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Dwight HughesGeographic Names ProjectU.S. Geological SurveyU.S. Department of the Interior

Minimum Geographic Feature Identifying

AttributesANSI Standard Proposal

Minimum Geographic Feature Identifying

AttributesANSI Standard ProposalHomeland Security Working Group

September 21, 2006

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Standards Timeline

• 1890: U.S. Board on Geographic Names Established http://geonames.usgs.gov

To standardize geographic feature names and locations for Federal use

• 1947: Board reauthorized in public law 80-242• 1975: Geographic Names Information System (GNIS) established• 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: Draft proposal reviewed by INCITS L1• 12 Oct 06: Final proposal & draft presented• Oct 06—Mar 07: Review• Mar 07: Ballot?

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

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Proposed Standard 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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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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Applies to

• Named natural and cultural features of all types Except roads and highways Brand name commercial facilities generally not included

unless they have landmark utility or historical meaning

• Named populated places

• Counties and equivalent legal, statistical entities

• Primary county divisions

• American Indian, Alaska Native areas

• All kinds of named infrastructure facilities

As specified by the U.S. Board of Geographic Names and U.S. Bureau of the Census in coordination with Federal, State, county, and local agencies responsible for land and real property management.

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Two Million – And Growing

• 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)Thousands added per month.

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A Feature is

Feature IDNameLocationFeature Class• Geometry?• Other Attributes

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

Minimum Identifying Attributes

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Feature ID is Permanent & Unique

• Number assigned sequentially to new records Highest existing number plus 1

• Carries no information or association to record content Not a code but doesn’t restrict the use of codes Not subject to change as attribute values change

• Never withdrawn and never reassigned

Attribute assigned to a geographic feature for the sole purpose of uniquely identifying that feature as a record in any information system database, dataset, file, or document and for distinguishing it from all other feature records

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Why a Feature ID?

To correlate geographic feature data across multitudes of related, overlapping, and potentially contradictory datasets, served by multiple, interlocking, and interdependent applications at all levels of government and the private sector.

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Official Name

• Specified by authoritative data owner One and only one official name. Multiple variant names. Within guidelines of the Board on Geographic Names

• Names complete, standard, nationally consistent Regardless of source or mechanism of access & display

Written form of the name and its application to the appropriate place, feature, or area approved by the Board or by the appropriate administrative agency.

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Official Feature Location

• Single point at 1:24,000 scale – The primary point Official point to which official name is attached Normally near center/centroid with exceptions Independent of size, extent, spatial representations Vital for correctly identifying & locating features

• Specified by authoritative data owner Within guidelines of the Board on Geographic Names

• Boundaries not reliable as official feature location Multiple versions, varying resolutions, differing precision Many features have no definable, official, recognized, or

agreed upon boundaries

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Standardization not Regulation

• National Security• Emergency Preparedness & Response• Regional & Local Planning• Site Selection & Analysis• Cartographic Application• Environmental Problem-solving• Tourism• All Levels of Communication

Why StandardizeGeographic Names and locations?

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GNIS as a standard

• Proposed ANSI Standard Minimum Feature Identifying Attributes:

Feature ID, Feature Name, Feature Point Location

• Referenced in draft FGDC Address Standard Feature ID, Feature Name, Feature Point Location

• Feature ID superseded FIPS55 Place Code Draft MOU with Census to manage the transition Assisting DoD in transition for real property ID codes Coordinating with other agencies and organizations

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

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Scope

• The 50 States, District of Columbia, Puerto Rico• Outlying areas (American Samoa, Guam,

Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, Virgin Islands, Minor Outlying Islands)

• Freely associated areas (Federated States of Micronesia, Marshall Islands, Republic of Palau)

• Antarctica data maintained by the USGS.

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Official Name

• Specified by authoritative data owner In all but a few cases, mostly natural features Within guidelines of the Board on Geographic Names

• All sources authorized and verified Mostly Federal, State, local agencies

• All data validated & QA’d• Names complete, standard, nationally consistent

Regardless of source or mechanism of access & display

• Available to all levels of Government & the public

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Need for Names Standardization

• In the 1800’s – numerous Federal scientific and exploration expeditions

• Many agencies recorded different names, resulting in confusion

• Geographic names is a key component of the National Spatial Data Infrastructure

• And a base layer of The National Map

• Consistency is a key attribute of base geographic information

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The Solution

• 4 September 1890 – U.S. Board on Geographic Names established by Presidential Executive Order

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

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

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U.S. Board on Geographic Names

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

• Formulates principles, policies, and proceduresfor domestic and foreign geographic names

• Promulgates in the name of the Board: Decisions with respect to geographic names and locations Principles of geographic nomenclature and orthography Geographic feature data and names (GNIS)

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U.S. Board on Geographic Names

• No Federal agency may change or add unilaterally a feature name on any product without Board approval

• For most features, approval authority is delegated to the owning agency by policy Subject to principles, policies, and procedures Exceptions are natural features, canals, reservoirs.

