Importing Tiger files into SAS/GIS

[BenConner]

Hi,

Am using SAS/GIS for the first time and downloaded the most recent TIGER files for county and state boundaries.  Tried to import the .shp file for the state boundaries and got all kinds of errors thrown.

Is there some step or trick that I'm missing?  Sample of the log file is attached...

Thanks!

--Ben

[ballardw · Accepted solution]

From the online help:

SAS/GIS can import 2006 Second Edition TIGER/Line files from the U.S. Census Bureau and earlier releases of the TIGER/Line spatial data format.

Contact SAS Technical Support for the latest information about the availability of support for importing files from 2007 TIGER/Line Shapefiles.

The SHP files I've run into in the past are not plain text that the import example you've given would match.

[BenConner]

Ah.  That would explain it.  I had used files from this year.

Thanks much!

--Ben

[EdO_sas]

There is now a SAS macro program to import 2007 through current year TIGER shapefiles into SAS/GIS data sets. It can be downloaded from the SAS Maps Online Tools page. See the link for the TIGER2GIS macro on that page.

Download the TIGER2GIS.zip file and unzip its contents. Then open the TIGER2GIS_User_Doc.htm file in a browser for detailed instructions. SAS Technical Support is available to help with any specific import problems you may encounter. Just put "SAS/GIS" in the subject line of your email to support@sas.com and it will be routed to the appropriate support analyst.

[BenConner]

Hi Ed,

Downloaded the entire set of county files from the Census bureau and was running the macro aginst the entire batch (about 90 gig worth).  The job was running along and then got:

ERROR: Read Access Violation in Task [ MAPIMPORT]

Exception occurred at (47D56314)...

Is this typically an I/O error on the drive?  Once fixed, is there a graceful way to save what was already successfully processed?

--Ben

[EdO_sas]

I am afraid there is no mechanism in the TIGER2GIS.sas macro program to save the partial data imported at an intermediate point in the process. The macro must run to completion in order for the GIS map to be usable.

Are you attempting to import the TIGER shapefiles for all of the counties in the US? I have done that when I was testing the macro during development, so I know it is possible.

I am not sure what triggered the Read Access Violation. If you can provide the following information, I will try to duplicate your run and post my results.

1) Submit these and please post their log messages in a reply:
   %put &sysvlong;
   %put &syshostinfolong;
   %put &sysscpl;
   %put sysmaxlong;

2) What is the TIGER release year of your shapefiles?

3) Are you importing all of the shapefiles for the entire U.S.? If not, which states and counties?

4) How much free disk space is on your machine?

5) How much memory is installed?