city_2m

Frequently-asked questions:


What does this data set describe?

Title:
city_2m

Abstract:
U.S. National Atlas Cities represents cities and towns in the United States but only for the south central and eastern half of the US.  NBII-SAIN (ed.) created this file by clipping from from ESRI 2002 cities_dtl.shp.  NBII-SAIN website:  (http://sain.nbii.gov/).

Supplemental information:
Largest scale when displaying the data: 1:2,000,000.

  1. How should this data set be cited?

    National Atlas of the United States and the United States Geological Survey, Environmental Systems Research Institute, Inc. (ESRI), 20020401, city_2m: ESRI Data & Maps 2002, Environmental Systems Research Institute, Inc. (ESRI), Redlands, California, USA.

    Other citation details:
    Location: ESRI Data & Maps 2002 (CD 2) \usa

  2. What geographic area does the data set cover?

    Bounding coordinates:
    West: -174.196381
    East: 173.237640
    North: 71.290482
    South: 19.057999

  3. What does it look like?

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

    Calendar date: 1998
    Calendar date: 1970
    Calendar date: 1972–1994
    Currentness reference:
    publication date

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

    Geospatial data presentation form: vector digital data

  6. How does the data set represent geographic features?

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

      This is a Vector data set. It contains the following vector data types (SDTS terminology):
      • Entity point (28706)

    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 0.000001. Longitudes are given to the nearest 0.000001. Latitude and longitude values are specified in Decimal degrees.

      The horizontal datum used is North American Datum of 1983.
      The ellipsoid used is Geodetic Reference System 80.
      The semi-major axis of the ellipsoid used is 6378137.000000.
      The flattening of the ellipsoid used is 1/298.257222.

  7. How does the data set describe geographic features?

    cities_dtl
    The points represent cities and towns in the United States.
    (Source:
    National Atlas of the United States and the United States Geological Survey
    )

    FID
    Internal feature number.
    (Source:
    ESRI
    )

    Sequential unique whole numbers that are automatically generated.

    Shape
    Feature geometry.
    (Source:
    ESRI
    )

    Coordinates defining the features.

    FEATURE
    The population range of the city or town, and type of city or town.
    (Source:
    National Atlas of the United States and the United States Geological Survey
    )

    Value Definition
    Population: Less than 10,000; 10,000 to 49,000 (actual 49,999); 50,000 to 99,999; 100,000 to 249,000 (actual 249,999); 250,000 to 499,999; 500,000 to 999,999. Type: County Seat; State Capital; State Capital Country Seat.
    The listing of population ranges and types.

    NAME
    The name of the city or town.
    (Source:
    National Atlas of the United States and the United States Geological Survey
    )

    Formal codeset
    Codeset name: Geographic Names Information System
    Codeset source: United States Geological Survey

    FIPS
    The combined state and county FIPS code (five-digit number). The combined code uniquely identifies the county in which the city or town is located.
    (Source:
    Department of Commerce, National Institute of Standards and Technology
    )

    Formal codeset
    Codeset name: Federal Information Processing Standards
    Codeset source: National Institute of Standards and Technology

    FIPS55
    The FIPS code (five-digit number) for named populated places (city or town).
    (Source:
    Department of Commerce, National Institute of Standards and Technology
    )

    Formal codeset
    Codeset name: Federal Information Processing Standards PUB 55-DC3
    Codeset source: National Institute of Standards and Technology

    POP
    The population of the city or town.
    (Source:
    National Atlas of the United States and the United States Geological Survey
    )

    Value Definition
    0
    The population is unknown.

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Who produced the data set?

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


  2. Who also contributed to the data set?

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

    Data Team
    Environmental Systems Research Institute, Inc. (ESRI)
    380 New York Street
    Redlands, California 92373-8100
    USA

    909-793-2853 (voice)
    909-793-5953 (FAX)
    info@esri.com
    Hours of Service: 8:00 a.m.–5:30 p.m. Pacific time, Monday–Friday
    Contact Instructions:
    In the United States–
    Please direct all inquiries regarding software/data pricing and consulting services to your local ESRI Regional Office.  For support, you may contact Technical Support by telephone (voice) between 6:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m. Pacific time, Monday through Friday, by dialing 909-793-3774; facsimile (fax) available at 909-792-0960; electronic mail (e-mail) support@esri.com; or visit http://support.esri.com; ESRI holidays excluded. 
    
