PSAP Verification Phase; TSAP Verification Phase; SDRP Verification Phase; Redistricting Data Program Verification Phase

2010 Census Redistricting Data Program; Phase 2;
Voting District/Block Boundary Suggestion Project
Verification Guidelines for Participants

Version 1
January 2010

Table of Contents
I.

GENERAL INFORMATION and PROCEDURE ................................................ 3
A.

Background ........................................................................................................ 3

B.

VTD/BBSP Verification Scope.......................................................................... 4

C.

Verification Deliveries and Schedule ............................................................... 6

D.

Census Bureau Contact & Web Site Information .......................................... 6

E.

Methods for Submitting Verification Corrections.......................................... 7

F. Verification State Data Shapefiles ......................................................................... 7
G.

Web Viewer Tool................................................................................................ 7

H.

Deliver Verification Corrections ...................................................................... 8

II. RELATIONSHIP INFORMATION ....................................................................... 9
III. BOUNDARY and ANNEXATION SURVEY ........................................................ 9
IV. VTD/BBSP COMPLETION .................................................................................. 10
Attachment A:

RCC Geographic Staff Contact Information

Attachment B:

Instructions for Using the Web Viewer Tool for the VTD/BBSP
Verification

Attachment C:

Instructions for Using the MTPS for Verifying the VTD/BBSP
Submissions

Attachment D:

MAF/TIGER Feature Classification Codes (MTFCC)

(Attachment)

VTD/BBSP Relationship Information Review

VTD/BBSP Verification Guidelines for Participants

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I.

GENERAL INFORMATION and PROCEDURE

A. Background
Under the provisions of Public Law (P.L.) 94–171 (Title13, United States Code (U.S.C.),
Section 141(c)), the Director of the U.S. Census Bureau is required to provide the states
with the opportunity to specify geographic areas, such as voting districts and state
legislative districts, for which they wish to receive decennial census population totals. In
order to comply with P.L. 94-171, the Census Bureau offers each state the opportunity to
participate in the 2010 Census Redistricting Data Program (RDP). Participation is
optional and is conducted in a non-partisan manner as required by law. Designated P.L.
94-171 state liaisons coordinate the participation and submission process with the Census
Bureau.
This program is a five phase program outlined below with the timeline:


Phase 1 - State Legislative District Project (SLDP) - 2004-2006;
This phase included the collection of State Legislative District (SLD) boundaries.
This was the first effort, post Census 2000, to collect updated SLD Upper Senate
and SLD Lower House boundaries to the Census Bureau for the development of
data products by legislative district.
All 50 states, as well as the District of Columbia and the Commonwealth of
Puerto Rico, participated in Phase 1. Phase 1 concluded in January of 2007 with
the re-tabulation of 2000 Census Summary File 1 and Summary File 3 data.



Phase 2 - Voting District/Block Boundary Suggestion Project
(VTD/BBSP) - 2007-2010;
Voting District (VTD) is a generic term that describes the administrative areas
used by each state to conduct elections, for example precincts or wards. Phase 2
of the 2010 Census Redistricting Data Program involves the collection of VTD
boundaries, names, and codes, BBSP suggestions, and any necessary corrections
to SLD boundaries and names and Congressional District boundaries. These
boundaries are inserted into the Master Address File/Topologically Integrated
Geographic Encoding and Referencing (MAF/TIGER) database (MTDB). The
P.L. 94-171 data is aggregated and disseminated for the Phase 3 – Data Delivery
from these state submitted geographic entities in the MTDB.
The BBSP allows state liaisons to submit block boundary suggestions for possible
inclusion in the 2010 Census block tabulations. Forty nine states, as well as the
District of Columbia and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, are participating in
Phase 2.

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The Phase 2, VTD/BBSP updates are subject to participant verification, and these
guidelines along with the attachments outline the procedures for verification.


Phase 3 - Data Delivery for the 2010 Census Redistricting Data
Program - 2010-2011;
This phase includes the delivery of the geographic products (shapefiles) and data
tabulations to the majority and minority leadership in each state legislature, as
well as the Governor and other officially designated state liaisons. The Census
Bureau also delivers these products to the District of Columbia and the
Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. Delivery of the shapefiles will precede the P.L.
94-171 data tabulations that are mandated by law for delivery no later than April
1, 2011, one year following Census Day.



