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2020 Cartographic Boundary File (KML), Current Block Group for Alaska, 1:500,000

Metadata Updated: December 14, 2023

The 2020 cartographic boundary KMLs are simplified representations of selected geographic areas from the U.S. Census Bureau's Master Address File / Topologically Integrated Geographic Encoding and Referencing (MAF/TIGER) Database (MTDB). These boundary files are specifically designed for small-scale thematic mapping. When possible, generalization is performed with the intent to maintain the hierarchical relationships among geographies and to maintain the alignment of geographies within a file set for a given year. Geographic areas may not align with the same areas from another year. Some geographies are available as nation-based files while others are available only as state-based files.

Block Groups (BGs) are clusters of blocks within the same census tract. Each census tract contains at least one BG, and BGs are uniquely numbered within census tracts. BGs have a valid code range of 0 through 9. BGs have the same first digit of their 4-digit census block number from the same decennial census. For example, tabulation blocks numbered 3001, 3002, 3003,.., 3999 within census tract 1210.02 are also within BG 3 within that census tract. BGs coded 0 are intended to only include water area, no land area, and they are generally in territorial seas, coastal water, and Great Lakes water areas. Block groups generally contain between 600 and 3,000 people. A BG usually covers a contiguous area but never crosses county or census tract boundaries. They may, however, cross the boundaries of other geographic entities like county subdivisions, places, urban areas, voting districts, congressional districts, and American Indian / Alaska Native / Native Hawaiian areas.

The generalized BG boundaries in this release are based on those that were delineated as part of the Census Bureau's Participant Statistical Areas Program (PSAP) for the 2020 Census.

Access & Use Information

License: No license information was provided. If this work was prepared by an officer or employee of the United States government as part of that person's official duties it is considered a U.S. Government Work.

Downloads & Resources

Dates

Metadata Date 2023-05
Metadata Created Date June 2, 2023
Metadata Updated Date December 14, 2023
Reference Date(s) 2023-05 (publication), 2023-05 (creation), 2023-05 (lastUpdate)
Frequency Of Update notPlanned

Metadata Source

Harvested from Cartographic Boundary Files - 2020

Additional Metadata

Resource Type Dataset
Metadata Date 2023-05
Metadata Created Date June 2, 2023
Metadata Updated Date December 14, 2023
Reference Date(s) 2023-05 (publication), 2023-05 (creation), 2023-05 (lastUpdate)
Responsible Party U.S. Department of Commerce, U.S. Census Bureau, Geography Division, Customer Engagement Branch (Point of Contact)
Contact Email
Guid cb_2020_02_bg_500k.kml.iso.xml
Access Constraints Access_Constraints: None, Use Constraints: The intended display scale for this file is 1:500,000. This file should not be displayed at scales larger than 1:500,000. These products are free to use in a product or publication, however acknowledgement must be given to the U.S. Census Bureau as the source. The boundary information is for visual display at appropriate small scales only. Cartographic boundary files should not be used for geographic analysis including area or perimeter calculation. Files should not be used for geocoding addresses. Files should not be used for determining precise geographic area relationships.
Bbox East Long 179.77847
Bbox North Lat 71.365162
Bbox South Lat 51.214183
Bbox West Long -179.148909
Coupled Resource
Frequency Of Update notPlanned
Harvest Object Id 1d6fc5d3-ac36-4a73-9f56-c28ff402d481
Harvest Source Id 28012753-516e-46f6-b1e2-819875e754f9
Harvest Source Title Cartographic Boundary Files - 2020
Licence
Lineage
Metadata Language eng; USA
Metadata Type geospatial
Old Spatial {"type": "Polygon", "coordinates": [[[-179.148909, 51.214183], [179.77847, 51.214183], [179.77847, 71.365162], [-179.148909, 71.365162], [-179.148909, 51.214183]]]}
Progress completed
Spatial Data Service Type
Spatial Reference System urn:ogc:def:crs:EPSG::3395
Spatial Harvester True

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