The IBGE releases today its Block-face Database for Public Areas – Intermediate edition 2019. The database is a digital representation of urban street layout for Brazilian municipalities, detailed at block, street and square levels. Used by the Institute in the conduction of household surveys, these vector files will be made available, every year, for download, here.

The Block-face Database for Public Areas is relevant for the analyses of the spatial distribution, dynamics and organizing patterns of urban areas in Brazilian municipalities. It associates the enumeration areas that guide IBGE’s household surveys with the political and administrative division of the Municipal Grid created by the Institute, besides a system of codification of block face, type, title and name of the public area.

It is the first time that the Block-face Database for Public Areas is made available apart from the conduction of a Population Census or a Census of Agriculture and without housing unit regiters. Because of that, it is considered an intermediate edition. From now on this product will be released every year.

The data can be used to support planning in city governments, logistics companies, development, elaboration of routes for Internet maps, besides businesses that make use of geospatial components.

Although the work processes of the IBGE teams have improved significantly in the last few years, with better visual detailing and georeferencing of roads, some of the data generated may, occasionally, have imperfections. When using data, the user should be aware of these observations.