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Counties (500k Carto Boundary File), WI 2018

Identification Information

Citation
Title
Counties (500k Carto Boundary File), WI 2018
Originator
U.S. Census Bureau
Publication Date
2020-05-05
Edition
2018
Geospatial Data Presentation Form
mapDigital
Collection Title
Statewide
Abstract
This data represents Counties from the U.S. Census Bureau for Wisconsin in 2018. [The 2018 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, 2018, primarily as reported through the Census Bureau's Boundary and Annexation Survey (BAS).]
Purpose
This data is intended for reference and mapping purposes, and may be used for basic applications such as viewing, querying, and map output production, or to provide a basemap to support graphical overlays and analysis with other spatial data. [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.]
Supplemental Information
This is an archived copy of the data held at UW-Madison.
Temporal Extent
Time Instant
2018-01-01T00:00:00
Bounding Box
West
-92.888114
East
-86.805415
North
47.080621
South
42.491983
ISO Topic Category
boundaries
Place Keyword
Wisconsin
Place Keyword Thesaurus
Theme Keyword
Census districts
Theme Keyword Thesaurus
LCSH
Resource Constraints
Use Limitation
[The intended display scale for this file is 1:500,000. This file should not be displayed at scales larger than 1:500,000. 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. ]
Legal Constraints
Use Limitation
Although this data is being distributed by the University of Wisconsin-Madison, no warranty expressed or implied is made by the University as to the accuracy of the data and related materials. The act of distribution shall not constitute any such warranty, and no responsibility is assumed by the University in the use of this data, or related materials.
Status
completed
Maintenance and Update Frequency
unknown
Language
eng
Credit
U.S. Census Bureau
Point of Contact
Contact
U.S. Census Bureau

Spatial Reference Information

Reference System Identifier
Code
4269
Code Space
EPSG
Version
9.7

Data Quality Information

Completeness Commission
Evaluation Method
[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.]
Result
Unified Code of Units of Measure m Missing
Lineage
Process Step
Description
[Spatial data were extracted from the MAF/TIGER database and processed through a U.S. Census Bureau batch generalization system.]
Process Date
2019-05-01T00:00:00
Process Step
Description
Provided access to archived data at UW-Madison.
Process Date
2020-04-27T00:00:00

Distribution Information

Format Name
Shapefile
Format Version
1.0
Distributor
University of Wisconsin-Madison
Distributor
U.S. Census Bureau
Online Access
https://gisdata.wisc.edu/public/WI_CensusCBF_Counties_2018.zip
Protocol
WWW:DOWNLOAD-1.0-http--download
Name
GeoData@Wisconsin
Function
download

Spatial Representation Information

Vector
Topology Level
geometryOnly
Vector Object Type
composite
Vector Object Count
72

Metadata Reference Information

Hierarchy Level
dataset
Metadata File Identifier
614AEB16-A438-499C-8146-3517D7EAE66F
Metadata Point of Contact
Name
Arthur H. Robinson Map Library
Position Name
Metadata technician
Delivery Point
550 N. Park Street
City
Madison
Administrative Area
WI
Postal Code
53706
Country
US
Email
askmap@library.wisc.edu
Phone
(608) 262-1471
Metadata Date Stamp
2020-05-05
Metadata Standard Name
ISO 19139 Geographic Information - Metadata - Implementation Specification
Metadata Standard Version
2007
Character Set
utf8
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