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• 1987 – U.S. Board on Geographic Names designated the GNIS as the only official vehicle for domestic geographic names used by the Federal government

Therefore:• The GNIS is the only official source for applying

geographic names to Federal maps and other products depicting areas under U.S. jurisdiction

Geographic Names Information System

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GNIS Revolution – Past Two Years

• Completely redesigned database• All Web user interfaces

Public Query – links to The National Map, TopoZone, TerraServer, GoogleMap, Tiger

Partner data entry/edit – Fully automated

• Full service geodatabase Web map/feature service XML service File download. Customized on request Web extract Shape file (soon)

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Why GNIS?

Conforms to BGN principles, policies, guidelines 30 Years of Data from authoritative stake holders Stable, mature geographic information system Full national coverage, consistent, seamless Quality assured, prevents duplication Feature based Open, interoperable, available, web services Functioning partner base – Federal, State, Local Large user community of long standing

If your features are in GNIS, they are official

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GNIS Supports:

• Geospatial One-Stop – Geographic Names Community

• The National Map – Names layers & Find Place Query

• The National Atlas – GNIS Provides names data

• National Hydrography Dataset – Uses only GNIS Names

• National Elevation Dataset – Query elevation in GNIS

• Seamless – Includes Names layers

• FGDC – GNIS supports standards development

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GOS Geographic Names Community

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GNIS in The National Map

http://nmviewogc.cr.usgs.gov/viewer.htm

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GNIS Web Site

http://geonames.usgs.gov/domestic/

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Feature Class – Defined Functionally

AIRPORT CAVE GEYSER MINE SCHOOL

ARCH CEMETERY GLACIER OILFIELD SEA

AREA CENSUS GUT PARK SLOPE

ARROYO CHANNEL HARBOR PILLAR SPRING

BAR CHURCH HOSPITAL PLAIN STREAM

BASIN CIVIL ISLAND POST OFFICE SUMMIT

BAY CLIFF ISTHMUS POPULATED PLACE

SWAMP

BEACH CRATER LAKE TOWER

BENCH CROSSING LAVA RANGE TRAIL

BEND DAM LEVEE RAPIDS TUNNEL

BRIDGE FALLS LOCALE RESERVE VALLEY

BUILDING FLAT MILITARY RESERVOIR WELL

CANAL FOREST MILITARY (HISTORICAL)

RIDGE WOODS

CAPE GAP

No Official Feature Classification Schemas

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Names Problems

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Validation Rules – Hundreds of them

• comma to comma+space• # to Number+space• & to space+and+space• @ to space+at+space• - to space+-+space • slash to space+hyphen+space• space+space to space• All upper case to title case• ‘Ste.’ To ‘Sainte’• ‘Mt.’ to ‘Mount’• ‘Mtn’ to ‘Mountain’

• comma to comma+space• ‘Dr.’, ‘Dr ‘ = ‘Drive’ or ‘Doctor’?• ‘W ‘, ‘W.’ = Initial or ‘West”?• ‘No.’, ‘No ‘= ‘North’ or ‘Number’• No apostrophe in natural features• ‘U. S.’ to "United States"

• ‘NE ‘ Northeast+space

• ‘Name, The’ to ‘The Name’

• Search for ‘(‘ ‘)‘, remove/correct

• ‘Cty.’to ‘County’

• Rd.’, Rd to ‘Road’

Case, special characters, abbreviations, generics, parentheses

Examples:

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Can You Identify These Features?

• CAMDEN CO-SR110 MSWL

• East DeKalb Campus (school?)

• Johnson Magnet

• LIBERTY CO-LIMERICK RD (L)

• Tabernacle Baptist (a school)

• Hiawassee WPCP

• Monticello Pearson Creek Pond (waste water treatment plant)

• Alcovy Shores (a water system)

• Saint Peter Claver• Shurling Branch (library)• Ochlocknee PD• Spence Field (airport)• Shepard Center, Inc. (hospital)• Marlow (elementary school) • Charter Lake Hospital

(a private school)• Macon-Bibb Station 8

(Fire Station) • BJC Medical Center

(name or acronym?)

