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) Database (MTDB). The MTDB 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 Census Bureau includes landmarks in the MTDB for locating special features and to help enumerators during field operations.  Some
                             of the more common landmark types include area landmarks such as airports, cemeteries, parks, mountain peaks/summits, schools, and
                             churches and other religious institutions.  The Census Bureau has added landmark features to MTDB on an as-needed basis and made no
                             attempt to ensure that all instances of a particular feature were included.  The presence or absence of a landmark such as a hospital
                             or prison does not mean that the living quarters associated with that landmark were geocoded to that census tabulation block or
                             excluded from the census enumeration.