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https://github.com/tyrauber/census_shapes

A Ruby Gem for importing US Census Shapefiles into Postgis
https://github.com/tyrauber/census_shapes

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A Ruby Gem for importing US Census Shapefiles into Postgis

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census_shapes

==================



A Ruby Gem that facilitates the importing US Census Shapefiles into a PostGIS database.



### Prerequisites



This gem requires Postgres / PostGIS and is intended to be used with a Rails 3 application.



### Installation



To install the 'census_shapes' ruby gem:



`gem install census_shapes`



To use the gem in your Rails 3 Application, include the gem in your Gemfile:



`gem "census_shapes"`



### SETUP



## 1) $ rails generate census_shapes:setup



To setup your rails application to use census_shapes, run the following generator:



`rails g census_shapes:setup MODEL_NAME`



This will create all the necessary files, including:



    config/database_example.yml

    db/###_create_geographies.rb

    lib/tasks/postgis_template.rake

    lib/tasks/census_shapes.rake

    

    app/models/geography.rb

    app/controllers/geographies_controller.rb

    app/views/layouts/geographies.html.erb

    app/assets/stylesheets/geographies.css.scss

    app/views/geographies/partials/_map.erb



## 2) Setup your Database



The generator will create an example database configuration file at: config/database_example.yml.



Edit the database, template, username and password values for your environment. Change the postgis_path for the appropriate environment(s). If you installed PostGIS through homebrew on OS X, the development path should be:  /usr/local/share/postgis/



Rename the file database.yml.



## 3) Create a PostGIS Template



In your application directory, run the following rake task from the command console:



`rake postgis_template:create`



The generator uses the values set in database.yml, including the postgis_path to find the necessary PostGIS SQL files, and will generate a template database if one does not already exist.



## 3) Migrate Database



If Postgres / PostGIS is setup properly and the database.yml and template database are configured, you should now be able to migrate the database:



`rake db:migrate`



## 4) Import Census Geographies



With the database migrated, we may import the census geographies:



`rake census_shapes:import SHAPE=DESIRED_SHAPES`



Replace DESIRED_SHAPES with the slugs of the Census Shapes you wish to import. For example, to import States and Counties, you would run the following command:



`rake census_shapes:import SHAPE=STATE,COUNTY`



The import process will download the zips of the required Census Shapes to 'tmp/shapefiles', unless a path is specified with the PATH argument:



`rake census_shapes:import SHAPE=STATE,COUNTY PATH=/usr/local/shapefiles`



Lastly, the Zip files will be deleted after import unless the ARCHIVE argument is specified:



`rake census_shapes:import SHAPE=STATE,COUNTY ARCHIVE=true`



For a full list of the 22 supported Census Geographic Summary Levels, see 'Summary Levels' of the 'Usage' section.



Note: Depending upon your internet speed and the amount of Census Shapes you require, this may take several hours or days to complete.



## 5) Validate Geometry (Optional)



Depending upon the Census Shapes you install, validation may be required. For example:



rake census_shapes:validate_geometry SHAPE=STATE,COUNTY



The validate_geometry rake task will test and repair the geometries of all imported shapes.



### USAGE



## Summary Levels



Census-Geographies will import the following 22 Geographic Summary Levels:



**Sumlevel - Slug:  Name**



 * 040 - STATE:  State

 * 050 - COUNTY:  County

 * 060 - COUSUB:  County Subdivision

 * 067 - SUBMCD:  Subminor Civil Subdivision

 * 101 - BLOCK:  Block

 * 140 - TRACT: Tract

 * 150 - BG:  Blockgroup

 * 160 - PLACE:  Place

 * 230 - ANRC: Alaska Native Regional Corporation

 * 280 - AIANNH: American Indian Area/Alaska Native Area/Hawaiian Home Land

 * 281 - AITS: American Indian Tribal Subdivision

 * 320 - CBSA:  Metropolitan Statistical Area/Micropolitan Statistical Area

 * 323 - METDIV: Metropolitan Division

 * 340 - CSA: Combined Statistical Area

 * 500 - CD: Congressional District (111th)

 * 610 - SLDU: State Legislative District (Upper Chamber)

 * 620 - SLDL:  State Legislative District (Lower Chamber)

 * 700 - VTD: Voting District

 * 871 - ZCTA5: ZIP Code Tabulation Area (5-Digit)

 * 950 - ELSD: School District (Elementary)

 * 960 - SCSD: School District (Secondary)

 * 970 - UNSD: School District (Unified)