Populated Places

Metadata also available as - [Outline] - [Parseable text] - [SGML] - [DIF]

Frequently-anticipated questions:

What does this data set describe?

Title: Populated Places
Abstract:
Locations of statewide towns and villages were entered by latitude-longitude, digitized from USGS 1:250,000 quadrangle maps, and heads-up digitizing from USGS 1:250,000 maps based on relative positioning of digital hydrography and digital township lines. Many locations were later updated by snapping them to points in the USGSNAMES coverage obtained from USGS.

List of populated places were acquired from Alaska Department of Community and Regional Affairs (DCRA).

The classifications of cities is determined by the Department of Community and Regional Affairs. An excellent description of city classifications was prepared by the Local Boundary Commission Staff of the Alaska Department of Community & Regional Affairs. This white paper can be found online by selecting the "Local Boundary Commission" button from the main Community and Regional Affairs page, then selecting "Local Government In Alaska" from the LBC Publications and Reports section. <URL:http://www.comregaf.state.ak.us/MRAD_LBC.htm> The document is in PDF format.

Supplemental_Information:
Procedures_Used: Town locations eyeballed from 1:250000 maps and township grid. Updated 9/19/90 J. Tam annolevel size content 1 15000 water body names 4000 4000 town names (statewide maps) 6000 6000 " 8000 8000 "
  1. How should this data set be cited?

    ADNR, ADCED and , 1998, Populated Places: cultural town, ADNR, LRIS, Anchorage, AK.

    Online Links:

    • Server=rex.dnr.state.ak.us; Service=5152; User=gis_base; Version=SDE.DEFAULT

    This is part of the following larger work.

    Alaska Department of Community and Regional Affairs, 1998, Alaska Community Database <URL:http://www.comregaf.state.ak.us/CF_ComDB.htm>.

  2. What geographic area does the data set cover?

    West_Bounding_Coordinate: -179.999361
    East_Bounding_Coordinate: 179.993059
    North_Bounding_Coordinate: 71.309136
    South_Bounding_Coordinate: 49.536219

  3. What does it look like?

    <http://www.asgdc.state.ak.us/metagraphs/cultural/towns.jpg> (JPG)
    Basic map of town locations and populations.

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

    Calendar_Date: 01-Jul-1997
    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 (321)

    2. What coordinate system is used to represent geographic features?

      The map projection used is Albers Conical Equal Area.

      Projection parameters:
      Standard_Parallel: 55.000000
      Standard_Parallel: 65.000000
      Longitude_of_Central_Meridian: -154.000000
      Latitude_of_Projection_Origin: 50.000000
      False_Easting: 0.000000
      False_Northing: 0.000000

      Planar coordinates are encoded using coordinate pair
      Abscissae (x-coordinates) are specified to the nearest 0.010000
      Ordinates (y-coordinates) are specified to the nearest 0.010000
      Planar coordinates are specified in meters

      The horizontal datum used is North American Datum of 1927.
      The ellipsoid used is Clarke 1866.
      The semi-major axis of the ellipsoid used is 6378206.400000.
      The flattening of the ellipsoid used is 1/294.978698.

      Vertical_Coordinate_System_Definition:
      Altitude_System_Definition:
      Altitude_Resolution: 1.000000
      Altitude_Encoding_Method:
      Explicit elevation coordinate included with horizontal coordinates

  7. How does the data set describe geographic features?

    GIS_BASE.town

    SYMBOL
    cartographic representation (Source: DNR)

    varies

    MAIN
    top towns (Source: DNR)

    1-10 for top 10 towns; 1-20 for top 20 towns

    NAME
    name of town (Source: USGS)

    varies

    CLASS
    community classification (Source: DCRA)

    ValueDefinition
    Municipalitymunicipality
    First Class Cityfirst class
    Second Class Citymunicipality
    Home Rule CityHome Rule City
    Unified Home Rule MunicipalityUnified Home Rule Municipality
    Organized Under Federal LawOrganized Under Federal Law

    FID
    Internal feature number. (Source: ESRI)

    Sequential unique whole numbers that are automatically generated.

    POP
    population of town (Source: DCRA)

    varies

    M8X11
    map on 8.5" x 11" map (Source: DCRA)

    ValueDefinition
    YYES, map
    NNO, don't map

    SHAPE
    Feature geometry. (Source: ESRI)

    Coordinates defining the features.