Phase 4 - Collection of the Post-2010 Census Redistricting Plans 2012-2013;
The Census Bureau collects the new state legislative and congressional district
plans that are delineated using the Phase 3 materials. The Census Bureau
produces new 2010 Decennial Census data tabulations and the American
Community Survey for these areas. The Census Bureau also develops geographic
products including congressional district atlases, TIGER/Line shapefiles, and
maps.



Phase 5 - Evaluation and Recommendation for Census 2020 - 20122014;
Working with the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL), the Census
Bureau conducts a historical review by the states of the successes and failures of
the Census Bureau to meet the P.L. 94-171 requirements. Together, the Census
Bureau and the NCSL develop recommendations for the Census 2020
Redistricting Data Program and publish the View From the States. Follow this
link to review Designing P.L. 94-171 Redistricting Data for the Year 2010
Census; The View From the States:
(http://www.census.gov/rdo/pdf/DesignPL94-171.pdf)
Follow this link to the Federal Register Notice announcing the five phase
program:
http://www.census.gov/rdo/pdf/FRNPHASE_2_4_20_07.pdf

B.

VTD/BBSP Verification Scope

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As part of the verification of the VTD/BBSP, participating state liaisons have the
opportunity to use the MAF/TIGER Partnership Software (MTPS) with Census Bureau
supplied verification shapefiles or the Web Viewer tool to do the following:


Inspect the submitted VTD boundaries, codes, and names to ensure that they are
correct, and verify that the spelling and format of all VTD names is correct.



Verify that the suggested “must holds” and “do not holds” for 2010 Census
tabulation block boundaries are correct.



Verify that the SLD and Congressional District (CD) boundaries are correct.



Verify that relationships that VTDs and SLDs have with other legal geographic
entities are correct.



Add road features: The VTD/BBSP verification shapefiles provided to the state
participants in February 2010 reflect roads added during the 2010 Census Address
Canvassing operation. In verifying the VTD/BBSP file, if a road feature (and
only a road feature) is not included in the shapefiles provided for verification, it
can be submitted to the Census Bureau during the verification work as a line add.
Recent imagery and/or links must be provided to substantiate any road
add(s). If imagery is not provided, the Census Bureau uses available source
imagery to determine if the road add is valid. Roads not verified using
imagery will not be added to the MTDB.



Add other features: Other visible features that serve as a VTD, SLD, and/or CD
boundary and are still missing from the Census Bureau shapefile also can be
added as part of the verification process. This includes any feature add required
as a BBSP “must hold” boundary.

What continues to be paramount for the success of the 2010 census data tabulation is the
location of roads relative to Census 2010 tabulation boundaries. If the Census Bureau’s
representation of a visible feature is not perfect but the feature falls within the correct
tabulation entity, do not correct the feature. Tabulation entities include: incorporated
places, VTDs, towns, townships, counties, school districts, SLDs and more. As long as
each road is within the correct tabulation entity, the population and housing will be
correctly aggregated.
As part of the verification of the VTD/BBSP, the Census Bureau emphasizes that
participants should not:


provide new lines that are meant to “fix” the location of lines that are already in
the verification file.

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

add lines to represent a median between divided highways such as Interstate and
U.S Highways.

The Census Bureau staff will contact the state participants if they require more
information or have questions about road updates submitted during verification.

C. Verification Deliveries and Schedule
The following describes the deliveries and schedule for the VTD/BBSP verification.
Verification File Deliveries
In February 2010, the Census Bureau delivers verification products to the state
participants for the Phase 2, VTD/BBSP. The verification products comprise the MTPS
(Version 5.5) and the data file disks that contain shapefiles reflecting all submitted,
processed, and completed VTD/BBSP updates.
MTPS v5.5 is Vista compatible. This version no longer has Windows 98 compatibility.
Schedule


February 2010 – Participants receive verification materials for the VTD/BBSP.
Participants have 30 days from the date of the receipt of the verification file to
review and submit any corrections to the Census Bureau.



March 2010 – Deadline to submit verification corrections.