    Outside the United States–
    Please direct all inquiries regarding software/data pricing, sales, support, and consulting services to your local ESRI International Distributor.  This information can be found at http://gis.esri.com/intldist/contactint.cfm.  
    
    For other questions or comments, you may contact ESRI headquarters by e-mail, telephone, or fax or write to us.
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Why was the data set created?

U.S. National Atlas Cities provides information about the locations, names, and populations of cities and towns for conducting geographic analysis on national and large regional scales.

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How was the data set created?

  1. Where did the data come from?

    National Atlas (source 1 of 1)

    National Atlas of the United States and the United States Geological Survey, 1998, nationalatlas.gov™ –Cities and Towns: United States Geological Survey, Reston, Virginia, USA.

    Online links:
    Other citation details:
    The data set was downloaded from the web site in 2000.

    Type of source media: online
    Source scale denominator: 2000000
    Source contribution:
    Attribute and geospatial data

  2. What changes have been made?

    Date: 1998 (change 1 of 3)
    Digitized place names from the 1970 National Atlas of the United States were compared with Bureau of Census Place names from the Codes for Named Populated Places (FIPS 55-DC3).  Where there were discrepancies, names from the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS) were used. A small number of places could not be assigned FIPS-55-DC3 codes and were removed from the data set. Minor positional corrections were also made.

    Data sources produced in this process:
    • National Atlas

    Date: 20010122 (change 2 of 3)
    The following steps were performed by ESRI: Downloaded the ArcView Shapefile version of the data, citiesx020.tar.gz, from http://www.nationalatlas.gov/atlasftp.html and extracted it.  Removed unneeded attributes.  Reduced the width of attributes.  Created ArcGIS™ layer file (.lyr).  Created ArcView legend file (.avl).  Created projection file (.prj).  Ran ArcView Avenue request ExportClean, and created spatial indices.

    Data sources used in this process:
    • National Atlas

    (change 3 of 3)
    Metadata imported.

    Data sources used in this process:
    • S:\Library\ParentDataSets\ESRIDATA\usa\cities_dtl.shp.xml

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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?

    The geospatial part of this data set was originally extracted from the USGS 1:2,000,000-scale Digital Line Graphs (DLG) - Manmade Features.  The horizontal positional accuracy is about 2 kilometers.

  3. How accurate are the heights or depths?

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

    After processing, the data set is checked for drawing display and number of records and file sizes compared with source materials.  Covers only the south central and eastern half of the US.  NBII-SAIN (ed.) created this file by clipping from from ESRI 2002 cities_dtl.shp.  NBII-SAIN website:  (http://sain.nbii.gov/).

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

    No duplicate features are present.  The shapefile is exported using Avenue request ExportClean.  This request verifies and enforces the correctness of shapes.

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How can someone get a copy of the data set?

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

Access constraints: Access granted to Licensee only.
Use constraints:
The data are provided by multiple, third party data vendors under license to ESRI for inclusion on ESRI Data & Maps CD–ROMs for use with ESRI® software.  Each data vendor has its own data licensing policies and may grant varying redistribution rights to end users. Please consult the redistribution rights below for this data set provided on ESRI Data & Maps CD–ROMs. As used herein, “Geodata” shall mean any digital data set consisting of geographic data coordinates and associated attributes.

The redistribution rights for this data set: Public domain data from U.S. government is freely redistributable with proper metadata and source attribution.

The terms and conditions below apply to all the data sets provided on the ESRI Data & Maps CD–ROMs.

Proprietary Rights and Copyright: Licensee acknowledges that the Data and Related Materials contain proprietary and confidential property of ESRI and its licensor(s). The Data and Related Materials are owned by ESRI and its licensor(s) and are protected by United States copyright laws and applicable international copyright treaties and/or conventions.

Limited Warranty and Disclaimer: ESRI warrants that the media upon which the Data and Related Materials are provided will be free from defects in materials and workmanship under normal use and service for a period of ninety (90) days from the date of receipt.

THE DATA AND RELATED MATERIALS ARE EXCLUDED FROM THE LIMITED WARRANTY, AND THE LICENSEE EXPRESSLY ACKNOWLEDGES THAT THE DATA CONTAINS SOME NONCONFORMITIES, DEFECTS, OR ERRORS. ESRI DOES NOT WARRANT THAT THE DATA WILL MEET LICENSEE'S NEEDS OR EXPECTATIONS; THAT THE USE OF THE DATA WILL BE UNINTERRUPTED; OR THAT ALL NONCONFORMITIES, DEFECTS, OR ERRORS CAN OR WILL BE CORRECTED. ESRI IS NOT INVITING RELIANCE ON THIS DATA, AND THE LICENSEE SHOULD ALWAYS VERIFY ACTUAL DATA.

