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Geographic Names ProjectU.S. Geological SurveyU.S. Department of the Interior

Proposed National Standard for Named Physical & Cultural

Geographic Features

Proposed National Standard for Named Physical & Cultural

Geographic Features

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Full Title

Identifying Attributes for Named Physical and Cultural Geographic Features (Except Roads and Highways) of the United States, Territories, Outlying Areas, and Freely Associated Areas, and the Waters of the Same to the Limit of the Twelve Mile Statutory Zone

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Timeline

• 1890: U.S. Board on Geographic Names Established• 1947: Board reauthorized in public law 80-242• 1975: Geographic Names Information System (GNIS) implemented• 1987: GNIS designated as official Federal source of names & locations• 08 Feb 05: NIST withdraws FIPS 55 as Federal standard• 01 Jan 06: GNIS Feature ID supersedes FIPS55 Place Code• 13 Jul 06: Proposal submitted to ANSI INCITS L1 Committee• 21 Sep 06: Briefed to FGDC Homeland Security Working Group• 12 Oct 06: Briefed to INCITS L1 Committee• 18 Oct 06 : Proposal accepted by INCITS L1 Committee• May 07: Draft Standard submitted to INCITS L1 Committee• TBD 07: Standard approved

Translating existing federally developed standards into a national, public, consensus based standard

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Supersedes

• ANSI X3.47:1988 [R2004], Structure for the Identification of Named Populated Places, Primary county Divisions and other Entities of the U.S. and Its Outlying Areas for Information Interchange

• FIPS PUB 55-DC3:1994, Codes for Named Populated Places, Primary County Divisions, and Other Locational Entities of the United States, Puerto Rico, and the Outlying Areas

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Standardization not Regulation

Homeland Security/Homeland Defense Civil Support Emergency Preparedness & Response Regional & Local Planning Site Selection & Analysis Cartographic Application Environmental Problem-solving Tourism All Levels of Communication

The implications of incorrect, inaccurate, or contradictory feature data appearing simultaneously from multiple

sources are, if anything, more serious today.

Why Standardize Feature Names and Locations?

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Need for Names Standardization

Before—19th Century• Scientific and exploration expeditions

recorded conflicting feature names, resulting in significant confusion and difficulty

Today• Geographic names are a key component of

the National Spatial Data Infrastructure• An official A-16 layer• And a base layer of The National MapAlways• Consistency is a key attribute of base

geographic information

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U.S. Board on Geographic Names

• 4 September 1890 – Established byPresidential Executive Order

• 25 July 1947 – Re-established by Public Law 80-242

Representatives of Federal agencies concerned with geographic information, population, ecology, and management of public lands.

http://geonames.usgs.gov/

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U.S. Board on Geographic Names

• Ensures uniformity in geographic nomenclature and orthography throughout the Federal government

• Formulates principles, policies, and proceduresfor domestic feature names standardization.

• Serves as Federal authority to which name problems, name inquiries, name changes, and new name proposals are directed

• Promulgates Decisions with respect to geographic names and locations

• Publishes official feature names and locations

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Concepts And Terms

Concept and terms relating to geographic feature names and locations are defined within the

Principles, Policies, and Procedures for Domestic Geographic Feature Names

of the U.S. Board on Geographic Names

(http://geonames.usgs.gov/docs/pro_pol_pro.pdf)

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Geographic Names Information System

Official Federal source for feature names and locations Base theme of The National Map Authoritative A16 database for geographic names Conforms to Board principles, policies, guidelines 30 Years of Data from authoritative sources Stable, mature geographic information system Full national coverage, consistent, seamless Quality assured, prevents duplication Open, interoperable, available, web services Functioning partner base – Federal, State, Local, Tribal Large user community of long standing

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Feature Examples in the GNIS• 502,000 hydrographic features – Synchronized with NHD• 395,000 cultural features – Mostly structures

Cemetery, Dam, Locale, Mine, Military (historical), Oilfield, Tower, Trail, Well

• 376,000 structural features Airport, Building, Church, Hospital, School, Post Office

• 257,000 landforms – In no other layer of The National Map (Other than hydrographic features in NHD)

• 170,000 populated places• 100,000 admin features

Civil, Forest, Park, Reserve

• 97,000 historical features – In no other layer• 14,000 transportation point features

Bridge, Crossing, Tunnel

• (14,000 Antarctica features)

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Scope of Standard

• Domestic named geographic features, geographic areas, locational entities All types, physical and cultural (Except roads and highways)

• Generally recognizable and locatable by name• Of interest to all levels of government and public

for any purpose• As defined by authoritative source/data owner

Inclusive, not exclusive Standard does not address specifications relating to

ownership, permanence, size, scale, types, classes, or other factors

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Exclusion Guidelines

• Generally excluded Brand name commercial facilities (unless a landmark) Unnamed features locatable only by address or other

locative attribute Small infrastructure and utility elements, e.g., utility

poles, junction boxes, pumping stations, mile markers Mobile or transitory features that do not achieve

significant name and location recognition

• Guidelines subject to review and revision by the Board on Geographic Names and staffT

he final authority concerning applicability of any particular feature or feature set to this standard rests with the U.S. Board on Geographic Names or the staff of the Geographic Names Project.

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A Geographic Feature is:

Feature IDNameLocation

An entity on the landscape/seascape that requires identification, location, and attribution for information of government and the public having:

Minimum Identifying Attributes

Characterized and differentiated solely by function—not by relationships, hierarchies, size, extent, age, composition, structure, ownership, or other factors

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The Feature Identifier (ID) is:

• Permanent, unique, national record number To absolutely identify that record To absolutely distinguish the record from all others In any database, dataset, file, or document

• Without information content Not a code but doesn’t restrict the use of codes Not subject to change as attribute values change Can be mapped to system-specific record identifiers

• Never withdrawn and never reassigned• Assigned sequentially to new records

Highest existing number plus 1

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Why a Standard Feature ID?

