Data were collected in two phases.[1] Although a third phase was considered, which would have handled name changes where local usages differed from maps, it was never begun.[2]
The database is part of a system that includes topographic map names and bibliographic references. The names of books and historic maps that confirm the feature or place name are cited. Variant names, alternatives to official federal names for a feature, are also recorded. Each feature receives a permanent, unique feature record identifier, sometimes called the GNIS identifier.[3] The database never removes an entry, "except in cases of obvious duplication."[4]
Original purposes
The GNIS was originally designed for four major purposes: to eliminate duplication of effort at various other levels of government that were already compiling geographic data, to provide standardized datasets of geographic data for the government and others, to index all of the names found on official U.S. government federal and state maps, and to ensure uniform geographic names for the federal government.[5]
Phase 1
Phase 1 lasted from 1978 to 1981, with a precursor pilot project run over the states of Kansas and Colorado in 1976, and produced 5 databases.[6][1][7] It excluded several classes of feature because they were better documented in non-USGS maps, including airports, the broadcasting masts for radio and television stations, civil divisions, regional and historic names, individual buildings, roads, and triangulation station names.[8]
The databases were initially available on paper (2 to 3 spiral-bound volumes per state), on microfiche, and on magnetic tape encoded (unless otherwise requested) in EBCDIC with 248-byte fixed-length records in 4960-byte blocks.[9]
The feature classes for association with each name included (for examples) "locale" (a "place at which there is or was human activity" not covered by a more specific feature class), "populated place" (a "place or area with clustered or scattered buildings"), "spring" (a spring), "lava" (a lava flow, kepula, or other such feature), and "well" (a well).[10]Mountain features would fall into "ridge", "range", or "summit" classes.[11]
A feature class "tank" was sometimes used for lakes, which was problematic in several ways.[12] This feature class was undocumented, and it was (in the words of a 1986 report from the Engineer Topographic Laboratories of the United States Army Corps of Engineers) "an unreasonable determination", with the likes of Cayuga Lake being labelled a "tank".[12] The USACE report assumed that "tank" meant "reservoir", and observed that often the coordinates of "tanks" were outside of their boundaries and were "possibly at the point where a dam is thought to be".[12]
National Geographic Names database
The National Geographic Names database (NGNDB[1] hereafter) was originally 57 computer files, one for each state and territory of the United States (except Alaska which got two) plus one for the District of Columbia.[13] The second Alaska file was an earlier database, the Dictionary of Alaska Place Names that had been compiled by the USGS in 1967.[13] A further two files were later added, covering the entire United States and that were abridged versions of the data in the other 57: one for the 50,000 most well known populated places and features, and one for most of the populated places.[14] The files were compiled from all of the names to be found on USGS topographic maps, plus data from various state map sources.[13]
In phase 1, elevations were recorded in feet only, with no conversion to metric, and only if there was an actual elevation recorded for the map feature.[15] They were of either the lowest or highest point of the feature, as appropriate.[15] Interpolated elevations, calculated by interpolation between contour lines, were added in phase 2.[15]
Names were the official name, except where the name contained diacritic characters that the computer file encodings of the time could not handle (which were in phase 1 marked with an asterisk for update in a later phase).[16] Generic designations were given after specific names, so (for examples) Mount Saint Helens was recorded as "Saint Helens, Mount", although cities named Mount Olive, not actually being mountains, would not take "Mount" to be a generic part and would retain their order "Mount Olive".[16]
The primary geographic coordinates of features which occupy an area, rather than being a single point feature, were the location of the feature's mouth, or of the approximate center of the area of the feature.[17] Such approximate centers were "eye-balled" estimates by the people performing the digitization, subject to the constraint that centers of areal features were not placed within other features that are inside them.[18]alluvial fans and river deltas counted as mouths for this purpose.[17] For cities and other large populated places, the coordinates were taken to be those of a primary civic feature such as the city hall or town hall, main public library, main highway intersection, main post office, or central business district regardless of changes over time;[17][a] these coordinates are called the "primary point".[b]
