or updated through the 2024 BAS as well. A data dictionary, or other source of attribute information, is accessible at https://doi.org/10.21949/1529072

Access & Use Information

License: No license information was provided. If this work was prepared by an officer or employee of the United States government as part of that person's official duties it is considered a U.S. Government Work.

Downloads & Resources

Dates

Metadata Date October 20, 2025
Metadata Created Date August 3, 2024
Metadata Updated Date October 21, 2025
Reference Date(s) July 1, 1996 (creation), September 22, 2025 (revision)
Frequency Of Update notPlanned

Metadata Source

Harvested from National Transportation Atlas Database (NTAD) Metadata

Additional Metadata

Resource Type Dataset
Metadata Date October 20, 2025
Metadata Created Date August 3, 2024
Metadata Updated Date October 21, 2025
Reference Date(s) July 1, 1996 (creation), September 22, 2025 (revision)
Responsible Party U.S. Department of Commerce, U.S. Census Bureau, Geography Division (Point of Contact)
Contact Email
Guid Places
Access Constraints Access Constraints: The TIGER/Line Shapefile products are not copyrighted however TIGER/Line and Census TIGER are registered trademarks of the U.S. Census Bureau. 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 in the TIGER/Line Shapefiles are for statistical data collection and tabulation purposes only; their depiction and designation for statistical purposes does not constitute a determination of jurisdictional authority or rights of ownership or entitlement and they are not legal land descriptions. Coordinates in the TIGER/Line shapefiles have six implied decimal places, but the positional accuracy of these coordinates is not as great as the six decimal places suggest.
Bbox East Long 174.15602501272329
Bbox North Lat 71.340186000000074
Bbox South Lat -14.419949999999972
Bbox West Long -176.69669367335965
Coupled Resource
Frequency Of Update notPlanned
Harvest Object Id 98b38488-941a-4594-86ac-3eccd7939db2
Harvest Source Id ee45e034-47c1-4a61-a3ec-de75031e6865
Harvest Source Title National Transportation Atlas Database (NTAD) Metadata
Licence This NTAD dataset is a work of the United States government as defined in 17 U.S.C. § 101 and as such are not protected by any U.S. copyrights. This work is available for unrestricted public use.
Lineage
Metadata Language eng; USA
Metadata Type geospatial
Old Spatial {"type": "Polygon", "coordinates": [[[-176.69669367335965, -14.419949999999972], [174.1560250127233, -14.419949999999972], [174.1560250127233, 71.34018600000007], [-176.69669367335965, 71.34018600000007], [-176.69669367335965, -14.419949999999972]]]}
Progress onGoing
Spatial Data Service Type
Spatial Reference System 3857
Spatial Harvester True

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