West Virginia GIS Forum & Workshops - Standardizing Geographic Names

1. West Virginia Partnerships and the Geographic NamesInformation System West Virginia GIS Forum & WorkshopsMay 16-17, 2006 Dwight Hughes Geographic Names Project U.S. Geological Survey U.S. Department of the Interior

2. Why Standardize Geographic Names? • National Security • Emergency Preparedness & Response • Regional & Local Planning • Site Selection & Analysis • Cartographic Application • Environmental Problem-solving • Tourism • All Levels of Communication

3. GNIS The Geographic Names Information System • Supports the U.S. Board on Geographic Names • Federal body authorized by law to ensure names standardization (not regulation) • Official source for geographic names on Federal products depicting areas under U.S. jurisdiction • Maps, electronic products, documents, etc. • One Feature, One Name, One Location • As specified by data owner within Board guidelines • Normally Federal, State, County, Local authority-You

4. GNIS Public Web Query http://geonames.usgs.gov/pls/gnispublic

5. GNIS in The National Map http://nmviewogc.cr.usgs.gov/viewer.htm

6. GOS Geographic Names Community http://gos2.geodata.gov/wps/portal/gos

7. GNIS in a Map Viewer

8. Why GNIS? • Conforms to BGN principles, policies, guidelines • 30 Years of Data from authoritative sources • Like you – local stake holders • Stable, mature system • Full national coverage, consistent, seamless • Quality assured, prevents duplication • Open, interoperable, available • Functioning partner base – Federal, State, Local • Large user community of long standing • Data readily available to all levels of Government and to the public through multiple services and options • Provides unique feature identifier, official name, and official location If your features are in GNIS, they are official

9. Two Million – And Growing Fast • 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 hydro) • 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) Thousands added per month. If its not in GNIS, it should be.

10. GNIS Features A feature is an Entity on the landscape with • A Feature ID • A location • A name • A Geometry? • Other Secondary Attributes Attributes

11. GNIS Official Feature ID • Unique, permanent, national feature identifier • System assigned number - no information content • Superseded FIPS55 Place Code • Discussions concerning ANSI Standard • Added to local data sets for future reference/maintenance • Immediately assigned upon web data entry • For comparing, reconciling, merging data sets • Eliminates need for difficult attribute matching in data from multiple, overlapping jurisdictions & sources • Available to all levels of government and the public • No confusion or doubt about identity of feature

12. GNIS Official Feature Location • Single point at 24k – The primary point • Official point to which official name is attached • Independent of size, extent, spatial representations • 80% of GNIS features are point features • Easily added, corrected, or modified • Apply to Address Standard? • Vital for correctly identifying & locating features • Boundaries not reliable as official feature location • Boundaries: Don’t exist, change, are undetermined,cannot be determined, subject to disagreement, multiple versions at differing scales/resolutions

13. GNIS Official Name • Official because data owner (you!) says it is • (In all but a very few cases, mostly natural features) • Resolves confusion from multiple, overlapping, conflicting jurisdictions and sources • Subject to general guidelines of the BGN • All sources authorized and verified • All data validated & QA’d • Names complete, standard, nationally consistent • Available to all levels of Government & the public

14. Batch Partner Partner Files TransactionEntry/Edit Data Maintenance Full Service – Data In Web Services &Applications Working Synchronizedby Feature ID GNIS Partner Data

15. TNM Feature Any other App Look up National Map Any other GIS File Download Custom Files Full Service – Data Out GNIS Web Site GNIS MapService GNIS XMLService FeatureService GNIS

16. Electronic Maintenance Program Since 1987 • U.S. Board on Geographic Names • U.S. Geological Survey • U.S. Forest Service (1997) • Office of Coast Survey (1997) • National Hydrography Data Set (NHD) Partners • Synchronized 1997 • National Park Service (1999) • Bureau of Land Management (2005) • Fish & Wildlife Service (soon) • General Services Agency (MOU in for signature)

17. State Partners • North Carolina – GNIS only official source • Delaware – GNIS only official source • Florida – State Gazetteer based on GNIS • West Virginia • Oregon – working • Hawaii – discussions • Nevada – startup • Missouri – preliminary discussions • New York – discussions • Others – preliminary contact

18. Partnerships Are Critical USGS GeographicNames Project For West Virginia • Paul Liston • Kurt Donaldson Long Standing Working State NamesAuthorities State/Local GISAuthorities Develop

19. Contacts • Louis Yost – Executive Secretary U.S. Board on Geographic Names (Acting) • (703) 648-4552 • lyost@usgs.gov • Robin Worcester • (703) 648-4551 • rworcest@usgs.gov • Jennifer Runyon • (703) 648-4550 • jrunyon@usgs.gov • Eve Edwards • (703) 648-4548 • eedwards@usgs.gov • Dwight Hughes • (703) 648-5793 • dshughes@usgs.gov

20. The End Thank you for your interest! Questions?