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    Census Tract Boundaries Documentation
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      Contents

      Census Tract Boundaries Documentation

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        Article summary

        Purpose

        LightBox Census Boundaries API supports tile and BBox image creation, and spatial requests  to add to your favorite map control or to retrieve census objects to add to your analysis. The census tract object contains tract id, FIPS Code, name, nation along with the centroid and polygon in WKT format.

        OAS 3.1 Specification

        Features

        • Tile/BBox image creation for your common map controls
        • Return census tract object by ID
        • Return census tract object by geometry WKT

        Requirements

        The LightBox APIs are hosted in the cloud and therefore have no platform requirements. Application requirements include:
        • A network connection to the LightBox API server
        • Ability to parse JavaScript Object Notation (JSON) API responses
        • Secure HTTPS connection
        • LightBox authentication key
        • LightBox authentication key

        Connecting your account

        When your LightBox user account is created, a unique API key is also generated. The API key should be kept secret at all times and can only be used for API requests. The key is required in all API calls.

        To retrieve your unique API key:

        • Log in to the LightBox Developer Portal 
        • Select Apps from the menu bar
        • In your approved App, note your API key (under Consumer Key)

        Performing API requests

        All API requests must be made over secure HTTPS connections. Requests made over HTTP will fail.

        The base URL of the API server that all API requests will be made to is: https://api.lightboxre.com/ followed by a version number https://api.lightboxre.com/v1

        Authentication

        LightBox APIs uses a token-based authentication. All requests to the LightBox APIs must be authenticated. The token to be passed via an HTTP header with key 'x-api-key' and value <Your authentication token>

        Pass your unique API key in the authorization header of every LightBox API call.  LightBox uses this information to authenticate your identify and determine whether you have sufficient permissions to complete the operation. curl -X GET -H ‘x-api-key: (api_key)’  https://api.lightboxre.com/

        API Requests

        Query by Geometry

        Query for census tract records based on a geometry represented as a well-known text (WKT) string.

        • POINT (-122.40317865990883 45.585729937697515)
        • LINESTRING (-122.40581795357949 45.58497908445598,-122.40325376176125 45.58627054581282)
        • POLYGON ((-122.4032877944377 45.58629457984625,-122.40264406427413 45.585697658341736,-122.40184476598769 45.58610686936547,-122.40244558080703 45.586688769812724,-122.4032877944377 45.58629457984625))

        GET /census/us/tracts/geometry

        Pro Tip:
        This endpoint is best used when you have an existing latitude longitude from 3rd party geocoder, or using the value of a map click/identify from a standard map control.

        Example requests

        curl -X GET -H ‘x-api-key: (api_key)’ https://api.lightboxre.com/v1/census/us/tracts/geometry?wkt=POINT%28-117.852723%2033.63799%29&bufferDistance=50&bufferUnit=m

        https://api.lightboxre.com/v1/census/us/tracts/geometry?wkt=POINT%28-117.852723%2033.63799%29&bufferDistance=50&bufferUnit=m

        Parameters

        ParameterTypeDescriptionUsage
        wktqueryThe geometry of the location expressed in WKT format.required
        bufferDistancequeryBuffer distance expressed in 'bufferUnits'.optional
        bufferUnitqueryThe unit type to apply to the buffer (eg m, km, ft, mi)optional

        Response

        Media type: application/json

        Query by Census Tract ID 

        Query census tract using the census tract 'ID.' (e.g. 02188000200)

        GET /census/us/tracts/{id}

        Example Requests

        curl -X GET -H ‘x-api-key: (api_key)’ https://api.lightboxre.com/v1/census/us/tracts/02188000200 

        https://api.lightboxre.com/v1/census/us/tracts/02188000200 

        Parameters

        ParameterTypeDescriptionUsage
        idpathcensus tract Id required

        Response

        Media type: application/json


        Tile 

        Use within common map controls to show census tract boundaries as a tile overlay.

