Cities, Towns, Census Designated Places of Wyoming.

Frequently-anticipated questions:

• What does this data set describe?
  1. How should this data set be cited?
  2. What geographic area does the data set cover?
  3. What does it look like?
  4. Does the data set describe conditions during a particular time period?
  5. What is the general form of this data set?
  6. How does the data set represent geographic features?
  7. How does the data set describe geographic features?
• Who produced the data set?
  1. Who are the originators of the data set?
  2. Who also contributed to the data set?
  3. To whom should users address questions about the data?
• Why was the data set created?
• How was the data set created?
  1. From what previous works were the data drawn?
  2. How were the data generated, processed, and modified?
  3. What similar or related data should the user be aware of?
• How reliable are the data; what problems remain in the data set?
  1. How well have the observations been checked?
  2. How accurate are the geographic locations?
  3. How accurate are the heights or depths?
  4. Where are the gaps in the data? What is missing?
  5. How consistent are the relationships among the data, including topology?
• How can someone get a copy of the data set?
  1. Are there legal restrictions on access or use of the data?
  2. Who distributes the data?
  3. What's the catalog number I need to order this data set?
  4. What legal disclaimers am I supposed to read?
  5. How can I download or order the data?
• Who wrote the metadata?

Title: Cities, Towns, Census Designated Places of Wyoming.

Abstract:

This Wyoming Cities coverage contains data for 109 Wyoming towns, cities, and Census Designated Areas. The coverage was created from U.S. Census Bureau Tiger Data. It contains many of the same attributes as the Census Bureau .dbf files, but there are a few modifications. A code has been added to distinguish towns, cities, and CDPs. Also a Countyseat item has been added to provide a way to display the County Seats only. Latitude/Longitude coordinates were also converted from the Census Bureau format to be used in GENERATE.

1. How should this data set be cited?

   Spatial Data and Visualization Center, 19961211, Cities, Towns, Census Designated Places of Wyoming.: Wyoming Water Resources Center GIS Lab, Laramie, Wyoming.

   Online Links:

   • <URL:http://www.sdvc.uwyo.edu/clearinghouse/human.html>

2. What geographic area does the data set cover?

   West_Bounding_Coordinate: -111.36554566

   East_Bounding_Coordinate: -103.78380412

   North_Bounding_Coordinate: 44.99390988

   South_Bounding_Coordinate: 40.94479444

3. What does it look like?

   <URL:http://www.sdvc.uwyo.edu/images/cities.gif>city.gif (gif)

   locations of 109 cities, towns in Wyoming

4. Does the data set describe conditions during a particular time period?

   Calendar_Date: 1996

   Currentness_Reference:

   All data used in the generation of this coverage was based on US Census information downloaded in 1996, though the actual source information may not be current to 1996.

5. What is the general form of this data set?

   Geospatial_Data_Presentation_Form: map

6. How does the data set represent geographic features?
   1. How are geographic features stored in the data set?

      This is a Point data set. It contains the following vector data types (SDTS terminology):

      • Point (109)

   2. What coordinate system is used to represent geographic features?

      Horizontal positions are specified in geographic coordinates, that is, latitude and longitude. Latitudes are given to the nearest .001. Longitudes are given to the nearest .001. Latitude and longitude values are specified in Decimal Degrees.

      The horizontal datum used is North American Datum of 1983.
      The ellipsoid used is GRS1980.
      The semi-major axis of the ellipsoid used is 6378137.
      The flattening of the ellipsoid used is 1/298.2572221.
      

7. How does the data set describe geographic features?

   Entity_and_Attribute_Overview:

   Summary of relevant attributes in the .PAT attribute file:
   PLACEFP - Census Bureau. Place Code, changed to PLACECODE
   AREALAND - Census Bureau. Land area (sq. km. /1,000)
   AREAWAT - Census Bureau. Water area (sq. km. /1,000)
   HU100 - Census Bureau. Housing Units
   POP100 - Census Bureau. Population
   INTPTLAT - Census Bureau. Latitude (degrees/1,000,000), Changed to LATITUDE
   INTPTLNG - Census Bureau. Longitude (degrees/1,000,000), Changed to LONGITUDE
   ANPSADPI - Census Bureau. Area name, Changed to NAME
   CODE - Code to distinguish cities, towns, Census Defined Places (CDP's)
   1 = town, 2 = city, 3 = CDP
   COUNTYSEAT - Code to distinguish county seats from other towns, cities
   1 = county seat, 2 = not
   

   Entity_and_Attribute_Detail_Citation: n/a

1. Who are the originators of the data set? (may include formal authors, digital compilers, and editors)
   • Spatial Data and Visualization Center

2. Who also contributed to the data set?

   U.S. Census Bureau <http://www.census.gov/> (data source), Joshua Johnson (compiler).

