TIGER/Line - Census 2000
Frequently Asked Questions

Q.

A.

You can load the files into your own databases and we do provide an empty Access database with all of the table definitions for the Summary Files (sorry, we can't provide this for TIGER/Line databases). Due to the large number of files in the ASCII versions of the databases, you will need to write a load program to import the data. Actual load time varies by database and is, of course, affected by the hardware you're using. We have benchmarked the TIGER 2003 load on a 1GHz Pentium processor with a fast disk at approximately 40 hours of processing. This includes a load of the TIGER 2003 data into MS Access 2002 databases and subsequent compression. Any manual steps would require additional time.

Q.

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We can give you some guidelines, but please treat them as guidelines and your actual results may vary widely. We've provided a list of the compressed database sizes below. In general, we achieve very good compression ratios(8:1) on this data so you can expect the expanded ASCII data to be about 8 times larger. If you use the compression features built into Windows, you can expect savings of 2:1 or 3:1 . If you load the data into a general purpose database management system such as SQL Server, Oracle, etc., you can expect the size requirements to vary widely depending on the database used and storage options selected. Please consult with your DBA.

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Microsoft Access 2002 (and all other versions) are limited in size to 2GB. We load the data into a series of databases - generally, but not always, one database per state. Larger states like California and Texas may require additional databases. Later versions of MS Access will allow you to link these databases together in standalone database. We generally do not provide indexes due to varying customer requirements and you will need to build your own. If you need assistance with indexes, please contact us and we may be able to provide assistance.

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We can provide standalone scripts that will create tables and load data for DB2, SQL Server, Oracle and MySQL . Please note that these databases will be extremely large and you should consult with your DBA before attempting to load them. Contact us for more information.

Also keep in mind that some database management systems, such as Access and the MSDE (Microsoft's scaled down free SQL Server) do not support files larger than 2Gb. Some older Unix systems and Windows FAT32 systems do not support large files either.

Q.

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Check our download area for sample data or contact us directly with your requirements.