U.S. Military Installation Boundaries from 2022 Census TIGER/Line

TIGER/Line shapefiles provide geographic boundaries for U.S. military installations, extracted from the Census Bureau's Master Address File/Topologically Integrated Geographic Encoding and Referencing (MAF/TIGER) Database. This 2022 national release contains polygon data for Air Force, Army, Marine, Navy, and Coast Guard installations, with boundaries updated in collaboration with the Department of Defense and Department of Homeland Security in 2012.

Use Cases

• Analyze the spatial distribution and proximity of military installation boundaries to other Census landmarks for demographic studies.
• Integrate polygon boundaries with other TIGER/Line shapefiles to create a seamless national map for GIS applications.
• Use the geographic data to support field operations and planning by locating special features like military bases.

Strengths

• Data originates from the authoritative U.S. Census Bureau MAF/TIGER Database, ensuring national coverage with no overlaps or gaps.
• Boundaries were updated in 2012 through direct collaboration with the U.S. Department of Defense and Department of Homeland Security.
• Shapefiles are designed to stand alone or be combined for full national coverage, offering flexibility for analysis.

Limitations

• Boundary updates are based on a 2012 collaboration, potentially not reflecting more recent changes to military installations.
• The dataset lacks attribute columns or sample data, limiting analysis to geographic shapes without associated metadata.
• As a snapshot from 2022, the data may not include installations established or decommissioned after its creation.

Provenance

Source

U.S. Census Bureau, Department of Commerce

Collection Method

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

Time Range

2022 (boundary updates from 2012 collaboration)

Freshness

Data represents a 2022 extract; the platform record was last updated in January 2024.

Geography

United States, national coverage