[postgis-users] TIGER Help/Clarification

[Stephen Woodbridge]

Bo Coughlin wrote:
> Using the TIGER shp files is a no brainer (feel free to disagree). My 
> question is on the relationship tables, and setting up the DB in 
> postGIS.  What role do these tables play?  While it seems self 
> explanatory in that the foreignkey relationship etc. is outlined in a 
> very nice diagram by the census - I am still a little lost on how to 
> integrate into the DB - do I import those create the foreign key 
> relationships between them and then do the same with each shp. file? 
> 
> This is definitely a noob question, but I am simply struggling with the 
> exact relationship of these tables with the shp files -  there doesn't 
> appear to be a foreign key relationship between the shp's - but there 
> does between shp and relationship files.  Any help much appreciated. - 
> thanks, bo

The Tiger shapefiles are a dump of the Census relational data model. You 
can reload all the data you need and then use the relationships 
described to create foreign keys or to create views or new tables.

There are a lot of files and tables to deal with, so do not expect it to 
be trivial especially if you want to load all the data.

-Steve W