D. Census Bureau Contact & Web Site Information
The state liaisons accomplish verification for the VTD/BBSP by working directly with
the geographic staff in each of the Census Bureau’s 12 Regional Census Centers (RCCs).
The contact information for each of those staffs has been included in Attachment A: RCC
Geographic Staff Contact Information. State liaisons may direct broader RDP questions
and comments to:
Census Redistricting Data Office (RDO)





RDO; 301-763-4039
Fax number; 301-763-4348
Cathy McCully, Chief; catherine.clark.mccully@census.gov)
Office email; RDO@census.gov

Geography Division – Geographic Areas Branch (GAB)

 GAB; 301-763-1099


Fax number; 301-763-4710

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 Jamie Rosenson, Chief 301-763-1112
 GAB RDP Staff group email; geo.redistricting.list@census.gov
Redistricting Data Office (RDO) Web Site
The RDO Web site (www.census.gov/rdo/) contains all information related to the RDP.

E.

Methods for Submitting Verification Corrections

The work submitted during the delineation phase of the VTD/BBSP can be viewed
during verification either using the Census Bureau developed Web Viewer tool or by
loading the verification shapefiles into the MTPS or the state’s local Geographic
Information System (GIS).
For verification, corrections and updates must be submitted to the Census Bureau
using the MTPS. The Census Bureau does not accept corrections made using other
software or methods.
Many states compiled their VTD/BBSP submissions using the MTPS. For those
participating states that did not use the MTPS for their submission, review Attachment C:
Instructions for Using the MTPS for Verifying the VTD/BBSP Submission and also
execute the Computer Based Training as instructed in that attachment. Contact your
RCC staff if you require further instruction using the MTPS.

F. Verification State Data Shapefiles
The verification shapefiles provided are extracted from the most current version of the
MTDB. The verification layers display any submitted VTDs, updates to SLDs and CDs,
and respective attribute information. In addition, as with the files used for the
VTD/BBSP submissions, there are separate layers for 2000 VTDs; 111th CDs; and many
relevant reference layers, such as the most current boundaries and attribute information
for incorporated places, school districts, roads, and hydrographic features.
The verification shapefiles can be viewed using the MTPS, which is recommended, or
any other GIS. However, as stated, any corrections must be submitted using the
MTPS.

G. Web Viewer Tool
The Census Bureau developed a Web-based application that allows state participants to
view the VTD/BBSP submission over the internet without the need to install additional
software. Participants may use the Web Viewer tool for the review and verification of
their submission. It is password protected so the state participant can control access to
the data. The Web Viewer tool is particularly useful if the state participants have
questions for the RCC staff during the verification process because state liaisons and
RCC staff can view and discuss specific geographic situations simultaneously over the
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Web and resolve any issues that may arise. See Attachment B: Instructions for Using the
Web Viewer Tool for the VTD/BBSP Verification.
Note that no VTDs display as changes in the Web Viewer tool if the participant did not
use the MTPS for delineation.

H. Deliver Verification Corrections
Submit any verification updates to the Census Bureau on a county/flow basis within 30
days after receipt of verification materials. Submit this information using one of the
following approaches:


Post RDP verification change files to the Census Bureau provided File Transfer
Protocol (FTP) site (instructions are provided in Attachment C: Instructions for
Using the MTPS for Verifying the VTD/BBSP Submission.).



Mail the RDP change files on a CD 1 or DVD 2 to the RCC.
appropriate RCC staff for doing this.



Contact the RCC via telephone or email for relatively small corrections.

Contact the

For reporting the status of the verification, the Census Bureau requests that participants
send all email messages to the following Census Bureau staff email accounts:
1) Respective state RCC
2) RDO@census.gov
3) geo.redistricting.list@census.gov
Verification status includes:
o Posting verification change files to the FTP site
o Mailing corrections on a CD or DVD to the RCC
o If there are no corrections or updates, send an email message stating
there are no changes.
Once the RCC staff receives the verification RDP change file(s), they conduct an initial
review for format, completeness, etc. If problems are found at this time, they contact the
respective state participant to resolve these issues. The Web Viewer may be used in
doing this. When all issues are resolved and the file is deemed complete, the Census
Bureau inserts the changes into the MTDB. At that time, various edit checks determine if
there are other issues that need to be resolved (contiguity, complete coverage,
relationships, etc.). If there are issues, the RCC staff will contact the state participant to
resolve these.
1
2

