The database limitations of MOSS soon became evident. Except for a very limited flat file database capability, MOSS was limited to one attribute with no more than 16 characters. This made it very cumbersome to perform even modestly sophisticated data queries required for many management models. The data structure itself led to major processing difficulties in basic GIS functions such as buffering and overlays. Large numbers of slivers were a fact of life.
In 1988, the decision was made to convert GIS operations within BIA to ARC/INFO. Consequently, this necessitated the conversion of approximately 25,000 MOSS data files to the ARC/INFO format.
BIA data were placed in individual databases by reservation. This allowed the direct conversion of MOSS databases to ARC/INFO libraries in a systematic manner.
Currently, there are approximately 210 libraries actively maintained on the GDSC system, each representing one reservation. Reservations range in size from Navajo (approximately 16 million acres) to rancherias in California which are less than 5 acres.
Reservation boundary coverages were initially digitized from USGS 7.5' quadrangle maps. A variety of quads were needed to cover the spatial extent of Indian Country. Publication dates for these quads varied from approximately 1950 to 1998. Quad maps were digitized in ArcEdit maintaining a maximum RMS error of .004. The resulting RBD coverages formed the basis of the GDSC 's Arc/Info reservation-specific library database.
The BIA's need for a nationwide cover depicting Indian Lands led the GDSC to acquire the 1992 TIGER/Line files as a basis for this dataset. Reservation Boundaries were extracted from statewide TIGER files, then MAPJOINed in double-precision using a fuzzy tolerance of .01 meters. Polygon topology was created using BUILD. A new item structure was designed and attributes were assigned based on values in the TIGER files.
Concurrent activities at GDSC pertained to the development of a Land Title Mapper (LTM) for Indian Country. The associated database contained current reservation boundaries created from land title records and produced programatically from 24K Public Lands Survey data. In mid-1999, the TIGER-derived coverage was updated with all reservation boundaries contained in the LTM database. Also, all reservation boundaries in TIGER for which 24K-derived reservation boundaries existed were deleted and replaced with the larger scale data. In addition, data from the BIA Pacific Region Office pertaining to California reservations and Public Domain Allotments was obtained and incorporated into the updated TIGER coverage. At this point, the spatial component of Indian Country data was complete.
In order to update the attribute component of Indian Country, all entries listed in " Indian Entities Recognized and Eligible to Receive Services from the United States Bureau of Indian Affairs" published in the Federal Register (vol. 65, no. 49) March 13, 2000 Notices page 13298 were entered into an Access database and then linked to the coverage using JOINITEM . The result is that every "entity" has a corresponding spatial home. The attribute data was enhanced using information contained in "American Indian Reservations and Trust Areas" (see citation above).
The dataset is an aggregate of TIGER/Line file items, selected demographic and descriptive data from "American Indian Reservations and Trust Areas", and GDSC compiled database information.
See the attached IND3DOG.html for a complete data dictionary for this dataset. Or for a downloadable tab delimited text file (IND3TAB.zip) of the associated data, point your cursor to: <http://data.gdsc.bia.gov/>