EXCEPT FOR THE LIMITED WARRANTY SET FORTH ABOVE, THE DATA AND RELATED MATERIALS CONTAINED THEREIN ARE PROVIDED "AS-IS," WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.

Exclusive Remedy and Limitation of Liability: The entire liability of ESRI or its licensor(s) and Licensee's exclusive remedy shall be to terminate the Agreement upon Licensee returning the Data and Related Materials to ESRI with a copy of Licensee's invoice/receipt and ESRI returning the license fees paid to Licensee.

IN NO EVENT SHALL ESRI AND/OR ITS LICENSOR(S) BE LIABLE FOR COSTS OF PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR SERVICES; LOST PROFITS, LOST SALES, OR BUSINESS EXPENDITURES, INVESTMENTS, OR COMMITMENTS IN CONNECTION WITH ANY BUSINESS; LOSS OF ANY GOODWILL; OR FOR ANY INDIRECT, SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES ARISING OUT OF THIS AGREEMENT OR USE OF THE DATA AND RELATED MATERIALS, HOWEVER CAUSED, ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, AND WHETHER OR NOT ESRI OR ITS LICENSOR(S) HAVE BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE. THESE LIMITATIONS SHALL APPLY NOTWITHSTANDING ANY FAILURE OF ESSENTIAL PURPOSE OF ANY EXCLUSIVE REMEDY.

Third Party Beneficiary: ESRI's licensor(s) has (have) authorized ESRI to (sub)distribute and (sub)license its (their) data as incorporated into the Data and Related Materials. As an intended third party beneficiary to this Agreement, the ESRI licensor(s) is (are) entitled to directly enforce, in its own name, the rights and obligations undertaken by the Licensee and to seek all legal and equitable remedies as are afforded to ESRI.

In the event that the data vendor(s) has (have) granted the end user permission to redistribute the Geodata, please use proper proprietary or copyright attribution for the various data vendor(s), and provide the associated metadata file(s) with the Geodata. In compliance with FGDC metadata standards, ESRI has attempted to practice proper metadata methodologies by providing any data source information, descriptions, and file names to assist in this effort.

Distributor 1 of 1

  1. Who distributes the data set?

    Environmental Systems Research Institute, Inc. (ESRI); ESRI International Distributors
    380 New York Street
    Redlands, California 92373-8100
    USA

    800-447-9778 (voice)
    Contact Instructions:
    In the United States, contact the ESRI Telesales staff at 800-447-9778 for more information about our software and data.
    
    Outside the United States, please direct all inquiries to your local ESRI International Distributor.  This information can be found at http://gis.esri.com/intldist/contactint.cfm.

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

    Offline Data

  3. What legal disclaimers am I supposed to read?

    See use constraints.

  4. How can I download or order the data?

    • Availability in digital form:


    • Data format:
      in format SHP
      The SHP file contains the geospatial data. The SHX file contains the index of the geospatial data. The DBF file contains the attribute data in dBASE format. The PRJ file contains the coordinate system information (optional). The AVL file contains the legend information (optional). The SBN and SBX files contain the spatial index of the geospatial data (optional). The XML file contains the metadata describing the data set <data set name>.shp.xml (optional).
      Size: 4.929
      Media you can order:
      ESRI Data & Maps 2002 CD–ROM Set is available only as part of ESRI® software. (Density 650 MB (megabytes)) (format ISO 9660)

    • Cost to order the data: Software purchase price


  5. Is there some other way to get the data?

  6. What hardware or software do I need in order to use the data set?

    To use this data requires software that supports ArcView® GIS shapefiles.

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Who wrote the metadata?

Dates:
Last modified: 20030416

Metadata author:
Data Team
Environmental Systems Research Institute, Inc. (ESRI)
380 New York Street
Redlands, California 92373-8100
USA

909-793-2853 (voice)
909-793-5953 (FAX)
info@esri.com
Hours of Service: 8:00 a.m.–5:30 p.m. Pacific time, Monday–Friday

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

Metadata extensions used:
  • http://www.esri.com/metadata/esriprof80.html

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