Compact Disk
Digital Versatile Disk

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II. RELATIONSHIP INFORMATION
Some states have identified geographic relationships between their VTDs and other
geographic entities that they want the Census Bureau to maintain in the MTDB. Verify
that all specified relationships are currently maintained. For example, if a VTD must be
coextensive with an incorporated place, you must review these two entities together and
confirm that they are coextensive in our shapefiles. Report to the RCC any specified
relationships that are not intact. For more information, see the Relationship Information
Review Attachment.
The following table shows relationship information provided as part of the initial
VTD/BBSP work. The Census Bureau has established relationships rules that will be
applied to the MTDB to help maintain these relationships.

III. BOUNDARY and ANNEXATION SURVEY
The Boundary and Annexation Survey (BAS) is an annual survey conducted by the
Census Bureau to collect and maintain information on the inventory, status, legal
boundaries, and names of all governmental units, including county boundaries, Minor
Civil Divisions (MCDs), incorporated places, American Indian Area (AIA) reservations
and off-reservation trust lands. The Census Bureau obtains this information by sending
out survey forms and maps or shapefiles to each government to collect changes or
updates.

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The BAS is important for the delineation of VTDs because many VTDs share their
boundaries with legal/administrative entities. For the VTDs that must maintain a nesting
or coextensive relationship with legal entities, it is critical that the Census Bureau has upto-date information about the boundaries of all governmental units.
The VTD/BBSP verification shapefiles provided by the Census Bureau include the
updates from the 2009 BAS.
Important Note: The Census Bureau does not accept county, MCD, incorporated place,
or AIA boundary and/or attribute changes from state VTD/BBSP participants. It is very
important that this boundary information be accurately reported by each functioning
governmental unit and submitted to the Census Bureau through the official designated
BAS respondents. In some states the Census Bureau has a state-level BAS agreement
and can provide more information about these agreements upon request.
When verifying the VTD/BBSP state files, some governmental unit boundaries may be
identified as incorrect or not up-to-date. When this occurs, the Census Bureau
recommends that you contact the BAS respondent and encourage them to respond to the
2010 BAS and to report all boundary changes. To receive the appropriate BAS contact
information, submit an email to geo.bas@census.gov. Include in the email, the name of
the governmental unit boundary in question, your name, and phone number.

IV. VTD/BBSP COMPLETION
After completing the review and verification and submitting any corrections or reporting
that there are no changes, the Phase 2, VTD/BBSP is complete. For further questions
regarding Phase 2 or subsequent phases of the RDP, consult the RDO Web site or contact
the RDO by email or telephone.

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Appendix A. Disclosures to Respondents
The Geography Division manages programs to continuously update features, boundaries,
addresses, and geographic entities in the Master Address File/ Topologically Integrated
Geographic Encoding and Referencing System (MAF/TIGER) database that is used to
support programs and to conduct the census and surveys. The VTD/BBSP program was
developed to give state participants the opportunity to review and update, if necessary,
voting districts, state legislative districts, and to suggest block boundaries for use in
tabulating and publishing data from the 2010 Census, the American Community Survey,
and other surveys.
Public reporting burden for this collection of information is estimated to average 80 hours
per respondent, including time for reviewing instructions, assembling materials,
organizing and reviewing the information, and reporting any needed changes. We
anticipate that approximately 51 participants will respond. Please send comments
regarding this burden estimate or any other aspect of this collection of information,
including suggestions for reducing this burden to:
Paperwork Project
0607-0795
U.S. Census Bureau
4600 Silver Hill Road
Room 3K138
Washington, D.C. 20233
You may e-mail comments to Paperwork@census.gov. Use “Paperwork Project 06070795” as the subject.
Responses to this survey are voluntary. The authority for conducting these activities is
covered under the legal authority of Title 13 U.S.C. Sections 141 and 193.
No agency may conduct and no person may be required to respond to a collection of
information unless it displays a valid Office of Management and Budget (OMB) approval
number. The OMB approval number for this information collection is 0607-0795.

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