Secondary coordinates were only an aid to locating which topographic map(s) the feature extended across, and were "simply anywhere on the feature and on the topographic map with which it is associated".[17][22][23] River sources were determined by the shortest drain, subject to the proximities of other features that were clearly related to the river by their names.[23]
USGS Topographic Map Names database
The USGS Topographic Map Names database (TMNDB[24] hereafter) was also 57 computer files containing the names of maps: 56 for 1:24000 scale USGS maps as with the NGNDB, the 57th being (rather than a second Alaska file) data from the 1:100000 and 1:250000 scale USGS maps.[25] Map names were recorded exactly as on the maps themselves, with the exceptions for diacritics as with the NGNDB.[26]
Unlike the NGNDB, locations were the geographic coördinates of the south-east corner of the given map, except for American Samoa and Guam maps where they were of the north-east cornder.[25]
The TMNDB was later renamed the Geographic Cell Names database (GCNDB[24] hereafter) in the 1990s.[24]
Generic database
The Generic database was in essence a machine-readable glossary of terms and abbreviations taken from the map sources, with their definitions, grouped into collections of related terms.[27]
National Atlas database
The National Atlas database was an abridged version of the NGNDB that contained only those entries that were in the index to the USGS National Atlas of the United States, with the coördinates published in the latter substituted for the coördinates from the former.[27]
Board on Geographic Names database
The Board on Geographic Names database was a record of investigative work of the USGS Board on Geographic Names' Domestic Names Committee, and decisions that it had made from 1890 onwards, as well as names that were enshrined by Acts of Congress.[28] Elevation and location data followed the same rules as for the NGNDB.[29] So too did names with diacritic characters.[29]
Phase 2
Phase 2 was broader in scope than phase 1, extending the scope to a much larger set of data sources.[1] It ran from the end of phase 1 and had managed to completely process data from 42 states by 2003, with 4 still underway and the remaining 4 (Alaska, Kentucky, Michigan, and New York) awaiting the initial systematic compilation of the sources to use.[1]
The media on which one could obtain the databases were extended in the 1990s (still including tape and paper) to floppy disc, over FTP, and on CD-ROM.[30] The CD-ROM edition only included the NGNDB, the AGNDB, the GCNDB, and a bibliographic reference database (RDB); but came with database search software that ran on PC DOS (or compatible) version 3.0 or later.[30] The FTP site included extra topical databases: a subset of the NGNDB that only included the records with feature classes for populated places, a "Concise" subset of the NGNDB that listed "major features", and a "Historical" subset that included the features that no longer exist.[30]
Populated places
There is no differentiation amongst different types of populated places.[31] In the words of the aforementioned 1986 USACE report, "[a] subdivision having one inhabitant is as significant as a major metropolitan center such as New York City".[31]
In comparing GNIS populated place records with data from the Thematic Mapper of the Landsat program, researchers from the University of Connecticut in 2001 discovered that "a significant number" of populated places in Connecticut had no identifiable human settlement in the land use data and were at road intersections.[32] They found that such populated places with no actual settlement often had "Corner" in their names, and hypothesized that either these were historical records or were "cartographic locators".[32] In surveying in the United States, a "Corner" is a corner of the surveyed polygon enclosing an area of land, whose location is, or was (since corners can become "lost"[33] or "obliterated"[34]), marked in various ways including with trees known as "bearing trees"[35] ("witness trees" in older terminology[36]) or "corner monuments".[37]
From analysing Native American names in the database in order to compile a dictionary, professor William Bright of UCLA observed in 2004 that some GNIS entries are "erroneous; or refer to long-vanished railroad sidings where no one ever lived".[38] Such false classifications have propagated to other geographical information sources, such as incorrectly classified train stations appearing as towns or neighborhoods on Google Maps.[39]
Name changes
The GNIS accepts proposals for new or changed names for U.S. geographical features through The National Map Corps. The general public can make proposals at the GNIS web site and can review the justifications and supporters of the proposals.[citation needed]
The usual sources of name change requests are an individual state's board on geographic names, or a county board of governors.[40] This does not always succeed, the State Library of Montana having submitted three large sets of name changes that have not been incorporated into the GNIS database.[41]
