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 Topological Faces/Area Landmark Relationship File contains a record for each face/area landmark relationship. Face refers to the areal (polygon) topological primitives that make up the MTS. A face is bounded by one or more edges; its boundary includes only the edges that separate it from other faces, not any interior edges contained within the area of the face. The face to which a record in the Topological Faces/Area Landmark Relationship File applies can be determined by linking to the Topological Faces shapefile (faces.shp) on the permanent topological face identifier (TFID) attribute. The area landmark to which a record in the Topological Faces/Area Landmark Relationship File (facesal.dbf) applies can be determined by linking to the Area Landmark shapefile (arealm.shp) on the area landmark identifier (AREAID) attribute. A face may be part of multiple area landmarks. An area landmark may consist of multiple faces.