Description
The TIGER/Line shapefiles and related database files (.dbf) are an extract of selected
geographic and cartographic information from the U.S. Census Bureau's Master Address File / Topologically
Integrated Geographic Encoding and Referencing (MAF/TIGER) Database (MTDB). The MTDB represents a seamless
national file with no overlaps or gaps between parts, however, each TIGER/Line shapefile is designed to stand
alone as an independent data set, or they can be combined to cover the entire nation.
State Legislative Districts (SLDs) are the areas from which members are elected to State legislatures. The
SLDs embody the upper (senate) and lower (house) chambers of the state legislature. Nebraska has a unicameral
legislature and the District of Columbia has a single council, both of which the Census Bureau treats as
upper-chamber legislative areas for the purpose of data presentation; there are no data by SLDL for either
Nebraska or the District of Columbia. A unique three-character census code, identified by State participants,
is assigned to each SLD within a state. In Connecticut, Illinois, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts,
Michigan, Ohio, and Puerto Rico, the Redistricting Data Program (RDP) participant did not define the SLDs to
cover all of the state or state equivalent area. In these areas with no SLDs defined, the code "ZZZ" has been
assigned, which is treated as a single SLD for purposes of data presentation.
The boundaries of the 2016 State legislative districts were provided by state-level participants through the
RDP and reflect the districts used to elect members in or prior to the November 2016 election.
Resources
| Name | Format | Description | Link |
|---|---|---|---|
| Entity and Attribute File for the 2017 Current State Legislative District (SLD) Lower Chamber State-based | XML | tl_2017_sldl.shp.ea.iso.xml | Open resource |
| TIGERweb/Legislative (MapServer) | JSON | This Rest Service contains the state legislative districts - lower chamber layer | Open resource |
| TIGERweb/tigerWMS_ACS2017 (MapServer) | WMS | This web mapping service contains the layer for state legislative districts - lower chamber. Since this layer displays at scales of 1:2311162 or greater, adjusting the BBox coordinates in the URL is necessary | Open resource |
| Shapefile Zip File | Unknown | Open resource | |
| TIGER/Line® Shapefiles | HTML | Should be used for most mapping projects--this is our most comprehensive dataset. Designed for use with GIS (geographic information systems). | Open resource |