Massachusetts Department of Health Birth Data
Source file: /vol/geo/util/metadata2/mcp/sample_md_tree/boston_foundation/dphbirth.dbf
Abstract:
Note: To protect confidentiality, The Massachusetts Department of Health requires that any spreadsheet cell that contains less than 5 births be suppressed. To meet this requirement for each individual year means that a substantial amount of information be suppressed. To overcome this potential loss of information, we altered the data provided in release 2 in two ways. First, we combined years 1992 and 1993 together. Combining 2 years doubled the number of cases and therefore reduced the likelihood that cells or categories would have to be suppressed. Second, for instances where cells contained less than 5 cases, we substituted a value of 2 instead of completely suppressing the cell. The value two was chosen since it is close to the mean. Although this results in only estimated numbers of births, it still allows people to get a basic idea of birth information in their neighborhoods.- The Birth Data dataset is derived from the information collected by the Massachusetts Department of Public Health to complete a birth certificate. A Massachusetts birth certificate is recorded for every child born to a mother living in Massachusetts. This dataset includes information relating only to births in Boston.
Time Period of Content: ++++++++
Coordinate System: State Plane Coordinate System 1983, meters me and ms jones
Source: Boston Foundation
NoneAcknowledgements and Restrictions: Datasets in the children and families database were collected from many different sources. Each source was normalized by census tract, blockgroup or zipcode by some folks at Northeastern University. For details on this process and on the Children and Families Database, consult the full documentation provided in bfppp3.doc which should be in the same directory as the tables.
Entity Overview: +++++++
Attribute Dictionary:
Attribute Definition Units N1 +++++++ +++++++ N2 +++++++ +++++++ N3 +++++++ +++++++ N4 +++++++ +++++++ N5 +++++++ +++++++ N6 +++++++ +++++++ N7 +++++++ +++++++ N8 +++++++ +++++++ N9 +++++++ +++++++ N10 +++++++ +++++++ N11 +++++++ +++++++ N12 +++++++ +++++++ N13 +++++++ +++++++ N14 +++++++ +++++++ N15 +++++++ +++++++ N16 +++++++ +++++++ N17 +++++++ +++++++ N18 +++++++ +++++++ N19 +++++++ +++++++ N20 +++++++ +++++++ N21 +++++++ +++++++ N22 +++++++ +++++++ N23 +++++++ +++++++ N24 +++++++ +++++++ N25 +++++++ +++++++ N26 +++++++ +++++++ N27 +++++++ +++++++ N28 +++++++ +++++++ N29 +++++++ +++++++ N30 +++++++ +++++++ N31 +++++++ +++++++ N32 +++++++ +++++++ N33 +++++++ +++++++ N34 +++++++ +++++++ N35 +++++++ +++++++ N36 +++++++ +++++++ N37 +++++++ +++++++ N38 +++++++ +++++++ N39 +++++++ +++++++ N40 +++++++ +++++++ N41 +++++++ +++++++ N42 +++++++ +++++++ N43 +++++++ +++++++ N44 +++++++ +++++++ N45 +++++++ +++++++ N46 +++++++ +++++++ N47 +++++++ +++++++ N48 +++++++ +++++++ N49 +++++++ +++++++ N50 +++++++ +++++++ N51 +++++++ +++++++ N52 +++++++ +++++++ N53 +++++++ +++++++ N54 +++++++ +++++++ N55 +++++++ +++++++ N56 +++++++ +++++++ Full FGDC Metadata Metadata Parser Errors
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