TIGER 2011
TIGER 2011 data became available on December 12, 2011. It provides public domain, up-to-date coverage of roads, railways, and other features throughout the United States.
The technical details are essentially the same as other recent years (they're still shapefiles for starters), so much of what was written about TIGER releases from 2007 and beyond may still apply. See TIGER 2007, TIGER 2009, TIGER 2010.
The data has been updated from the previous release and includes a new set of county shapefiles specifically for addresses. Previously address information was provided only in relationship files.
Comparing and merging with OSM
See the TIGER 2010 page which discusses efforts to consider bringing some TIGER 2010 and 2011 data into OSM. Read the TALK-US mailing list to find out more.
Tiles
The TIGER 2011 shapefiles were processed into tiles that display roads as lines with the names appearing along side them. The tiles have a transparent background so they can be loaded over the top of an imagery layer (Bing, etc) to aid in tracing roads. Note that names on the tiles are in their TIGER unabbreviated form and should be expanded (Ave->Avenue, St->Street, etc) while being entered into OSM tags. They are being served up from the OSM-US tile server and can be accessed with the following URL:
- JOSM URL: tms:http://{switch:a,b,c}.tile.openstreetmap.us/tiger2011_roads/{zoom}/{x}/{y}.png
- Potlatch URL: http://a.tile.openstreetmap.us/tiger2011_roads/$z/$x/$y.png
WMS
Much of the TIGER data can also be displayed via WMS or with their own viewer [1]. The server is http://tigerweb.geo.census.gov/arcgis/services/tigerWMS/MapServer/WMSServer . Note that you need a STYLES=default parameter, which is not added in JOSM by default. If you have multiple layers, you need multiple "default" values, separated by commas.
For example, the URL for the complete transportation collection is:
http://tigerweb.geo.census.gov/arcgis/services/tigerWMS/MapServer/WMSServer?FORMAT=image/jpeg&VERSION=1.1.1&SERVICE=WMS&REQUEST=GetMap&Layers=Primary Roads,Primary Roads Labels,Secondary Roads,Secondary Roads Labels,Local Roads,Local Roads Labels,Railroads,Railroads Labels&STYLES=default,default,default,default,default,default,default,default&SRS={proj}&WIDTH={width}&HEIGHT={height}&BBOX={bbox}