        GET /census/us/tracts/tile/{zoom}/{x}/{y}

        Example Requests

        curl -X GET -H ‘x-api-key: (api_key)’ https://api.lightboxre.com/v1/census/us/tracts/tile/18/45050/104888

        https://api.lightboxre.com/v1/census/us/tracts/tile/18/45050/104888

        Parameters

        ParameterTypeDescriptionUsage
        zoompathTile zoom level, which can be a minimum of '13' and a maximum or '21.'required
        xpathTile column.required
        ypathTile row.required

        Response

        Media type: image/png

        Tile Bounding Box 

        Use within common map controls to show census tract boundaries as a bounding box overlay.

        GET /census/us/tracts/tile

        Example Requests

        curl -X GET -H ‘x-api-key: (api_key)’ https://api.lightboxre.com/v1/census/us/tracts/tile?bbox=-83.0434660625,40.0198659375,-83.04070793749999,40.0226240625&width=600&height=600

        https://api.lightboxre.com/v1/census/us/tracts/tile?bbox=-83.0434660625,40.0198659375,-83.04070793749999,40.0226240625&width=600&height=600

        Parameters

        ParameterTypeDescriptionUsage
        bboxpathA bounding box expressed in the NAD83 projected coordinate system.required
        widthpathWidth of the result imagerequired
        heightpathHeight of the result imagerequired

        Response

        Media type: image/png

        Health Check

        Health Check is an endpoint used to determine the health of this service

        GET /census/health

        Example Requests

        curl -X GET -H ‘x-api-key: (api_key)’ https://api.lightboxre.com/v1/census/health

        https://api.lightboxre.com/v1/census/health

        Parameters

        ParameterTypeDescriptionUsage
        None
        		 

        Response

        Media type: application/json

        Health Check HTTP Status Codes:

        Status CodeDescription
        200 OK - Service is up and healthy
        503Service is unavailable

        API Response

        For each endpoint other then the tile requests the response will stay consistent. 

        {
  "$ref": "string",
  "$metadata": {
    "geogcs": {
      "epsg": "4326"
    },
    "recordSet": {
      "totalRecords": 99,
      "bbox": {
        "xMax": -105.250409,
        "xMin": -105.251916,
        "yMax": 40.023629,
        "yMin": 40.022576
      }
    }
  },
  "censusTracts": [
    {
      "$ref": "string",
      "location": {
        "countryCode": "US",
        "representativePoint": {
          "longitude": 0,
          "latitude": 0,
          "geometry": {
            "wkt": "string"
          }
        },
        "geometry": {
          "wkt": "string"
        }
      },
      "fips": "06059",
      "tractCode": "040509",
      "geoid": "53011040509",
      "name": "Census Tract 405.09",
      "featureClass": "G5020",
      "functionalStatus": "S"
    }
  ]
}

        Field Dictionary

        FieldTypeDescription
        location.countryCodestringISO 3166 alpha-2 country code (e.g., 'US' for the United States).
        fipsstringThe five-digit FIPS (Federal Information Processing Standards) code for the county that the property is located within (e.g., '06059').
        tractCodestringThe current census tract code.
        geoidstringCensus block group identifier; a concatenation of the current state FIPS code, county FIPS code, census tract code, and block group number.
        namestringCurrent census tract name. This is the census tract code converted to an integer or integer plus 2-character decimal if the last two characters of the code are not both zeros.
        featureClassstringMAF/TIGER feature class code.

        HTTP Error Codes

        HTTP Response status codes along with a brief summary of their commonly accepted usage. These status codes are returned by LightBox APIs for each request:
        200
        		The request succeeded.
        201
        		The object was created successfully
        202Accepted, no content
        204Successful, no content
        204
        		The server has successfully fulfilled the request and that there is no additional content to send in the response payload body. Typically returned on a DELETE
        400
        		One or more of the request parameters were invalid.
        401
        		The client must authenticate itself to get the requested response. Note: This could also be due to your trial key has expired.
        404
        		The server cannot find the requested resource. This can also mean that the endpoint is valid but the resource itself does not exist.
        429
        		Too many requests were made in a short period of time, or you have exceeded your request-lot pool.
        500
        		The server has encountered an error it does not know how to handle.
        503Service Unavailable.



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