[Talk-us] TIGER 2022 PLACE dataset

[stevea]

Zeke:  I don't know of the specific sort of "interactive map" that you are looking for, I wish you luck in finding it.  I will also say that it sounds like you are "right on track" with your small-t town as a place node AND a boundary=census.  Yes, I also believe that a boundary=census, even with a name (and with a label?) will not be drawn with the name, somewhat necessitating the node with a name (and perhaps population and other data), which WILL be drawn (rendered).  That's quite sensible.  True, you do get the "double label issue" with both node and boundary, should a renderer decide to display the name of a census boundary — I'm not sure what OSM (and/or Carto?) might do about that.  We do tag for the renderer a bit by double-tagging (polygon + node) like this, but for something as important that we get a place=town|village|hamlet "on the map," I think it's excusable.  There might emerge a proposal (which would require that a number of data use cases align with each other) that cleans this up, but it doesn't feel like a burning, must-do issue.  As long as it is widely understood, I think we're OK.

Adam:  Good points that a census boundary might smear what some (or even many) consider part of "the urban, settled area."  This reinforces my earlier point that census boundaries are statistical, and really are only "roughly" the data that anybody might be looking for.  But that's better than nothing, which seems like the alternative, so "census boundaries exist" for that reason, if no other:  they are better than nothing.

Matthew:  It isn't that between a CDP boundary or a city (town, village, incorporated thing) boundary, one is "more useful" than the other.  Simply that they are "different things."  CDPs are amorphous and "something, better than nothing," but it isn't really clear what they are, except "a roughly-defined glom of people called a place."  A city (town, village, incorporated thing) however, is something quite precisely defined, with a sharp boundary and a day-to-day, month-to-month stability to it, for things like population and such.  Sure, a city can "annex" new land and grow bigger (seldom, if ever, do they shrink), but these are well-published and happen by a legal declaration for all to see and take notice about.  CDPs?  No such thing, they simply blob around and grow obsolete from the day they were created.

I hope that helps.