Conversely, a group of middle school students in Alaska succeeded, with the help of their teachers, a professor of linguistics, and a man who had been conducting a years-long project to collect Native American placenames in the area, in changing the names of several places that they had spotted in class one day and challenged for being racist, including renaming "Negrohead Creek" to an Athabascan name Lochenyatth Creek and "Negrohead Mountain" to Tl'oo Khanishyah Mountain, both of which translate to "grassy tussocks" in Lower Tanana and Gwichʼin respectively.[42] Likewise, in researching a 2008 book on ethnic slurs in U.S. placenames Mark Monmonier of Syracuse University discovered "Niger Hill" in Potter County, Pennsylvania, an erroneous transcription of "Nigger Hill" from a 1938 map, and persuaded the USBGN to change it to "Negro Hill".[43]
Removal of racial and ethnic slurs
In November 2021, the United States Secretary of the Interior issued an order instructing that "Squaw" be removed from usage by the U.S. federal government.[44] Prior efforts had included a 1962 replacement of the "Nigger" racial pejorative for African Americans with "Negro" and a 1974 replacement of the "Jap" racial pejorative for Japanese Americans with "Japanese".[44][40][45]
In 2015, a cross-reference of the GNIS database against the Racial Slur Database had found 1441 racial slur placenames, every state of the United States having them, with California having 159 and the state with the most such names being Arizona.[40][45] One of the two standard reference works for placenames in Arizona is Byrd Howell Granger's 1983 book Arizona's Names: X Marks the Place, which contains many additional names with racial slurs not in the GNIS database.[40][46] Despite "Nigger" having been removed from federal government use by Stewart Udall, its replacement "Negro" still remained in GNIS names in 2015, as did "Pickaninny", "Uncle Tom", and "Jim Crow" and 33 places named "Niggerhead".[40] There were 828 names containing "squaw", including 11 variations on "Squaw Tit" and "Squaw Teat", contrasting with the use of "Nipple" in names with non-Native American allusions such as "Susies Nipple".[40]
Other authorities
The United States Census Bureau (USCB) defines Census Designated Places as a subset of locations in the National Geographic Names Database.
United States Postal Service (USPS) Publication 28 gives standards for addressing mail. In this publication, the postal service defines two-letter state abbreviations, street identifiers such as boulevard (BLVD) and street (ST), and secondary identifiers such as suite (STE).
↑ "Additional guidelines were suggested for determining the center of large populated places, such as the location of the city hall or town hall, main post office, main library, central business district, or main intersection." [17]
↑ "Primary Point: The official feature location is a single point to which the official feature name is associated in order to ensure positive and unique identification and association, also referred to as the primary point. The location is determined by the authoritative source and is approved or recognized as official by the U.S. Board on Geographic Names by decision or by policy delegation to the authoritative source. The placing of the location point is governed by policies of the Board as defined in the Names Data Users Guide and GNIS metadata, generally at or near the geographic center, but there are exceptions for certain classes of features."[19] "Question 17: In the GNIS database, the Primary coordinate values for communities are taken at the center of the "original" community meaning the city hall, main post office, main intersection, etc.[20] "Primary Point: The official feature location is a single point to which the official feature name is associated in order to ensure positive and unique identification and association, also referred to as the primary point. The location is determined by the authoritative source and is approved or recognized as official by the U.S. Board on Geographic Names by decision or by policy delegation to the authoritative source. The placing of the location point is governed by policies of the Board as defined in the Names Data Users Guide and GNIS metadata, generally at or near the geographic center, but there are exceptions for certain classes of features. For example, the official feature location of flowing bodies of water (streams, rivers, creeks, etc.) or trending linear features (valleys, gulchs, gullys, hollows, etc.) is at the mouth. A geographic feature may have only one official location regardless of size, extent, composition, structure, or boundaries. The location point is coincident with, but in addition to and independent of, any other geospatial representation or boundary definition that may be attached to the feature in other datasets. Linear and aerial features may have secondary points as defined in the Names Data Users Guide and GNIS metadata. Locations are stored in the Geographic Names Information System as latitude and longitude in decimal degrees to seven places."[21]
Related Research Articles
The United States Board on Geographic Names (BGN) is a federal body operating under the United States Secretary of the Interior. The purpose of the board is to establish and maintain uniform usage of geographic names throughout the federal government of the United States. Nevertheless, its rulings and policies have been controversial from time to time.
