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Lat/Lng to Block Data

I'm having some trouble going from lat/lng to block data.

The example here (http://www.census.gov/developers/data/geography_list_sf1.html) seem to indicate that state, country, and tract information is required to get the block data.

Here (http://www.census.gov/developers/geo/) it recommends using the FCC's Block Conversion API to convert lat/lng to block FIPS code.

That's great, but it doesn't return the tract so I'm not able to access the census data. Am I missing something? How are others doing this?

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Submitted by aogle 8 months ago

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  1. Phillip Thomas
    Approved
    8 months ago

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  1. The idea was posted
    8 months ago

Comments (2)

  1. Moderator
    william.a.rankin

    Hi aogle.

    The FCC doesn't separate the tract and block information, but it is located in the "Block FIPS" value. Essentially, the first two characters are the FIPS State code, the next three are the FIPS County code, the next six are the tract code (I think that it is formatted here as two implied decimals), and the final four are the block code.

    If it helps, you can use the Census Bureau American FactFinder's http://factfinder2.census.gov/faces/nav/jsf/pages/index.xhtml and go to the address search to show the block information for an address. Use any address lookup software to find the lat/long combination for your address, e.g. geocoder.us, and plunk those values into the example located at the FCC Block lookup API. Compare the results from the FactFinder address search and the FCC API, and you should see what I mean.

    8 months ago
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  2. aogle Idea Submitter

    Ah, brilliant. Thanks for the explanation. It would be great to have a note on geo page explaining the anatomy of a block FIPS code. Very helpful!

    8 months ago
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