Geographic Names Information System

The logo of the United States Geological Survey

The seal of the United States Board on Geographic Names

The Geographic Names Information System (GNIS) is a database that contains name and locative information about more than two million physical and cultural features located throughout the United States of America and its territories. It is a type of gazetteer. GNIS was developed by the United States Geological Survey in cooperation with the United States Board on Geographic Names (BGN) to promote the standardization of feature names.

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.^[1] The database never removes an entry, "except in cases of obvious duplication."^[2]

Name changes

The GNIS accepts proposals for new or changed names for U.S. geographical features. The general public can make proposals at the GNIS web site and can review the justifications and supporters of the proposals.

Other authorities

• The Bureau of the Census defines Census Designated Places as a subset of locations in the National Geographic Names Database.
• U.S. Postal Service 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).

See also

• GEOnet Names Server, a similar database for locations outside the United States
• Canadian Geographical Names Data Base, a similar, but non-public-domain, database for locations within Canada only
• United Nations Conference on the Standardization of Geographical Names

References

Further reading

• U.S. Department of the Interior, U.S. Geological Survey, National Mapping Division, Digital Gazeteer: Users Manual, (Reston, Virginia: U.S. Geological Survey, 1994).
• Least Heat Moon, William, Blue Highways: A Journey Into America, (Boston: Little Brown and Company, 1982). ISBN 0-316-35329-9
• Jouris, David, All Over The Map, (Berkeley, California: Ten Speed Press, 1994.) ISBN 0-89815-649-1
• Report: "Countries, Dependencies, Areas of Special Sovereignty, and Their Principal Administrative Divisions," Federal Information Processing Standards, FIPS 10-4. Standard was withdrawn in September 2008, See Federal Register Notice: Vol. 73, No. 170, page 51276 (September 2, 2008)
• Report: "Principles, Policies, and Procedures: Domestic Geographic Names," U.S. Board on Geographic Names, 1997.
• U.S. Postal Service Publication 28, November 2000.

External links

• U.S. Board on Geographic Names website
• Geographic Names Information System (GNIS)
• Proposals from the general public
• Meeting minutes
• GNIS Search