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Census Geographic Data Question

MKosmicki
8 - Asteroid

I have been running some geographic and spacial data for some special projects and noticed that sometimes County and City names will have an asterisk (*) after it. I'm trying to figure out what it is denoting. Does anyone know?

 

Thanks!

1 REPLY 1
EricM
Alteryx
Alteryx

Hi @MKosmicki

 

The asterisk (*) denotes that there isn't a 1:1 relationship between geographies. For example, a ZIP code may span 2 or more Counties. 

 

Here is a related post from the Data Products Knowledge Base -   

 

Question

When selecting Allocate's Geographic Identifiers fields, sometimes an asterisk is next to a geography name.  Why and what does it mean?

Answer

Geographic Identifiers in Allocate provide a simple relationship between geographies....usually which smaller geography is assigned to a larger geography type.

A typical use is wanting to know which DMA a ZIP Code falls within.  A user selects ZIP Codes then selects the Allocate Geographic Identifiers field of DMA Name and DMA Key and generates output.  Some DMAs display an asterisk.  An asterisk reflects the ZIP Code crosses more than a single DMA. This is a simplistic spatial relationship where only one geography will be assigned using Allocate.  The DMA with the greatest coverage area is returned and the DMA name is flagged.    See the attached FAQ for more information because you may want to use Alteryx spatial tools to return a more accurate ZIP Code-to-DMA relationship. 

 

Original Post - CAPE: Allocate Geographic Identifiers - why the asterisk next to a geography name?.

 

 

-Eric

 

 

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