A new Federal Register Notice from the U.S. Census Bureau seeks comment from Tribal, State,
county, and local governments, and organizations and other Federal agencies, by January 3,
2025 on data collection for the Spatial, Address, and Imagery Data (SAID) Program, “one of
many voluntary geographic partnership programs that collects data to update and maintain the
U.S. Census Bureau’s geographic database, known as the Master Address File/Topologically
Integrated Geographic Encoding and Referencing (MAF/TIGER) System. The MAF/TIGER
System is vital for the Census Bureau to collect, process, tabulate, and disseminate data.”
MAF/TIGER allows “Bureau field personnel to navigate to the appropriate locations for data
collection. It enables the Census Bureau to define geographic boundaries, including census
blocks, and accurately link demographic data from surveys and the decennial census to census
blocks, locations, and areas, such as counties, cities, and school districts for data tabulation and
dissemination.”
The SAID Program allows the Bureau “to update addresses and street centerlines across the
country. Moving forward, the SAID Program will continue to acquire addresses, street
centerlines, and imagery in areas identified with housing unit growth or change or where the
Census Bureau has inadequate coverage or data, to continue updating and improving the
MAF/TIGER System.”
As part of that, the Bureau “is adding a feedback component … to improve the administration of
the respective program and potentially reduce the future burden. Participants may be asked to
provide their feedback on materials, method(s) of data collection, manner of communications,
and the usability of the program applications and tools.”
- Agency Information Collection Activities; Submission to the Office of Management and
Budget (OMB) for Review and Approval; Comment Request; Spatial, Address, and
Imagery Data Program. A Notice by the Census Bureau on 12/03/2024
https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2024/12/03/2024-28269/agency-information-
collection-activities-submission-to-the-office-of-management-and-budget-omb-for
