Geographic Names Information System (GNIS) Content Characterization

Roger Payne

US Board on Geographic Names

rpayne@usgs.gov

703-648-4544

Technical contact:

Dwight Hughes

Sr. Software Engineer

dshughes@usgs.gov

703-648-5793

Inclusion of a gazetteer which is a particular type of KOS.

The Geographic Names Information System (GNIS), developed by the USGS in cooperation with the U.S. Board on Geographic Names (BGN), contains information about almost 2 million physical and cultural geographic features in the United States. The Federally recognized name of each feature described in the data base is identified, and references are made to a feature's location by State, county, and geographic coordinates. The GNIS is our Nation's official repository of domestic geographic names information. Information about foreign geographic feature names can be obtained from the GEOnet Names Server, developed and maintained by the National Imagery and Mapping Agency.

The Antarctica Geographic Names Data Base contains geographic names in Antarctica which are approved by the U.S. Board on Geographic Names for use by the Federal Government.

Once the State files are downloaded, they may be queried for subsets of feature data based on county, feature type, coordinates, and USGS Topographic Map

Federal Information Processing Standards Publication 10-4, Countries, Dependencies, Areas Of Special Sovereignty, And Their Principal Administrative Divisions, U.S. Department Of Commerce, Technology Administration, National Institute Of Standards And Technology.

Federal Information Processing Standards Publication 5-2, Codes For The Identification Of The States, The District Of Columbia And The Outlying Areas Of The United States, And Associated Areas.

Federal Information Processing Standards Publication 6-4, Counties And Equivalent Entities Of The United States, Its Possessions, And Associated Areas.

The National Map, is a seamless, continuously maintained set of public domain geographic base information that serves as a foundation for integrating, sharing, and using other data easily and consistently. The National Map viewer is a Web-enabled portal to all of the geospatial information contained in The National Map. This portal not only supports on-line access to the geospatial information, but also allows the download of digital data and creation of cartographic products. The GNIS supports The National Map as the source for the gazetteer search in The National Map viewer and as an active layer in The National Map for Federal boundaries and other geographic features not available from state or local sources.

The National Atlas (http://nationalatlas.gov/)

The National Atlas summarizes national-scale geographical information and delivers easy to use, map-like views of America's natural and sociocultural landscapes. This digital version revises a large bound collection of paper maps that was published in 1970. The Atlas serves a diverse populace as an essential reference, a framework for information discovery, an instrument of education, an aid in research, and a reliable source of government information. It includes stimulating products and services for children and adults to understand complex relationships among environments, places, and people. It contributes to our knowledge of the environmental, resource, demographic, economic, social, political, and historical dimensions of American life. Though it cannot display detailed map information, the Atlas directs users to other sources for this information. The GNIS provides geographic feature, location, and attribute data to the National Atlas.

The National Hydrography Dataset (http://nhd.usgs.gov/)

The National Hydrography Dataset (NHD) is a comprehensive set of digital spatial data that contains information about surface water features such as lakes, ponds, streams, rivers, springs and wells. Within the NHD, surface water features are combined to form "reaches," which provide the framework for linking water-related data to the NHD surface water drainage network. These linkages enable the analysis and display of these water-related data in upstream and downstream order. The GNIS provides geographic feature name data to the National Hydrography Dataset.

GEOnet Names Server (http://164.214.2.59/gns/html/)

The GEOnet Names Server (GNS) provides access to the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency's (NGA) database of foreign geographic feature names. The database is the official repository of foreign place-name decisions approved by the U.S. Board on Geographic Names (US BGN). Approximately 20,000 of the database's features are updated monthly.

LandView (http://landview.census.gov/)

LandView is a desktop mapping system that searches and maps selected information from the Environmental Protection Agency, the Census Bureau, and the U.S. Geological Survey. LandView contains a large subset of GNIS feature, location, and attribute data for the United States. It is available on DVD. See the LandView web site for information concerning the latest edition and ordering.

The GNIS is the official vehicle for geographic names use by the Federal Government and the source for applying geographic names to Federal maps & other products. The GNIS supports the U.S. Board on Geographic Names (BGN), a Federal body created in 1890 and established in its present form by Public Law in 1947. The Board serves the Federal Government, other government agencies, and the public as the central authority to which name inquiries, name issues, and new name proposals can be directed. The GNIS provides the data to government agencies and to the public. The GNIS also supports the U.S. Geological Survey National Map (<http://nationalmap.usgs.gov/>) as the source for the gazetteer search in The National Map viewer and as an active layer in The National Map for Federal boundaries and geographic features not available from state or local sources. The GNIS provides data to the public through a web site (http://geonames.usgs.gov/pls/gnispublic) and through web map and feature services.

Sr. Software Engineer

dshughes@usgs.gov

703-648-5793