Building Census Tract Maps

SAS/GIS software includes a facility for building Census Tract maps for counties in the United States from modified TIGER data that is supplied with SAS/GIS software.

To build Census Tract maps, follow these steps:

1. Define the libref GISMAPS to point to the location where the Census Tract map data was installed by your SAS administrator. For Windows or UNIX systems, this libref might point to a CD-ROM.

   Note:   Your site administrator might have already assigned the libref for you.  

2. Start SAS/GIS, and then select File  Build Census Tract Maps to open the Build Census Tract Map window.

3. With the Geography tab selected, select a state in the State list. When you select a state, the Available Counties list is updated to list the state's counties. Geography Tab in the Build Census Tract Map Window shows the window with the Geography tab selected.

   Geography Tab in the Build Census Tract Map Window

   

4. To select a county map to build, select the county name in the Available Counties list and click the right arrow to place the name in the Selected Counties list.

   You can select multiple counties or you can use the double right arrow to select all counties. Note, however, that a large map consisting of several counties requires significant processing time.

5. Click the Features tab, as shown in the following display.

   Features Tab in the Build Census Tract Map Window

   

6. Select the features that you want to include in the map in the Available Features list, and then click the right arrow to place the feature in the Selected Features list. By default, the only selected features are the County Boundaries and Census Tract Boundaries. Select the double right arrow to place all available features in the Selected Features list.

7. Click the Output tab, as shown in the following display.

   Output Tab in the Build Census Tract Map Window

   

8. Enter the output location for the map entries and spatial data set entries and specify whether you are creating new entries or overwriting existing entries. These fields contain default values, but you can modify them.

9. When you have entered information in all the fields, click Create. SAS/GIS builds the selected map and returns a message when it successfully completes.

10. After the data has been imported, click Display to view the map in SAS/GIS.

11. When you have finished building maps, click Close to close the Build Census Tract Map window.

Copyright © 2007 by SAS Institute Inc., Cary, NC, USA. All rights reserved.