Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!cs.utexas.edu!uunet!netxcom!netxdev!jallen
From: jallen@netxdev.DHL.COM (John Allen)
Newsgroups: comp.graphics
Subject: Re: Computerized maps
Message-ID: <1284@netxcom.UUCP>
Date: 13 Jun 89 22:47:25 GMT
References: <2645@portia.Stanford.EDU> <11982@well.UUCP> <3867@eos.UUCP> <3895@amiga.UUCP>
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Reply-To: jallen@netxdev.UUCP (John Allen)
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In article <3895@amiga.UUCP> jimm@cloyd.UUCP (Jim Mackraz) writes:
>There is a standard basis from which Etak and others in the computer
>roadmap business began and enhanced mightily.  It is the result of some
>work done for like the 1960 census or something (my details will suck
>this time).  I'm not sure if you get them from USGS or a different
>organization.  They are raw, and inconsistent.

I thought ETAK held their mapping processes as strictly proprietary.
When I visited their offices, someone rushed ahead to make sure the
door to the map room was closed before we walked by... 8-)

The data referred to is the Census Bureau DIME files.  They are of
inconsistent quality at best, and several years out of date.
On the bright side, a 6250 BPI tape, 90% full, cost (last year)
only $175.00.  As I recall, most of the Washington DC and San Francisco
areas fit on one tape.

>There is a new format "coming" from the same source, something called
>the TIGER database.  It should be better, but I'm sure coverage od
>different areas will creep out over time.

This format is only available in test form, for a small town
in the midwest.  I understand that it will be several years before the
entire US is available.  Also, as I understand it, the TIGER data is
being built up from USGS data, and there will be much more of it
than of the DIME data.  I estimated that the entire US DIME database
could be acquired for under $20,000.  The TIGER data will be much
more costly.

John Allen
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John Allen
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