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TIGER (Topologically Integrated Geographic Encoding and Referencing system) Data is a separately licensed USPS data set that allows ZIP codes to be matched to geographical location. A user will submit a ZIP+4 code and the additional data files will work out the location of the centroid for this location, and then present longitude and latitude data back in the XML return value. TIGER Data is enabled for matchIT SQL only if the relevant TIGER Data files exist in the Addressing Data Directory. These are called tiger.dat and tiger.idx.
The following are the fields available from the TIGER Data processing, and their descriptions.
|
Name |
Description |
|
InputZip |
The formatted zip code that is passed to the TIGER Data engine. Zips are formatted to be 9 characters long by the GenerateCorrectedAddresses process, which involves padding 5 digit zips with 4 zeros to make a Zip+4. |
|
Latitude |
The angular distance north or south from the equator of a point on the earth's surface, measured on the meridian of the point. |
|
Longitude |
The angular distance east or west on the earth's surface, measured by the angle contained between the meridian of a particular place and some prime meridian, as that of Greenwich, England, and expressed either in degrees or by some corresponding difference in time. |
|
Block |
Blocks are numbered uniquely within each census tract with a 3-character number that identifies the collection block used in the census and a character block suffix. This character block suffix is often blank. |
|
CMSA |
A 4-digit code assigned to areas that consist of primary metropolitan statistical areas. |
|
LatFrom |
The north/south measurement indicating the beginning point of the address. |
|
LatTo |
A north/south measurement indicating the ending point of the address. |
|
LongFrom |
The east/west measurement indicating the beginning point of the address. |
|
LongTo |
The east/west measurement indicating the ending point of the address. |
|
Plus4 |
Describes the last four positions of a ZIP+4 Code. Most delivery addresses are assigned a single ZIP+4 Code. However, large companies may be given a range of ZIP+4 Codes that can be used to route mail to a specific department. |
|
PMSA |
A 4-digit code assigned to areas that comprise one or more counties, including a major population nucleus and nearby communities that have a high degree of interaction. |
|
Side |
Side indicate what side of the line segment the location occurs at, this is why Lat/Long From and To are returned, to allow identification of the location based on the range of the location. The side is loosely related to the side of a street or highway the ZIP+4 is located, but translating this to an actual side of a road is unreliable. |
|
Tract |
Small, locally delineated statistical areas within selected counties, generally having stable boundaries and, when first established by local communities, designed to have relatively homogeneous demographic characteristics. |
|
MatchLevel |
The level at which TIGER data was retrieved for the given zip. The levels are zip5, zip7 and zip9. |
|
ProcessingMessage |
Describes the status of the TIGER data result |
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