This file is the same as the one hosted on the U.S. Census Beureau's Tiger Mapping Service website. Here is how they describe the information:
As part of the Tiger Mapping Service, we provide a 1990 Census gazetteer of counties, places and zipcodes in the United States, so you can find a place by name without having to know the LAT/LON coordinates. This is done using a simple text database condensed from Census data files. We are making this file available to the public. Note: The vintage of the geography in these files (Places, MCDs etc.) is 1990 to match the 1990 Census data available from the Census Bureau.
Some thing else that is interesting is a perl script that calculates the distance between two locations given the long/lat in the form of the previous db's with a relatively low margin of error, on the order of a couple tenth's of a percent. For more information, the website can be reached here.
This stuff is pretty interesting and I think I might even have a use for it. Please post any more insights.
One useful thing about frames is that a programmer can hide complex navigation from web application users. I prefer to use 'get' calls for navigating users through web apps, which tend to make for long urls. I would rather not have a user even see this part of the application's backend. For many of the online applications I develop, there is a set flow to the pages. If a user tries to mimic one of the 'get' calls, he could cause the data to become out of sync. I could check for the proper creditials to prevent a user from navigating where he shouldn't, but I would rather save time counting on the fact that the backend is hidden well enough from curious users.
Slashdot Mirror
Here is how they describe the information:
As part of the Tiger Mapping Service, we provide a 1990 Census gazetteer of counties, places and zipcodes in the United States, so you can find a place by name without having to know the LAT/LON coordinates. This is done using a simple text database condensed from Census data files. We are making this file available to the public. Note: The vintage of the geography in these files (Places, MCDs etc.) is 1990 to match the 1990 Census data available from the Census Bureau.
Some thing else that is interesting is a perl script that calculates the distance between two locations given the long/lat in the form of the previous db's with a relatively low margin of error, on the order of a couple tenth's of a percent. For more information, the website can be reached here.
This stuff is pretty interesting and I think I might even have a use for it. Please post any more insights.
One useful thing about frames is that a programmer can hide complex navigation from web application users. I prefer to use 'get' calls for navigating users through web apps, which tend to make for long urls. I would rather not have a user even see this part of the application's backend. For many of the online applications I develop, there is a set flow to the pages. If a user tries to mimic one of the 'get' calls, he could cause the data to become out of sync. I could check for the proper creditials to prevent a user from navigating where he shouldn't, but I would rather save time counting on the fact that the backend is hidden well enough from curious users.