Synthetic population system user guide

The Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) TRansportation Analysis SIMulatiuon System (TRANSIMS) synthetic population system (SYN) is designed to produce populations (family households, non-family households, and group quarters) that are statistically equivalent to actual populations when compared at the level of block group or higher. The methodology used by this system is described in a report entitled Creating Synthetic Baseline Populations. The inputs to the system are US Census Bureau data (STF3A and PUMS) and MABLE/GEOCORR data. Census Bureau STF3A and PUMS data formats are commonly used and are available on CD-ROM from the Census Bureau. These data inputs will not be described in any detail in this guide. The primary function of MABLE/GEOCORR data is to cross-reference STF3 block group data to PUMS areas. The outputs of the system are files that contain family household, non-family household, and group quarters data in the form of household and person records. SYN will run on a variety of Unix platforms