7.0 COMPILATION OF PROVISIONAL DATABASES

7.1 Introduction

The overall goal of the provisional estimates is to provide the latest updates of commodity origin - destination movements that would serve as a source of data for practitioners in economic development, transportation planning, and transportation infrastructure analysis. This chapter briefly describes the compilation of the databases from the individual modal estimates described in the preceding chapters.

7.2 Provisional Databases

Having developed the estimates for each mode, the next step was to compile databases as depicted in Figure 7-1 and described below. These databases were compiled using SQL queries developed specifically for this purpose. The database structure is consistent with the 2002 FAF database. Each record contains FAF zone of origin, FAF zone of destination, port of entry or exit (which applies only to export and import flows), type of commodity, mode of transportation, value in millions of dollars, and tons in thousands of short ton.

Figure 7-1. Provisional O-D Databases

The databases are:

1. Domestic database comprises all movements with origins and destinations within the U.S. by all modes.
2. Land border database includes international movements i.e., import and export via land border crossings between the U.S. and Mexico, and between the U.S. and Canada.
3. Sea database includes all international movements i.e., imports and exports via the seaports  between U.S. and other countries.
4. Air database is exclusively for international air cargo covering import and export via airports.

In addition to the databases, state and national summaries were prepared. These summaries present the total volumes and values of commodities originating from or destined to each states by mode as well as the percentages by mode of the total shipments for the given year for that state.