Zzyzx, formerly Soda Springs, is an unincorporated town in San Bernardino County, California, United States, within the boundaries of the Mojave National Preserve, managed by the National Park Service (NPS), an agency of the U.S. Department of Interior, as public land. It is the former site of the Zzyzx Mineral Springs and Health Spa and now the site of the Desert Studies Center. The site is also the location of Lake Tuendae, originally part of the spa, and now a refuge habitat of the endangered Mohave tui chub.
The Dennistoun Glacier is a glacier, 50 nautical miles long, draining the northern slopes of Mount Black Prince, Mount Royalist and Mount Adam in the Admiralty Mountains of Victoria Land, Antarctica. It flows northwest between the Lyttelton Range and Dunedin Range, turning east on rounding the latter range to enter the sea south of Cape Scott.
The GEOnet Names Server (GNS), sometimes also referred to in official documentation as Geographic Names Data or geonames in domain and email addresses, is a service that provides access to the United States National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency's (NGA) and the US Board on Geographic Names's (BGN) database of geographic feature names and locations for locations outside the US. The database is the official repository for the US Federal Government on foreign place-name decisions approved by the BGN. Approximately 20,000 of the database's features are updated monthly. Names are not deleted from the database, "except in cases of obvious duplication". The database contains search aids such as spelling variations and non-Roman script spellings in addition to its primary information about location, administrative division, and quality. The accuracy of the database had been criticised.
This is a list of properties and historic districts in Tennessee that are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. There are over 2,000 in total. Of these, 29 are National Historic Landmarks. Each of Tennessee's 95 counties has at least one listing.
Mount Bird is a 1,765 metres (5,791 ft) high shield volcano standing about 7 nautical miles south of Cape Bird, the northern extremity of Ross Island. It was mapped by the British National Antarctic Expedition, 1901–04, under Robert Falcon Scott, and apparently named by them after Cape Bird.
The United States Census Bureau defines a place as a concentration of population which has a name, is locally recognized, and is not part of any other place. A place typically has a residential nucleus and a closely spaced street pattern, and it frequently includes commercial property and other urban land uses. A place may be an incorporated place or it may be a census-designated place (CDP). Incorporated places are defined by the laws of the states in which they are contained. The Census Bureau delineates CDPs. A small settlement in the open countryside or the densely settled fringe of a large city may not be a place as defined by the Census Bureau. As of the 1990 census, 26% of the people in the United States lived outside of places.
This is a list of the National Register of Historic Places listings in Carbon County, Wyoming.
The Brassiere Hills are a pair of summits in the City and Borough of Juneau, Alaska, United States. It is located at the northern end of Taku Inlet, 4.5 miles (7.2 km) north of Taku Point and 18 miles (29 km) northeast of the city of Juneau. The peaks are 2,405 feet (733 m) and 2,360 feet (719 m) high and a stream named Zipper Creek runs between them.
All-Blacks Nunataks is a group of conspicuous nunataks lying midway between Wallabies Nunataks and Wilhoite Nunataks at the southeast margin of the Byrd Névé in Antarctica. Named by the New Zealand Geological Survey Antarctic Expedition (1960–61) after the well-known New Zealand national rugby union team.
Stephenson Bastion is a mountain massif with steep rock cliffs on its south side, rising to 1,850 metres (6,070 ft) in the south-central part of the Shackleton Range. It was first mapped in 1957 by the Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition, and it was photographed by U.S. Navy aircraft in 1967. It was named by the United Kingdom Antarctic Place-Names Committee (UK-APC) for Philip J. Stephenson, an Australian geologist with the transpolar party of the CTAE in 1956–58.
