BAS Digital QuickStart

Boundary and Annexation Survey (BAS): Digital Quick Start Guide
Initial Steps

1) Report if making updates by one of the following methods:
• Complete the Annual Response Form on the BAS website:
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• Call: 1-800-972-5651.
• Email: .
2) Obtain the following materials from the BAS website, BAS Annual Response email, or DVD (if
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requested):

Boundary and Annexation Survey (BAS) Respondent Guide: Digital:
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BAS Partnership Toolbox and BAS Partnership Toolbox Overview: .
BAS ID: Refer to the subject line in the BAS annual response email. It includes the BAS ID.
BAS Partnership Shapefiles: .

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3) Review respondent guide and training videos.
• Review the BAS Respondent Guide: Digital along with the training
videos at before beginning any boundary or
linear feature updates.

Boundary Review

1) Compare the Census Bureau’s representation of the

participating government’s boundary to the local representation
of the boundary and extract the differences (change polygons).
The differences can be extracted using one of the sample
methods in the BAS Respondent Guide: Digital or using the
geoprocessing tools in ArcGIS. The BAS Partnership Toolbox,
Create Changes tool, does this for the BAS participant.
2) Populate the applicable mandatory fields for each change
polygon. The Census Bureau will not be able to accept changes
without the appropriate attribution or documentation. The
following are mandatory fields:
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Geographic Area
Changes

CHNG_TYPE

Disincorporation

X

New Incorporation

E

Annexation

A

Boundary Correction

B

Geographic Corridor

C

Deannexation

D

Geographic Offset

F

Authorization Types

AUTHTYPE

Ordinance

O

Resolution

R

Local Law
L
NAME: Government name (all changes).
CHNG_TYPE: Type of area update; see Table 1 (all changes).
State Level Action
S
AUTHTYPE: Authorization type; see Table 1 and (all legal changes –
Other
X
annexations, deannexations, new incorporations,
disincorporations).
Table 1. Geographic Area
DOCU: Supporting documentation (all legal changes).
Changes and Change Types
EFF_DATE: Effective date of change (all legal changes).
RELATE: Relationship description; IN or OUT (all boundary corrections).

3) BAS participants have the option to return linear feature (road, railroad, hydrology) and landmark

updates. Review the BAS Respondent Guide: Digital for more information on these types of
changes.

Boundary Review – Quality Control

1) Verify that all mandatory fields are populated.
2) Verify that all legal changes have appropriate legal documentation, authorization types, and

effective dates.

3) Verify that all boundary changes are greater than thirty feet, unless they include housing units.
4) Verify that all boundary corrections less than thirty feet do not dissolve boundary to feature

relationships with roads, railroads, hydrography, etc. (Example: road right of ways) unless the
feature is incorrectly located.

File Naming Conventions and Submission Preparation
Note: The BAS Partnership Toolbox will complete these requirements for BAS participants. For
participants not using the toolbox, please follow the steps below.
1) Name all return files (change polygons, linear feature updates, whole entity files, etc.) using the
file naming conventions outlined in the BAS Respondent Guide: Digital. Table 2 contains examples
of the file naming conventions.
2) Include important metadata information. It is critical that all return files have correct *.prj files.
3) Include a text file with the BAS Contact and Highest Elected Official contact information or update
the contact information using the online Annual Response Form. (See Initial Steps section for link).
4) Zip all return files together and name the file bas21__return.zip. should be
replaced with the eleven-digit BAS ID code (e.g. bas21_20100100000_return.zip).
Table 2: File Naming Conventions
Changes Submitted for
County
Minor Civil Division
Incorporated Place
Consolidated City
Edges
Area/Hydrographic
Landmarks
Point Landmarks

Change Shapefile Naming Conventions
bas21__changes_county
bas21__changes_cousub
bas21__changes_incplace
bas21__changes_concity
bas21__LN_Changes
bas21__Alndk_Changes

Whole Entity Shapefile Naming Conventions
bas21__WholeEntity_county.shp
bas21__WholeEntity_cousub.shp
bas21__WholeEntity_incplace.shp
bas21__WholeEntity_concity.shp
N/A
N/A

bas21__Plndk_Changes

N/A

Return Updates Using the Secure Web Incoming Module (SWIM)
1) Open a web browser window and enter the SWIM URL:

Note: SWIM email addresses and
passwords are case sensitive.

2) Participants who already have a SWIM account should skip to

Forgot your password?
Participants may reset their
password using the “Forgot your
password?” link on the login
page. Follow the prompts to
enter the case-sensitive email
address and provide the security
answer. If the security answer is
correct, the SWIM system sends
a password reset link to the
email account for use in
resetting the password. Once
logged into SWIM, users can
modify their password and
security answer by selecting the
‘Change Security’ link at the top,
right-hand side of the page.

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Step 4 and enter their email address and password to log in.
3) Participants who do not have a SWIM account click ‘Register
Account’:
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Enter the 12-digit token provided by the Census Bureau.
Create a password following the five criteria below:
1) It must be at least eight characters in length.
2) It must have at least one upper case character.
3) It must have at least one lower case character.
4) It must have at least one number.
5) It must have at least one special character (valid characters
are: #, !, $, &,?, ~). Do not use commas since they are for
spacing purposes only.
Complete the registration information form.

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4) Log in into SWIM.
5) Upload BAS submission:
• Select the Start New Upload button.
• Select the BAS radio button.
• Select the Entity Type (State, Place, County, Minor Civil Division
(MCD), Tribal Area, or Consolidated City).
• Select the State and County.
• Click the + Add File button.
• Double-click on the .ZIP file to upload. Add additional files in the
same manner.
• Add any additional information to the Comments field.
• Click Next. A Thank You screen will appear.
6) Logout of SWIM.

Key Dates for BAS Respondents

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January 1 – Boundary updates must be legally in effect on or before this date to be reported in the current
survey year.
March 1 – Boundary updates returned by this date will be reflected in the ACS and PEP data and in next year’s
BAS materials.
May 31 – Boundary updates returned by this date will be reflected in next year’s BAS materials.

Contact Information

Please contact the Census Bureau for questions:
• Email: < geo.bas@census.gov >.

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Phone: 1-800-972-5651.
Fax: 1-800-972-5652.