In the 1980's, LBNL purchased analyzed, and archived data of 1980 Census Summary Tape Files STF1, STF2, STF3, and STF4. This is believed to be the only complete set of STF4 data (which LBNL purchased jointly with National Planning Data Corporation).
Using these data, LBNL produced 1970 and 1980 Census Manpower reports for DOL ETA.
LBNL digitized the 1970 census tract boundaries for the entire United States. These map files were used to produce the 1970 Census Urban Atlas map series, in collaboration with the Department of Labor Employment and Training Administration (DOL ETA) and the Bureau of the Census.
LBNL created SEEDIS, an on-line information system for Census data and other geographically based data. The first version ran in a Control Data Corporation 6600 mainframe from 1975 until 1980. The second version has run since 1980 in a Digital VAX computer. SEEDIS provides access to all of LBNL's 1980 Census data and about 100 other major databases, with extensive on-line documentation. SEEDIS is still maintained for internal use but has not been financially supported since 1985.
The 50 GB data archive containing SEEDIS data and other historical government data has been copied to LBNL's mass storage system (MSS).
The PAREP project acquired, analyzed and preserved county mortality data since the 1950's, intercensusal population estimates since 1970, and other important files. The early mortality data at LBNL are no longer available from the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) or other public sources.
The PAREP project developed software for producing Density Equalizing Map Projections (DEMP), also known as cartograms. The DEMP technique is useful for analyzing geographic disease distributions, especially in small area studies of supposed environmental hazards.
Beginning in 1991 the PAREP project developed a CD-ROM information system providing access to 1990 Census and other government data. As of February 1996 the system includes the equivalent of 400 CD-ROMs (200 GB) including disk-based data at the Census Bureau and elsewhere.
In 1993 a visiting scientist (Hiro Katayama) completed a PC-based menu system for running PC software (e.g. GO, EXTRACT, dBase) on any data file in the CD-ROM information system.
In 1994 a summer student (Nathan Parker) completed LOOKUP, a Web-based retrieval system for interactive retrieval of 1990 Census data. As of February 1996 LOOKUP is serving 27,000 users monthly; that figure is increasing by 10 percent each month.