Beefhide is an unincorporated community spanning across a county line between Letcher County and Pike County, Kentucky, United States.
Neepaulakating Creek is a 2.4-mile long (3.8 km) tributary of Papakating Creek in Wantage Township in Sussex County, New Jersey in the United States. It is one of three streams feeding the Papakating Creek, a major contributor to the Wallkill River. Although the stream was dammed in the 1950s to create Lake Neepaulin as the focal point of a private residential development, the stream did not receive a name until 2002. Residents chose a name that combined elements of the names "Neepaulin" and "Papakating", and submitted a proposal to the United States Board of Geographic Names. The name was approved in 2004.
Itak is a populated place situated in Pima County, Arizona, United States. Itak means "point of mountain" in the O'odham language. European settlers had referred to this place as Rocky Point at least through the early part of the twentieth century. On September 8, 1939, the Office of Indian Affairs petitioned the USGS to officially recognize the name of the location as Itak, as that was the name preferred by the local residents, and was more historical. On April 10, 1941, the Board on Geographic Names rendered its decision, officially naming the place Itak. It has an estimated elevation of 2,297 feet (700 m) above sea level.
Payne, Roger L. (1983). McEwen, Robert B.; Winter, Richard E.; Ramey, Benjamin S. (eds.). Geographic Names Information System(PDF). Geological Survey Circular. United States Geological Survey. 895-F.
Payne, Roger L. (1985). Geographic Names Information System: Data Users Guide (6ed.). Reston, Virginia: United States Geological Survey.
Monmonier, Mark (2008). From Squaw Tit to Whorehouse Meadow: How Maps Name, Claim, and Inflame. University of Chicago Press. ISBN9780226534640.
McEathron, Scott R.; McGlamery, Patrick; Shin, Dong-Guk; Smith, Ben; Su, Yuan (August 2001). Naming the Landscape: Building the Connecticut Digital Gazetteer(PDF). 67th IFLA Council and General Conference August 16–25, 2001. ED 459 759. Archived(PDF) from the original on June 16, 2022. Retrieved April 23, 2022.
Glossaries of BLM Surveying and Mapping Terms (2nded.). United States Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management. 1980.
The State Library of Arizona (September 20, 2017). "Researching Arizona's place names". Blog of the State of Arizona Research Library. Archived from the original on September 11, 2022. Retrieved April 23, 2022.
"Data Construction". Montana State Library. Archived from the original on May 20, 2022. Retrieved April 23, 2022.
Nuessel, Frank (2019). "Ethnophaulic toponyms in the United States". In Felecan, Oliviu (ed.). Onomastics between Sacred and Profane. Series in Language and Linguistics. Vernon Press. ISBN9781622734016.
Bright, William (2004). Native American Placenames of the United States. University of Oklahoma Press. ISBN9780806135984.
Orth, Donald J.; Payne, Roger L. (1987). "The National Geographic Names Data Base: Phase II instructions". Circular. Geological Survey Circular. Vol.1011. United States Geological Survey. doi:10.3133/cir1011. ISSN1067-084X.
United States Department of the Interior, Digital Gazeteer: Users Manual, (Reston, Virginia: United States Geological Survey, 1994).
Least Heat Moon, William, Blue Highways: A Journey Into America, (Boston: Little Brown and Company, 1982). ISBN0-316-35329-9
Jouris, David, All Over The Map, (Berkeley, California: Ten Speed Press, 1994.) ISBN0-89815-649-1
Report: "Countries, Dependencies, Areas of Special Sovereignty and Their Principal Administrative Divisions", Federal Information Processing Standards (FIPS), FIPS 10-4. Standard was withdrawn in September 2008, See Federal Register Notice: Vol. 73, No. 170, page 51276 (September 2, 2008)
Vaughan, Champ Clark (2008). "The Oregon Geographic Names Board: One Hundred Years of Toponymic Nomenclature". Oregon Historical Quarterly. 109 (3): 412–433. doi:10.1353/ohq.2008.0017. JSTOR20615877. S2CID165705955.
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