• Ensures national record identity and uniqueness

• Promotes horizontal and vertical data consistency

• Correlates multiple datasets Overlapping, potentially contradictory Virtually impossible to correlate masses of feature data based

solely on attribute comparisons or spatial analysis

• Ensures all attributes and attribute values from any source apply to the specified feature and to no other

• Ensures Federal, State, county, local data properly represented in official Federal database available to all

• Mitigates against incorrect, inaccurate, contradictory feature data appearing simultaneously in multiple layers

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The Standard Feature Name is:

• Alpha-numeric name, title, or designation The one and only official name per feature

(May be any number of variant or alternative names)

In any language expressible in Roman Alphabet

• Within guidelines of Board on Geographic Names Complete and correct in wording, spelling,

capitalization, diacritical marks, special characters Nationally consistent. Standard in form, presentation.

• Defined by authoritative source/data owner In all but a few cases requiring formal Board review

(Mostly natural features)

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Why a Standard Feature Name?

• Consistent common reference available to all• Accurate and current by authoritative sourceWithout a standard feature name:• Text easily looses consistency in multiple sources

Even minor variations in wording, spelling, capitalization, diacritical marks, special characters

Uneven use of generic terms in the name(School, Fire or Police Station, Hospital, Emergency Facility, etc.)

Non-standard abbreviations Difficult to enforce quality assurance and validation

• File matching by name difficult & labor intensive

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The Standard Feature Location is:

• Official point to which official name is referenced Reliable as national locational identifier Independent of size, extent, other spatial representations Based on verifiable document/graphic/image/GPS (Geocoded locations not sufficiently accurate.)

• Stored as latitude and longitude Decimal degrees to seven places, NAD83 Available in geospatial format

• Defined by authoritative source/data owner Normally near center or centroid with exceptions Within guidelines of the Board on Geographic Names

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Why a Standard Feature Location?

• Consistent common reference available to all• Accurate and current by authoritative sourceWithout a standard feature location:• Boundaries not reliable for identity or uniqueness

Multiple versions, varying resolutions, differing precision Uncertain currency Overlapping jurisdictions—horizontal and vertical Subjective and/or purpose-specific definitions

• Many features have no single set of definable, official, recognized, or agreed upon boundaries 80% of communities have no legal boundaries

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Applying as an Authoritative Source

• Apply to Geographic Names Project Any Federal, State, local agency, associated contractors Able to serve as responsible source of named feature data Covering National, regional, and/or feature class categories

• Granted primary authority to enter and revise data Data from other sources coordinated with authorized source

• The standard does not address conflicting claims of jurisdiction, authority, responsibility, ownership, and/or stewardship Resolution rests with claimants

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Defining a National Standard Feature

• Name & location become national standards upon: Submission by authoritative source of a new feature Validation by Geographic Names Project, or Decision by the Board on Geographic Names

(Natural features, canals, reservoirs only)

Entry into Geographic Names Information System Assignment of a new Feature ID

• Board Policy: Names and locations of cultural (not natural) features are

determined by authoritative source and are not subject to formal Board review and decision

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Revising a National Standard Feature

• Revisions submitted by authoritative source• At any time through multiple mechanisms:

Written correspondence, telephone, electronic mail, secure web forms, batch files (most standard formats), automated exchanges utilizing web feature services

Other procedures as technology advances• Changes validated and committed by Geographic

Names data specialists

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Accessing Feature Data

• Feature data available through GNIS: Public web query site

(http://geonames.usgs.gov/pls/gnispublic/) File Download Services

(http://geonames.usgs.gov/domestic/download_data.htm) Web map, feature and XML services Customized files on request Collaborative efforts on common application interfaces Other mechanisms in the future

Contains other non-standard attributes—feature classification, secondary points, feature State(s) and county(ies), topographic map name(s), history, description, designations

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Related Efforts

• Feature ID/Name/Location in DHS Geospatial Data Model Top level optional attributes (next version spring 2007)

• Referenced In draft FGDC Address Standard• GNIS Feature ID superseded FIPS55 Place Code

Draft MOU with Census to manage the transition Coordinating with other agencies and organizations

• National Gazetteer Project (Sandia Labs/Patton Alliance) GNIS the Authoritative source for domestic names and locations

• MOU with GSA/OPM to maintain Federal agency geolocation codes with relationship to Feature ID

• Coordination initiated with NGA HIFLD program and HSIP data collection

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Worked for the Topos

For over a century, the U.S. Board on Geographic Names assured consistency and accuracy of geographic names on USGS Topographic Maps, the only national system of maps. This was a mission critical to national development.

For thirty years, the Geographic Names Information System has been the primary mechanism for accomplishing this purpose.

Can we do less in the age of the Internet, GIS, and The National Map?

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Contacts

• Louis YostActing, Executive SecretaryU.S. Board on Geographic Names (703) 648-4552 lyost@usgs.gov

• Jennifer RunyonBoard on Geographic Names Senior Researcher (703) 648-4550 jrunyon@usgs.gov

• Joan HelmrichNames Coordinator (703) 648-4622 jhelmrich@usgs.gov

• Dwight HughesSr. Software Engineer (703) 648-5793 dshughes@usgs.gov

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Thank you for your interest!

Questions?

The End