Additional Green Book GIS Download Information

Download Files

Two download files are available for each NAAQS:

Shapefile - includes boundary information for all of the NAAQS designated areas
External Data File - contains the NAAQS area nonattainment/maintenance status and classification as of the Green Book posting date

The External Data File download is a compressed file containing external information in both xbase (dbf) and spreadsheet (xls) formats plus "ExternalFileData.txt" which describes the area attributes in the External Data File.

The External Data File can be linked to the shapefile with the composID field.

Download Table 1: Shapefiles Developed as Part of the Nonattainment Area Designation

The designation process has included the development of GIS shapefiles during the designation process for nonattainment areas since 2004, first used for the 1997 8-Hour Ozone standard revision. Table 1 provides links to the GIS shapefiles developed since 2004.

Download Table 2: Shapefiles Developed from Part 81 Table Descriptions

Table 2 contains links to shapefiles that were developed outside of the nonattainment designation process. For these pre-2004 nonattainment area designations, the boundaries in the shapefiles were developed based on 40 CFR Part 81 area descriptions. Some issues where identified when translating the Part 81 boundary descriptions as shapes. The area description in the Part 81 table is the nonattainment area boundary of record for issues in the pre-2004 designated areas.

About the Shapefiles

The shapefiles were created using ESRI's GIS mapping software and can be used by geospatial mapping applications that support the ESRI shapefile format. ArcView, ArcGIS, and ArcExplorer (ArcExplorer is free from ESRI) can be used to view the shapefiles. Commercial and free third party software is available that can be used to view shapefiles.

Each shapefile is composed of multiple files compressed into a zip file. These files are required in order to be properly used by mapping software:

shapefile.dbf: feature attributes
shapefile.prj: projection file
shapefile.sbn: spatial index of features
shapefile.sbx: spatial index of features
shapefile.shp: feature geometry
shapefile.shp.xml: metadata in XML format
shapefile.shx: shape index of the feature geometry

Disclaimer

Nonattainment shapefile/map services are intended for mapping and visualization purposes only. EPA makes no claim that these shapefiles/map services represent the exact legal definitions of nonattainment areas. The legal definitions of nonattainment areas are available at 40 CFR part 81.