Data sources and attribution
Public data only · 2020 Decennial Census · OpenStreetMap under ODbL
Everything on this site comes from public sources that anyone can check. This page lists each one, says which part of the site depends on it, and sets out the attribution the OpenStreetMap license requires.
The base map on this and every other page is drawn from OpenStreetMap data, rendered by the OpenStreetMap Foundation's tile servers.
Sources
| Source | What it provides | Used for |
|---|---|---|
| U.S. Census Bureau — 2020 Decennial Census | Official population counts for states, counties, cities and towns as of 1 April 2020 | Every population figure on the site, on city pages, county pages and the tables on statewide maps |
| Census Bureau Gazetteer files | Latitude and longitude of the centroid of every place and county, plus land and water area in square miles | Map centers, marker coordinates, the coordinate line under each heading and all area figures |
| Census Bureau county adjacency file | A machine-readable list of which counties border which | The "neighboring counties" section on all 254 county pages |
| Census Bureau Population Estimates Program | Annual estimates between censuses, and metropolitan statistical area definitions | Metro-area figures, and pages that need a figure more recent than 2020, always labeled as an estimate |
| Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) | State highway system: interstate, U.S. and state route numbering, loops, spurs, farm-to-market roads and official highway maps | The highway sections on city, county and region pages and the road and highway maps |
| U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) | Elevations, named summits, the Geographic Names Information System, river courses and watershed data | Elevation figures, the elevation map, the topographic map and the rivers map |
| Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) | State parks, natural areas, state historic sites, wildlife management areas, reservoir data | The state parks map, the lakes map and park sections on county pages |
| National Park Service | Boundaries, acreage, visitor centers and road access for national parks, seashores and historic sites in Texas | The national parks map and the Big Bend, Guadalupe Mountains and Padre Island pages |
| NOAA and the National Weather Service | Climate normals, rainfall and temperature averages, hurricane and severe weather records | The climate map and any rainfall or temperature figure on a region page |
| OpenStreetMap | The base map itself: roads, rivers, coastline, city and county boundaries, place labels and rendered tiles | Every interactive map on the site, including this one |
| Texas State Historical Association — Handbook of Texas | County creation dates, what counties and towns were named for, town founding dates and the history of boundaries | The "founded" and "named for" facts on county pages and the historical maps and Republic of Texas pages |
OpenStreetMap attribution
OpenStreetMap data is published under the Open Database License (ODbL 1.0) by the OpenStreetMap Foundation. The license requires that the source be credited wherever the data is shown, that any derived database be released under the same license, and that the credit be visible to the person looking at the map. The footer of every page on this site therefore carries the line Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors, linking to the OpenStreetMap copyright page, and each Leaflet map carries the same attribution in its own corner.
Tiles are requested from the OpenStreetMap Foundation's public tile service, which is provided on a best-effort basis under its tile usage policy. That policy asks that heavy users move to a commercial tile provider or run their own tile server. If this site's traffic grows past what the policy allows, the tile URL will change; the underlying data and the attribution will not.
What this site is not a source for
These pages are a reference, not an authority. Nothing here should be used for a legal boundary, a property line, a flood determination, an emergency route or a border crossing decision. County lines drawn on a base map are approximate at the scale most people view them; the county clerk's records and the original survey control the real line. Border crossing hours and vehicle rules on the border map change frequently and are confirmed only by U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Park closures, burn bans and lake levels change day to day and should come from TPWD or the National Park Service directly.
Where a figure could not be confirmed against one of the sources above, it is omitted rather than estimated. Where two sources disagree — a city population between a census count and a later estimate, for instance — the page says which one it is using. Corrections and better sources are welcome at corrections@texasmap.net; the about page explains what makes a correction easy to act on.