Block Boundary Suggestion Project - Verification Cycle

Block Boundary Suggestion Project Verification
(BBSPV) Participant Guide for User Supplied
Geographic Information System (GIS) Software
Non-GUPS Guide – Instructions for Participating in BBSPV with User Supplied GIS Software

Last updated August 2024.

U.S. Census Bureau

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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction .........................................................................................................................
Section 1.

Planned 2030 Census Tabulation Block Boundaries ............................................

Section 2.

Suggested Workflow .........................................................................................

2.1

Obtaining Census Shapefiles..............................................................................................

2.1.1 Shapefile Projection .....................................................................................................
2.2

Updating Census Bureau Shapefiles ..................................................................................

2.3

Linear Feature Review .......................................................................................................

2.3.1 Creating the Update Layer for Linear Features ...........................................................
2.3.2 Required Attributes for Linear Features ......................................................................
2.4

Area Landmark Review ......................................................................................................

2.4.1 Creating the Update Layer for Area Landmarks ..........................................................
2.4.2 Required Attributes for Area Landmarks .....................................................................
2.5

Legal Boundary Updates ....................................................................................................

2.5.1 Creating the Update Layer for Legal Boundary Updates .............................................
2.5.2 Required Attributes for Annexations and Deannexations...........................................
2.5.3 Required Attributes for Boundary Corrections............................................................
2.5.4 Boundary Correction Criteria .......................................................................................
2.6

Linear Feature Extension Review.......................................................................................

2.7

Prototype Block Review .....................................................................................................

2.7.1 Block Size Review .........................................................................................................
2.7.2 Block Shape Review .....................................................................................................
2.8

Block Boundary Suggestion Flagging .................................................................................

2.8.1 Block Boundary Criteria ...............................................................................................
2.8.2 Assigning a Must Hold Flag ..........................................................................................
2.8.3 Assigning a Do Not Hold Flag .......................................................................................
2.9

Block Area Grouping Delineation ......................................................................................

2.9.1 Creating the Block Area Grouping ...............................................................................
2.9.2 Required Attributes for the Block Area Grouping .......................................................
2.10 Block Boundary Review .....................................................................................................
2.10.1 Performing BBSP Verification ......................................................................................
2.11 Validation Checks ...............................................................................................................
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2.12 Submitting Updates to the Census Bureau........................................................................
Section 3.

Creating Data Submissions ................................................................................

3.1

Submitting Linear Feature Updates/Block Boundary Suggestions ....................................

3.2

Submitting Area Landmark Updates..................................................................................

3.3

Submitting Legal Boundary Updates .................................................................................

3.3.1 Minor Civil Division Change Polygon Shapefile ...........................................................
3.3.2 Incorporated Place Change Polygon Shapefile ............................................................
3.3.3 Consolidated City Change Polygon Shapefile ..............................................................
3.4

Submitting Block Area Grouping Updates .........................................................................

3.5

Creating .ZIP File containing All Change Files ....................................................................

Section 4.

File Submission through the Secure Web Incoming Module (SWIM) ...................

Appendix A

Street Type Abbreviations .................................................................................

Appendix B

MTFCC Descriptions ..........................................................................................

Appendix C

Shapefile Data Dictionary ..................................................................................

Appendix D

Acronyms ..........................................................................................................

Appendix E

BBSPV Participation Support .............................................................................

U.S. Census Bureau

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LIST OF TABLES
Table 1: 2030 Census Planned Tabulation Block Boundaries by MAF/TIGER Feature Class Code
(MTFCC) ...............................................................................................................................
Table 2: Partnership Shapefiles for Submissions ..............................................................................
Table 3: MTFCCs for Linear Feature Updates ...................................................................................
Table 4: Required Attributes for Linear Feature Updates ................................................................
Table 5: MTFCCs for Area Landmark Updates ..................................................................................
Table 6: Required Attributes for Area Landmark Updates ...............................................................
Table 7: Required Attributes for Annexations and Deannexations ..................................................
Table 8: Required Attributes for Boundary Corrections ...................................................................
Table 9: Block Size Indicator Values..................................................................................................
Table 10: Description of Block Boundary Flag Values.......................................................................
Table 11: Required Attributes for Block Area Groupings .................................................................
Table 12: BBSP v. BBSPV Hold Values ...............................................................................................
Table 13: Street Type Abbreviations.................................................................................................
Table 14: Complete List of MTFCCs ..................................................................................................
Table 15: Shapefile Layers, Geographic Levels, and Layer Names ...................................................
Table 16: American Indian Areas – Legal ..........................................................................................
Table 17: American Indian / Alaska Native Areas – Statistical .........................................................
Table 18: American Indian Tribal Subdivisions – Legal .....................................................................
Table 19: American Indian Tribal Subdivisions – Statistical..............................................................
Table 20: Alaska Native Regional Corporations ................................................................................
Table 21: Prototype Block Shapefile .................................................................................................
Table 22: Congressional Districts ......................................................................................................
Table 23: Hawaiian Home Lands .......................................................................................................
Table 24: School Districts ..................................................................................................................
Table 25: State Legislative Districts (Upper / Senate) ......................................................................
Table 26: State Legislative Districts (Lower / Senate) ......................................................................
Table 27: Urban Growth Areas .........................................................................................................
Table 28: Census Block Groups .........................................................................................................
Table 29: Census Blocks – Current ....................................................................................................
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Table 30: Census Blocks – Census 2020 ............................................................................................
Table 31: Census Tracts ....................................................................................................................
Table 32: Census Designated Places .................................................................................................
Table 33: Consolidated City ..............................................................................................................
Table 34: County and Equivalent Areas ............................................................................................
Table 35: County Subdivisions – Legal (MCD)...................................................................................
Table 36: County Subdivisions – Statistical (CCD).............................................................................
Table 37: Incorporated Place ............................................................................................................
Table 38: States and Equivalents ......................................................................................................
Table 39: Subarrios ...........................................................................................................................
Table 40: Edges .................................................................................................................................
Table 41: Area Landmark ..................................................................................................................
Table 42: Hydrography Area (water) ................................................................................................
Table 43: Topological Faces – Geographic Entity Relationships .......................................................
Table 44: Topological Faces – Area Landmark Relationships ...........................................................
Table 45: Topological Faces – Hydrography Area (water) Relationships .........................................
Table 46: Linear Feature Names .......................................................................................................
Table 47: Acronyms...........................................................................................................................

LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 1: Suggested Workflow ..........................................................................................................

U.S. Census Bureau

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