[GRASSLIST:4965] US Census boundary file problem

[Michael Ash]

I have downloaded boundary files from the U.S. Bureau of the
Census (http://www.census.gov/geo/www/cob/) in .e00 format.
For example st99_d00.e00 is the complete state boundaries
for the U.S. for 2000.  When I import the file with
m.in.e00, d.vect shows a map of the United States but the
raster file produced by v.to.rast has holes, specifically
Texas and Massachusetts.

Perhaps the vector areas are not closed for those states?

How is it possible in GRASS to close the vector areas if
that is indeed the problem?

Is it strange that the usually meticuluous U.S. Bureau of
the Census has posted boundary files with incomplete areas?


Best regards,


Michael Ash, Assistant Professor 
  of Economics and Public Policy         
Department of Economics and CPPA
University of Massachusetts
Amherst, MA 01003        
Tel 413-545-6329 Fax 413-545-2921
Email mash at econs.umass.edu
http://www-unix.oit.umass.edu/~maash