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 The use of the TIGER data base enhanced the Census Bureau’s measurements of water area. Inland water was measured more accurately because the totals for inland water include bodies of water much smaller than those ever measured previously. This also is true for coastal water, where figures were limited to selected coastal water areas in the publications of previous censuses. The use of the TIGER data base also led to improvements in the area totals for Great Lakes water, and enabled the Census Bureau to provide measurements for a new water classification category, territorial sea.

Figure 15-1. The Water Classification for 1990

With the availability of area measurement information by census block, any data user can sum these figures to obtain the land area for any geographic entity composed of whole 1990 census blocks. (However, determining the area of an entity that does not comprise whole census blocks 15-8Area Measurement/Water Classification