WASHINGTON, Nov. 19, 2014 — (PRNewswire) — Following is the daily "Profile America" feature from the U.S. Census Bureau:

NOVEMBER 19: TIGER AT 25

Profile America — Wednesday, November 19^th. Today is Geographic Information System Day, falling squarely in the middle of Geographic Awareness Week. Both the GIS industry, and geographers overall, hope to increase understanding of geospatial issues and the relationships between people and their environments. Concurrent with these occasions is the 25th anniversary of the launch of the Census Bureau's Topologically Integrated Geographic Encoding and Referencing, or TIGER. This mapping system, developed for the 1990 Census and refined ever since, created the first seamless, digital map of the U.S. As a public good, it forms the underlying architecture of our GIS today. To continue the process of recording the facts on the ground, there are over 13,000 people working in America's nearly 900 surveying and mapping establishments. Profile America is in its 18th year as a public service of the U.S. Census Bureau.

Sources:
GIS Day: http://www.gisday.com/
Geography Awareness Week: http://education.nationalgeographic.com/education/programs/geographyawarenessweek/?ar_a=1
TIGER technology: http://geospatial-solutions.com/tiger-database-historical-perspective/
Surveying and mapping/NAICS 54136: http://factfinder2.census.gov/faces/tableservices/jsf/pages/productview.xhtml?pid=BP_2012_00A1&prodType=table

Profile America is produced by the Center for New Media and Promotions of the U.S. Census Bureau. These daily features are available as produced segments, ready to air, on the Internet at http://www.census.gov (look for "Multimedia Gallery" by the "Newsroom" button). 

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CONTACT:  Rick Reed of the U.S. Census Bureau, +1-301-763-2812, fax: +1-301-763-3762, richard.thomas.reed-at-census.gov

SOURCE U.S. Census Bureau