Question:
I've got a researcher trying to classify low-level Census units (DAs or DBs) by rural or urban status. I fear I'm missing something obvious in trying to help him.
Are all POPCTRs and RAs delineated along DA boundaries? I can't find any indication of this in the documentation but, when I visualize DA and POPCTR boundaries in GIS software, this appears to be the case. However, I've only eyeballed a few areas and haven't done an exhaustive analysis.
If the rural/urban split does follow DA boundaries, is there a convenient way to classify the DAs without resorting to GIS? I haven't been able to figure this out the DA Profile data tables. I also note that the GAF classifies DBs as being urban or rural.
Answer:
I recently encountered this as well. I found that a number of DAs have both urban and rural parts so it is not possible to classify all DA’s as urban or rural. I had to use GIS to do this. DBs on the other hand, as you found, can be classed as urban or rural.
