Digital Spatial Data

US Census

Census 1990

Just like 2000 census, 1990 census data are based on the two different types of questionnaires, 100% count (short form) and sample count (long form). Short form questionnaire asks a limited number of questions of every person and housing unit in the US, and long form questionnaire asks additional questions of a sample of persons and housing units. Followings are the major data files resulted from the Census 1990 questionnaires.

Redistricting Data (Public Law 94-171)
Redistricting data are based on the the 1990 census short-form questionnaire (100% count), and provided down to the block level.

Summary Tape File 1, A, B, C & D (STF 1A, 1B, 1C, 1D)
Summary Tape File 1 (STF1) data are based on the 1990 Census short-form questionnaire (100 % count). Population items include age, race, sex, marital status, Hispanic origin, household type and household relationship. STF 1 is compatible to the Summary File 1 (SF1) of the Census 2000. STF 1 data are available at the different levels of geography: 

• 1A: (Down to the block group level) states, the state portion of American Indian and Alaska Native areas, whole places, whole tracts/BNA's, whole county subdivisions in selected States and whole block groups
• 1B: (Down to the block level) state, county, county subdivision, metropolitan areas, urbanzed areas, AIAN areas, place, census tract/block numbering area, block group and block 
• 1C: (Down to the county level) Nation, states, regions, divisions, large places, metropolitan areas, urbanzed areas, AIAN areas and counties.
• 1D: Congressional districts

Summary Tape File 2, A & B (STF 2A & 2B)
Similar to STF 1, summary Tape File 2 (STF2) data are based on the 1990 Census short-form questionnaire (100 % count), but tables are repeated for each race and Hispanic origin. STF 1 is compatible to the Summary File 2 (SF2) of the Census 2000. STF 2 data are available at the different levels of geography: 

• 2A: (Down to the tract level) metropolitan areas, counties, places of 10,000 or more population and tract
• 2B: (Down to the place level) state, counties, metropolitan areas, urbanzed areas, AIAN areas, and place of 10,000 or more population.

Summary Tape File 3, A, B, C & D (STF 3A, 3B, 3C, 3D)
Summary Tape File 3 (STF3)  contains sample data weighted to represent the total population. In addition, the file contains 100-percent counts and unweighted sample counts for total persons and total housing units. STF 3 is compatible to the Summary File 3 (SF3) of the Census 2000. STF 3 data are available at the different levels of geography: 

• 3A: (Down to the block group level) states, the state portion of American Indian and Alaska Native areas, whole places, whole tracts/BNA's, whole county subdivisions in selected States and whole block groups
• 3B: 5-digit zipcode 
• 3C: (Down to the county level) Nation, states, regions, divisions, large places, metropolitan areas, urbanzed areas, AIAN areas and counties.
• 3D: Congressional districts

Summary Tape File 4 (STF 4)
Summary Tape File 4 (STF4) contains the sample data, similar to the STF 3,  which is the information compiled from the questions asked of a sample of all people and housing units. Data are provided down to the census block group level. These tables are repeated for each race and Hispanic origin.

 1990 Data Sources 

American FactFinder (web)
http://factfinder.census.gov/home/saff/main.html?_lang=en
American Factfinder is your gateway to the Census 2000 & 1990 datasets. Uses can select and download data at various geography level. For users who need a bulk amount of data, raw table files are available for downloading from the Census Bureau's FTP site, http://www2.census.gov/census_1990/. 

Census 1990 Electronic Resources at the UW-Milwaukee Libraries (CD) (UWM Libraries)
A variety of electronic resources, which were obtained from the Census Bureau, are available for the in-house use at the UWM Libraries' reference information counter located on the 1st floor. ID card is required to use the CDs. Use PantherCat to identify call number of the data files you need.

GeoLytics, Inc. CensusCD 1990 (AGS Library)
Created by a private company, GeoLytics, Inc., easy-to-use 1990 Census data CD is available at the AGSL for in-house use & the UW-Milwaukee educational use only. It is easy to extract selected Census 2000 data, and data can be exported as shapefiles or MapInfo data format. More information about GeoLytics products can be found at www.geolytics.com/ The AGSL has the following CD for 1990 data.

• CensusCD and Maps: Available geography: nation, state, county, tract, block group, MCD/CCD, place,  congressional district, state legislative districts), MSA/CMSA, PMSA, AIANHH, Zipcode (ZCTA) - radius search/extraction is also available.

1990 Boundary Data Sources 

US Census: Cartographic Boundary Files (web)
http://www.census.gov/geo/www/cob/index.html
The boundary files available from the US Census Bureau are selected generalized extracts from the Census Bureau's TIGER geographic database and are designed for use in GIS. Available formats are ArcInfo export (e00), shapefiles, and ArcInfo Ungenerate formats.

WI DOA: TIGER 2000 Download Files (web)
http://www.doa.state.wi.us/pagesubtext_detail.asp?
linksubcatid=337&linkcatid=217&linkid=7
1990 boundary files for Wisconsin are available for downloading from the state of Wisconsin - Department of Administration. All files are in shapefile format. All shapefiles are referenced to the Wisconsin Transverse Mercator (WTM) coordinate system, with a datum of NAD83(91). The AGSL also archives this dataset.

ESRI: CensusWatch (web)
http://www.esri.com/data/download/census2000_tigerline/
index.html
Census 1990 TIGER/Line base boundary and line files are also available from ESRI website. All files are in the shapefile format and available for the entire US. Data are organized by county and referenced to the geographic coordinates, NAD83 (NAD27 for AL and Old Hawaiian Datum for Hawaii).

1990 Census Geography 

Geographic Terms and Concepts
Glossary file that explains Census 1990 geography is available from here... 

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