How important is it to avoid name confusion?

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Full Service – Data Out

GNIS

National Map

Any other GIS

GNIS Web Site

TNM Feature

Look up

Any other App

FeatureService

FeatureService

File

Download

Custom

Files

GNIS MapService

GNIS MapService

GNIS XMLService

GNIS XMLService

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GNIS Public Web Query

http://geonames.usgs.gov/pls/gnispublic/

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GNIS Map Service

http://geonamesmap.er.usgs.gov/OGCConnector/servlet/OGCConnector?

ServiceName=us_gnis&request=getMap&

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GNIS Feature Service – Example

http://ergmap.er.usgs.gov/OGCConnector/servlet/OGCConnector/com.esri.wms.Esrimap/us_gnis?request=getfeatureinfo&bbox=-77,39,-76,40&width=10&height=10&Layers=LAYERS.COMMUNITIES&EXCEPTIONS%20=%20SE_XML&x=5&y=5&FEATURE_COUNT=10

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?> - <ARCXML version="1.1">- <RESPONSE>  <QUERYLAYER name="LAYERS.COMMUNITIES" /> - <FEATURES>- <FEATURE>- <FIELDS>  <FIELD name="LAYERS.COMMUNITIES_V.FEATURE_ID" value="1698036" />   <FIELD name="LAYERS.COMMUNITIES_V.FEATURE_NAME" value="Spring House Estates" />   <FIELD name="LAYERS.COMMUNITIES_V.FEATURE_CLASS" value="Populated Place" />   <FIELD name="LAYERS.COMMUNITIES_V.LATITUDE" value="39.693994" />   <FIELD name="LAYERS.COMMUNITIES_V.LONGITUDE" value="-76.3216253" />   <FIELD name="#SHAPE#" value="[Geometry]" />   <FIELD name="LAYERS.COMMUNITIES_V.STATE_ALPHA" value="MD" />   <FIELD name="LAYERS.COMMUNITIES_V.COUNTY_NAME" value="Harford" />   <FIELD name="LAYERS.COMMUNITIES_V.SDEID" value="58525" />

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GNIS Shape File Extract Service

• Coming• Use The National Map Download

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GNIS XML Service – Example

• All streams in Virginia- <USGSLIST>- <USGS>  <FEATURE_ID_NMBR>485728</FEATURE_ID_NMBR>   <FEATURE_NAME>Abes Fork</FEATURE_NAME>   <STATE_EQUIVALENT_NAME>Kentucky</STATE_EQUIVALENT_NAME>   <CNTY_NAME>Pike</CNTY_NAME>   <FEATURE_TYPE>stream</FEATURE_TYPE>   <FEAT_LATITUDE_NMBR>37.31472</FEAT_LATITUDE_NMBR>   <FEAT_LONGITUDE_NMBR>-82.28667</FEAT_LONGITUDE_NMBR>   <FEAT_LATITUDE_CHAR>371853N</FEAT_LATITUDE_CHAR>   <FEAT_LONGITUDE_CHAR>0821712W</FEAT_LONGITUDE_CHAR>   <CELL_NAME>Elkhorn City</CELL_NAME>   <ELEVATION />   </USGS>-

http://geonames.usgs.gov/pls/gnis/x?fname=&state='Virginia'&cnty=&cell=&ftype='stream'

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GNIS Download .txt files

http://geonames.usgs.gov/domestic/download_data.htm

Note: Will be adding download for XML and

Shape files

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Full Service – Data In

Web Services &Applications

GNIS

Partner

TransactionEntry/Edit

Partner

Data Maintenance

Partner Data

Batch

Files

Synchronizedby Feature ID

Working

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Full Service – In & Out in Minutes

GNIS

National Map

Find Place Names LayersGNIS Web SitePartner

Names Office

Enter, Edit Data

Validate,Commit Data Seamless (weekly extract)

Other apps using services

National Atlas, NHD, &Antarctic

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GNIS Maintenance Forms

http://geonames.usgs.gov/pls/htmldb/f?p=GNISUser ID & Password: UserNN!!

Where NN = 01 through 15

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Data In – Batch Processes

• Receive Any standard format .txt, .xls, .xml, shape, etc.

• Or pull down from data owner web service• Compare with existing data in the GNIS• Reconcile Data

Revise, correct as needed Enter new records Generate Feature IDs for new records

• Return new Feature IDs to data owner

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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)

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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

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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 Yost (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

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Thank you for your interest!

Questions?

The End