    ANCSA
    ANCSA (Source: DCRA)

    ValueDefinition
    YYES, ANCSA
    NNO, NOT ANCSA

    Shape
    Feature geometry. (Source: ESRI)

    Coordinates defining the features.

    INCORP_DAT

    Entity_and_Attribute_Overview: none
    Entity_and_Attribute_Detail_Citation: none

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?

    Department of Community and Regional Affairs

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

    GIS Public Access Coordinator
    AK Department of Natural Resources - Land Records Information Section
    GIS Public Access Coordinator
    550 W. 7th Suite 706
    Anchorage, AK 99501
    USA

    907 269 8833 (voice)
    907 269 8920 (FAX)
    gis_public_access@dnr.state.ak.us

    Hours_of_Service: 800-1600 AST
    Contact_Instructions: See Distribution_Information

Why was the data set created?

Cartographic representation.

How was the data set created?

  1. From what previous works were the data drawn?

    none (source 1 of 3)
    USGS, 1950, USGS topographic maps.

    Type_of_Source_Media: map
    Source_Scale_Denominator: 250000
    Source_Contribution: location of towns - note: date varies

    none (source 2 of 3)
    DCRA, 1990, community database.

    Type_of_Source_Media: electronic
    Source_Scale_Denominator: 250000
    Source_Contribution: attributes for towns - note, date varies

    none (source 3 of 3)
    DCRA, 19970701, community database.

    Type_of_Source_Media: electronic
    Source_Scale_Denominator: 250000
    Source_Contribution: Updated population attributes

  2. How were the data generated, processed, and modified?

    Date: 1998 (process 1 of 8)
    Deleted rivers. See hydro coverage. J. Tam 10/24/90. Added Whittier & Cordova J. Tam 2/14/91 Small towns have towns-id gt 2000. J. Tam 3/6/91 N. vanVeldhuisen 8/9/90 Annotation of towns resolved to 8000 for Unified Home Rule Municipalities and Home Rule Cities -- 4500 for First Class Cities -- 4000 for Second Class Cities. There is a related INFO datafile called TOWNS.DAT related to TOWNS.PAT by TOWNS-ID with a relate TOWNS. TOWNS.DAT contains the name and class and population and Incorporation Date of all the towns. TOWNS-ID represents these values : 1 thru 3 -- Unified Home Rule Municipalities 4 thru 15 -- Home Rule Cities 101 thru 122 -- First Class Cities 201 thru 316 -- Second Class Cities The labels of the towns each contain a symbol relative in size to each city classification. Anno subclasses added 6/10/92 by J. Tam: anno.anno25mil - for statewide maps anno.anno1mil - for 1:1000000 maps annosize reduced by half New item MAIN added for major towns: MAIN le 10 & annolevel = 10 for top 10 MAIN le 20 & annolevel = 10 & 20 for top 20 Annotation subclass annoqmq added for 1:250-000 maps.

    12/29/93 - G. Holt Input 1990 U.S. Census populations for unincorporated communities from list provided by Jules Tileston. Added 8 ANCSA villages per Jules for wetland maps. Nikolski- Eklutna- Levelock- Eyak- Eagle Village- Chalkyitsik- Alatna- King Island

    1/21/94 - J. Tam Annotation subclass anno8x11 added for 8x11 maps. Use in conjunction with item M8x11 to display 22 towns as follows in ARCPLOT: res towns point m8x11 = Y points towns noids annotext towns anno8x11

    1/28/94 - J. Tam Move North Pole name so it does not conflict with annotation for Fairbanks North Star Borough.

    7/29/94 - J. Tam Add annotation subclass anno2mil to be consistent with other coverages. Copied anno from anno25mil to anno2mil.

    8/3/94 - J. Tam Updated 31 label attributes which had missing NAMEs. Added 5 towns: Iditarod - Flat - Willow - Ophir - Poorman

    8/25/94 - J. Tam Corrected the placement of 3 town names in subclasses anno2mil and anno25mil: Mountain Village; Pitkas Point; Saint Marys.

    3/23/95 - J. Tam Corrected the locations of 224 towns and their annotations as necessary. These points were snapped to corresponding points in the USGSNAMES coverage.

    3/24/95 - J. Tam Added annotation subclass anno11x17 for maps approximately 11x17. Use same ARCPLOT commands as for the 8x11 maps (see above).

    4/6/95 - J. Tam Tweaked the positions of about a dozen annotations in anno2mil to display better in ARC7.

    4/12/95 - J. Tam Tweaked the positions of several annotations in anno1mil to display better in ARC7. Deleted the subclass anno25mil.

