The Boston ArchiveBoston, Massachusetts

Dataset

Boston Neighborhood Boundaries Approximated by 2020 Census Tracts

The Census Bureau does not recognize or release data for Boston neighborhoods. However, Census tracts can be aggregated to approximate Boston neighborhood boundaries to allow for reporting and visualization of Census data at…

Dataset

Publisher
Boston Maps
Spatial coverage
Boston, Massachusetts
Fields
4
Keywords
CT, census 2020, neighbohood, tract
Publisher's page
https://data.boston.gov/dataset/boston-neighborhood-boundaries-approximated-by-2020-census-tracts

Artifacts

“Preserved” means the archive holds the bytes and their digest. “Referenced” means it holds the record of them and nothing more. The archive does not claim a holding it cannot prove.

FormatPreservationSizeDigestSource
ArcGIS GeoServices REST APIreferenced——source
CSVpreserved12303e1c3fac73b9e73b3b9e448a38a9776485a46b4d0489541bc19b64d3477102c5source
GeoJSONpreserved32695492c6bf10ab10164625b793ba054b7a3e545979f9641f9bb5cd43c62c9830ed59source
HTMLreferenced——source
KMLpreserved70707ff55aaf1b5e3ec686368c726204fd63159aa4369a397cae6b68f8d02d03f37c2source
SHPreferenced——source

Column dictionary

The publisher's own dictionary, preserved verbatim. The archive does not reword a schema into its own vocabulary — how the publisher named a column is evidence about the publisher.

ColumnTypeDescription
neighborhoodtext
Shape_Lengthtext
Shape_Areatext
shape_wkttext

The complete dictionary, exactly as the publisher words it, is served as its own holding at /asset/62c26ce73e94e14b52eefc21404bc7ea/boston-neighborhood-boundaries-approximated-by-2020-census-tracts-columns.json — 801 bytes, SHA-256 62c26ce73e94e14b…, under Open Data Commons Public Domain Dedication and Licence (PDDL) 1.0.

Questions this record answers

Each answer is composed only from fields this record carries, and names the attestation for what it says. A question the record cannot answer from its own attested content is not asked here. Where a boundary is described as official it was promulgated by an authority with the power to draw it and is not amended by anything on the vernacular layer; where it is described as vernacular it is held by attestation alone and amends no official boundary.

Who publishes Boston Neighborhood Boundaries Approximated by 2020 Census Tracts, and under what license?

Boston Maps publishes it. The archive accessioned it under Open Data Commons Public Domain Dedication and Licence (PDDL) 1.0 (public domain), and holds the publisher's own column dictionary verbatim rather than reworded into the archive's vocabulary — how a publisher names a column is evidence about the publisher.

Attested by: City of Boston Open Data Portal (Analyze Boston), retrieved 2 September 2026, under Open Data Commons Public Domain Dedication and Licence (PDDL) 1.0.

What does Boston Neighborhood Boundaries Approximated by 2020 Census Tracts cover?

In space, Boston, Massachusetts.

Attested by: City of Boston Open Data Portal (Analyze Boston), retrieved 2 September 2026, under Open Data Commons Public Domain Dedication and Licence (PDDL) 1.0.

How large is Boston Neighborhood Boundaries Approximated by 2020 Census Tracts?

4 columns, as the publisher's own catalog reports them.

Attested by: City of Boston Open Data Portal (Analyze Boston), retrieved 2 September 2026, under Open Data Commons Public Domain Dedication and Licence (PDDL) 1.0.

Can the archive hand back the bytes of Boston Neighborhood Boundaries Approximated by 2020 Census Tracts?

Yes, for 3 of 6 distributions. Each preserved artifact is served at its own address with the digest recorded at retrieval emitted in an x-archive-sha256 header, and is handed over as an attachment: preserved material is evidence, not content, and is never rendered on this origin.

Attested by: City of Boston Open Data Portal (Analyze Boston), retrieved 2 September 2026, under Open Data Commons Public Domain Dedication and Licence (PDDL) 1.0.

What does the archive hold for Boston Neighborhood Boundaries Approximated by 2020 Census Tracts, and under what license?

The Boston Archive holds this record of Boston Neighborhood Boundaries Approximated by 2020 Census Tracts from City of Boston Open Data Portal (Analyze Boston), retrieved 2 September 2026, under Open Data Commons Public Domain Dedication and Licence (PDDL) 1.0 (public domain). 3 recorded transforms stand between the retrieved bytes and this record. Attribution is due to City of Boston.

Attested by: City of Boston Open Data Portal (Analyze Boston), retrieved 2 September 2026, under Open Data Commons Public Domain Dedication and Licence (PDDL) 1.0.

Identity

Identifier
urn:lemay:boston:dataset:boston-neighborhood-boundaries-approximated-by-2020-census-tracts
Canonical URL
https://boston.fyi/dataset/boston-neighborhood-boundaries-approximated-by-2020-census-tracts
As JSON
https://boston.fyi/dataset/boston-neighborhood-boundaries-approximated-by-2020-census-tracts.json
Version
2 · last changed 13 September 2026

Provenance

Source
City of Boston Open Data Portal (Analyze Boston) — source of record
License
Open Data Commons Public Domain Dedication and Licence (PDDL) 1.0 (public_domain)
Retrieved
2 September 2026
Source identifier
boston-neighborhood-boundaries-approximated-by-2020-census-tracts
Attribution
City of Boston
Rights as stated
Open Data Commons Public Domain Dedication and License (PDDL)

Transform ladder

#OperationDescriptionTool
1fetchretrieved the dataset's metadata record from the CKAN package_show endpointarchive-ingest 0.1.0
2normalizemapped the portal's catalog fields onto the archive's Dataset record; the publisher's own wording and column dictionary are preserved verbatimarchive-ingest 0.1.0
3externalize-column-dictionaryThe publisher's 4-column dictionary left the inline page graph and became a preserved holding at /asset/62c26ce73e94e14b52eefc21404bc7ea/boston-neighborhood-boundaries-approximated-by-2020-census-tracts-columns.json, served verbatim with its own digest. The record's stored field schema is unchanged; the graph now addresses it instead of carrying it.archive-ingest 0.1.0