3. To whom should users address questions about the data?

   Data Manager
   Spatial Data and Visualization Center
   Box 4008 University Station
   Laramie, Wyoming 82071
   USA
   

   307-766-2751 (voice)
   n/a
   

   Hours_of_Service: 8:00 - 5:00 MST

The purpose of this data layer is to provide a way to accurately display the locations of all Wyoming cities on maps and within GIS applications.

1. From what previous works were the data drawn?

   TIGER cities (source 1 of 1)

   U.S. Census Bureau, Dept. of Commerce., unknown, point data on cities for the United States.

   Type_of_Source_Media: digital database

   Source_Contribution: source data

2. How were the data generated, processed, and modified?

   Date: 1996 (process 1 of 1)

   At <http://www.census.gov/geo/www/tiger/resource.html>, there is a dBase file made available by the US Census Bureau that contains all lat/long coordinates for cities, towns, etc., in the United States. Once the self-extrac file is downloaded, it can be executed to obtain dBase files for each state. First, all unnecessary data was dropped (using dBase). Latitude and longitude were converted to a decimal format. The file was saved in comma- delimited text format for use in Arc/Info's GENERATE utility. Because of some extra characters in the .csv file, some modification were required. The Arc/Info command GENERATE was used to create a coverage with the lat/long locations of all Wyoming cities.

   Once the coverage was generated, attributes were added. The original Wyoming dBase file (geoexwy.dbf) was used, some fields were changed and deleted. As above, latitude and longitude were converted to decimal degrees by dividing by 1,000,000. Any unwanted fields were taken out. The file was then converted into INFO format using the Arc/Info command DBASEINFO. The command joinitem was used to join the table to the coverage.

   In addition to the Census Bureau fields, two fields were added, within INFO, for display purposes, CODE and COUNTYSEAT.

   Data sources used in this process:

   • TIGER cities

3. What similar or related data should the user be aware of?

1. How well have the observations been checked?

   The accuracy of the above items is unknown, as there has been no validation of the data. COUNTYSEAT, however, appears to be accurate when compared to various Wyoming maps.

2. How accurate are the geographic locations?

   not available.

3. How accurate are the heights or depths?

4. Where are the gaps in the data? What is missing?

   Deliberate ommisions: Several fields from the Tiger dBase file were unnecessary: Summary level; State Code; County code; county subdivision code; state abbreviation; Alaska Native Regional Corp. code; American Indian/Alaska Native Area Code.

5. How consistent are the relationships among the observations, including topology?

   Point features present.

Are there legal restrictions on access or use of the data?

Access_Constraints: none

Use_Constraints:

Wyoming only. The coverage should also be used at fairly large scales such as 1:100,000 to 1:1,000,000

1. Who distributes the data set? (Distributor 1 of 1)

   Data Manager
   Spatial Data and Visualization Center
   Box 4008 University Station
   Laramie, Wyoming 82071
   USA
   

   307-766-2735 (voice)
   n/a
   

2. What's the catalog number I need to order this data set?

3. What legal disclaimers am I supposed to read?

   The distributor shall not be held liable for improper or incorrect use of this data, based on the description of appropriate/inappropriate used described in this metadata document. This data was developed and is meant to be used at the 1:100,000-scale (or smaller scale) for the purpose of identifying city/census-designated locations in Wyoming. The distributor makes no claims for the data's suitability for other purposes.

4. How can I download or order the data?
   • Availability in digital form:

     Data format:	ARCE (Arc/Info export) (version 7.0.4) Size: 0.46
     Network links:	ftp.sdvc.uwyo.edu or <http://www.sdvc.uwyo.edu/clearinghouse>

   • Cost to order the data:

     No fees are required for downloading the data that is on-line. Some fees may be required to cover costs of tapes if data is required on tape media.

Dates:

Last modified: 16-Jun-1997

Metadata author:

Margo Berendsen
Box 4008 University Station
Laramie, Wyoming 82071
USA

307-766-2751 (voice)
meh@uwyo.edu

Metadata standard:

FGDC Content Standards for Digital Geospatial Metadata (FGDC-STD-001-1998)