Geographic Names Information System

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. The system is maintained by the United States Geological Survey (USGS) and the United States Board on Geographic Names (BGN).

Overview

The GNIS was developed by the USGS in cooperation with the BGN. It contains information about physical and cultural geographic features in the United States and its territories, regardless of feature size or type. The database holds the federally recognized name of each feature and defines the feature location by state, county, USGS topographic map, and geographic coordinates.

Features

The GNIS includes information about a wide variety of features. These include mountains, rivers, lakes, parks, populated places, schools, churches, and cemeteries, among others. Each feature in the GNIS is uniquely identified by a feature ID, which is a unique and permanent number assigned to a geographic feature.

Use

The GNIS is used for a wide variety of purposes. It is used by federal, state, and local government agencies for planning and development purposes. It is also used by private industry, as well as the public, for cartography, geographic research, genealogy, and school projects.

See also

• United States Geological Survey
• United States Board on Geographic Names
• Topographic map