    4/17/95 - J. Tam Moved anno2mil annotation for Prudhoe Bay offshore.

    4/27/95 - J. Tam Updated annotation subclass country with new labels for Canada and Russia.

    11/26/96 - M. Gorham Deleted point and annotation for Eyak and Afognak. (Annotation was removed from all subclasses.)

    06/98 - M. Gorham Moved point for Thorne Bay. Corrected names for Woody Is. and Womens Bay. They were reversed.

    01/2000 - M. Gorham Copied anno2mil to anno2mil_dced. Copied anno2mil from older towns coverage to this coverage. It was discovered that some of the annotation had been changed.

    08/2000 - M. Gorham Changed the name of the City of Sheldon Point to the City of Nunam Iqua, which means "end of the tundra". Change notification received from George Plumley, DCED.

    Date: 1998 (process 2 of 8)
    Updated population or POP attributes. Also corrected name locations of five villages: Chaloonawick, Bill Moore's, Hamilton, Womens Bay, and Woody Island.

    Date: unknown (process 3 of 8)
    Coverage towns imported into geodatabase.

    Person who carried out this activity:

    Marty Martin
    ADNR
    GIS Data Administrator
    550 W. 7th Suite 706
    Anchorage, AK 99501
    USA

    907 269 8837 (voice)
    907 269 8920 (FAX)
    marty_martin@dnr.state.ak.us

    Hours_of_Service: 0800-1600
    (process 4 of 8)
    Dataset copied.

    Data sources used in this process:

    • Server=rex.dnr.state.ak.us; Service=5152; User=gis_base; Version=SDE.DEFAULT

    (process 5 of 8)
    Dataset copied.

    Data sources used in this process:

    • \\kodiak\gis\projects\gis_base\prod9i\backup\20061214.mdb

    (process 6 of 8)
    Dataset copied.

    Data sources used in this process:

    • \\kodiak\gis\projects\gis_base\common\feature_datasets\albers_nad27.mdb

    (process 7 of 8)
    Dataset copied.

    Data sources used in this process:

    • Server=tee.dnr.state.ak.us; Service=5155; User=gis_base; Version=SDE.DEFAULT

    (process 8 of 8)
    Dataset moved.

    Data sources used in this process:

    • Y:\nssi\nssi_shapefiles\town

  3. What similar or related data should the user be aware of?

How reliable are the data; what problems remain in the data set?

  1. How well have the observations been checked?

    Unknown

  2. How accurate are the geographic locations?

    Unknown

  3. How accurate are the heights or depths?

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

    Unknown

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

    Point features present.

How can someone get a copy of the data set?

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

Access_Constraints:
To ensure distribution of the most current public information, please refer requests for data or products to the Alaska Department of Natural Resources, Land Records Information Section.
Use_Constraints:
It is not recommended the data be used at a scale larger than 1:250,000.

Any hardcopies or published datasets utilizing these data sets shall clearly indicate their source. If the user has modified the data in any way they are obligated to describe the types of modifications they have performed. User specifically agrees not to misrepresent these data sets, nor to imply that changes they made were approved by the Alaska Department of Natural Resources.

  1. Who distributes the data set? (Distributor 1 of 1)

    Alaska Department of Natural Resources - Land Records Information Section
    GIS Public Access Coordinator
    550 W. 7th Suite 706
    Anchorage, AK 99501
    USA

    907 269 8833 (voice)
    907 269 8920 (FAX)

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

    Downloadable Data

  3. What legal disclaimers am I supposed to read?

    The State of Alaska makes no express or implied warranties (including warranties of merchantability and fitness) with respect to the character, function, or capabilities of the electronic services or products or their appropriateness for any users purposes. In no event will the State of Alaska be liable for any incidental, indirect, special, consequential or other damages suffered by the user or any other person or entity whether from the use of the electronic services or products, any failure thereof or otherwise, and in no event will the State of Alaska s liability to the requestor or anyone else exceed the fee paid for the electronic service or product.

  4. How can I download or order the data?

Who wrote the metadata?

Dates:
Last modified: 07-Apr-2004
Metadata author:
Alaska Department of Natural Resources - Land Records Information Section
c/o Marty Martin
GIS Data Administrator
550 W 7th Ave., Suite 706
Anchorage, AK 99501

907 269 8837 (voice)
marty_martin@dnr.state.ak.us

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

Generated by mp version 2.9.6 on Thu May 8 10:19:13 2008