Dubuque County Topological Faces With 2022 Census Geocodes

U.S. Census Bureau provides a Topological Faces shapefile for Dubuque County, IA, extracted from the 2022 TIGER/Line database. This dataset contains polygon features representing the areal primitives that form the county's geographic fabric, each annotated with key geographic area codes for census tabulation. The data is designed to be used independently or combined with other counties to create a seamless national map.

Use Cases

• Dissolve face geometries on key geographic area codes like Census Tract Number or Block Group to reconstruct official census geography boundaries.
• Analyze spatial relationships and adjacency within Dubuque County using the topological face primitives and their unique TFID identifiers.
• Join this topological layer with demographic data using common geocodes such as County Fips Code or 5-digit ZIP Code Tabulation Area code for thematic mapping.

Strengths

• Data originates from the authoritative U.S. Census Bureau Master Address File/TIGER Database (MTDB), ensuring national consistency.
• Topological structure guarantees no overlaps or gaps between polygon faces, supporting accurate spatial analysis.
• Each face is encoded with key geographic area codes for the 2020 Census and annual surveys, enabling multi-scale analysis.

Limitations

• The dataset's specific row count, column count, and file size are unknown, making it difficult to assess its scale and complexity for processing.
• As a single-county extract, analysis of broader regional patterns requires downloading and combining numerous other county files.
• The description does not specify the coordinate reference system or spatial accuracy of the polygon geometries.

Provenance

Source

U.S. Census Bureau, Department of Commerce

Collection Method

Extracted from the Master Address File / Topologically Integrated Geographic Encoding and Referencing (MAF/TIGER) Database.

Time Range

2022

Freshness

Data reflects the 2022 TIGER/Line vintage and was last updated on the platform in January 2024.

Geography

Dubuque County, Iowa, United States.