TIGER: The U.S. Database That Created Digital Mapping 🗺️

Before Google Maps, before GPS navigation, before digital mapping was even an industry, the U.S. Census Bureau built TIGER — a topological, national‑scale spatial database that quietly became the blueprint for every modern map.

This episode breaks down the MAF/TIGER system, its node‑edge‑face topology, its geocoding engine, its conflation pipeline, and the update machinery that keeps America’s digital map alive.

We also explore the surprising questions people ask about TIGER — including whether the U.S. really had no digital map before 1990, how Google Maps still relies on TIGER’s structure, and why this system underpins everything from GPS routing to congressional redistricting.

Thanks for watching Database History.