R. E. Flynn, US Board on Geographic Names

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Digital Geographic Names Digital Geographic Names Information Exchange Information Exchange

WorkshopWorkshop

Toponymic Authorities & Sharing Toponymic Authorities & Sharing DataData

Confessions of a Toponymic RegulatorConfessions of a Toponymic Regulator

R. E. Flynn, US Board on Geographic Names

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Toponymic AuthoritiesToponymic Authorities

International “Authorities”International “Authorities”– United Nations Conferences on the United Nations Conferences on the

Standardization of Geographical NamesStandardization of Geographical Names United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical

NamesNames

– International Hydrographic OrganizationInternational Hydrographic Organization High seas featuresHigh seas features

– International Astronomical UnionInternational Astronomical Union Planetary nomenclaturePlanetary nomenclature

R. E. Flynn, US Board on Geographic Names

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Toponymic AuthoritiesToponymic Authorities

National AuthoritiesNational Authorities– E.g., US Board on Geographic NamesE.g., US Board on Geographic Names– AbroadAbroad

~ 15% of independent states have ~ 15% of independent states have explicit explicit geographic names authoritiesgeographic names authorities

~ 15% of independent states have issued formal ~ 15% of independent states have issued formal Toponymic GuidelinesToponymic Guidelines

R. E. Flynn, US Board on Geographic Names

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Toponymic AuthoritiesToponymic Authorities

Realms of Explicit AuthorityRealms of Explicit Authority– Principle, policy, procedure ...Principle, policy, procedure ...– Name spellingName spelling

“… “… uniformity in geographic nomenclature and uniformity in geographic nomenclature and orthography …”orthography …”

Implicit AuthorityImplicit Authority– RomanizationRomanization– Definition of featureDefinition of feature– Cultural gatekeeperCultural gatekeeper

R. E. Flynn, US Board on Geographic Names

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Toponymic AuthoritiesToponymic Authorities

Enforcement of AuthorityEnforcement of Authority– Who enforces use of “authorized” names?Who enforces use of “authorized” names?– Case Study: SwedenCase Study: Sweden

LitigationLitigation over use of variant place names over use of variant place names– WinstaWinsta vs vs VinstadVinstad

R. E. Flynn, US Board on Geographic Names

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Gazetteers: Two ViewsGazetteers: Two Views

Gazetteer as Code of RegulationsGazetteer as Code of Regulations– Object to promulgate prescriptive decisionsObject to promulgate prescriptive decisions– Whose decisions?Whose decisions?

Gazetteer as Entry PortalGazetteer as Entry Portal– … … to richer fund of geospatial informationto richer fund of geospatial information– … … including “all other place name spellings”including “all other place name spellings”

Sharing information is implicit in both Sharing information is implicit in both viewsviews

R. E. Flynn, US Board on Geographic Names

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What is a Digital Gazetteer?What is a Digital Gazetteer?

UNGEGN Terminology: GazetteerUNGEGN Terminology: Gazetteer– ““Index Gazetteer”Index Gazetteer”

Ordered list of toponyms with or without additional data, Ordered list of toponyms with or without additional data, serving as a guide to the source in which they appear. serving as a guide to the source in which they appear. Example: index gazetteer appended to an atlas.Example: index gazetteer appended to an atlas.

– ““Toponymic Gazetteer”Toponymic Gazetteer” ““Ordered list of toponyms with information about location, Ordered list of toponyms with information about location,

type of feature and possibly other relevant data for each type of feature and possibly other relevant data for each item.”item.”

R. E. Flynn, US Board on Geographic Names

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Digital GazetteersDigital Gazetteers

At issue:At issue:– Conceptual data modelsConceptual data models

entity-specific, e.g.:entity-specific, e.g.:– ““geographic name”geographic name”– ““feature representation”feature representation”– ““image”image”

– Information architecturesInformation architectures discipline-specific, e.g.:discipline-specific, e.g.:

– ““biodiversity vocabulary”biodiversity vocabulary”– ““entomology”entomology”– ““imagery intelligence”imagery intelligence”

R. E. Flynn, US Board on Geographic Names

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Digital GazetteersDigital Gazetteers

Challenge:Challenge:– Adaptive toponymic systems permitting ...Adaptive toponymic systems permitting ...– Information integration across disciplinesInformation integration across disciplines

““interoperability”interoperability”

R. E. Flynn, US Board on Geographic Names

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Sharing DataSharing Data

Technical IssuesTechnical Issues– Content StandardContent Standard

– FormatFormat Text EncodingText Encoding

R. E. Flynn, US Board on Geographic Names

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Sharing DataSharing Data

Text EncodingText Encoding– Issues:Issues:

Representation of writing systems beyond the 52-Representation of writing systems beyond the 52-character English-language Roman alphabetcharacter English-language Roman alphabet

Text processesText processes

– Text encoding evolutionText encoding evolution 7-bit (27-bit (277 [128] possible “characters”) [128] possible “characters”) 8-bit (28-bit (288 [256] possible “characters”) [256] possible “characters”) 16-bit (216-bit (216 16 [~64K] possible “characters”)[~64K] possible “characters”)

R. E. Flynn, US Board on Geographic Names

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Sharing DataSharing Data

Text encoding standardsText encoding standards– 7-bit7-bit

““ASCII” - basic Roman alphabetASCII” - basic Roman alphabet

– 8-bit8-bit ““Extended ASCII” - numerous alphabetic systemsExtended ASCII” - numerous alphabetic systems Proprietary and industrial standardsProprietary and industrial standards

– e.g., IBM code pagese.g., IBM code pages National and international standardsNational and international standards

– ISO 8859ISO 8859– KOI 8KOI 8

R. E. Flynn, US Board on Geographic Names

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Sharing DataSharing Data

Text Encoding StandardsText Encoding Standards– 16-bit16-bit

Proprietary & industrial standardsProprietary & industrial standards– MS DBCSMS DBCS– Double-byte code pagesDouble-byte code pages

National and international standardsNational and international standards– ISO 10646/UnicodeISO 10646/Unicode

– Санкт Петербург > Sankt Peterburg

R. E. Flynn, US Board on Geographic Names

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Sharing Data … Sharing Sharing Data … Sharing LocationsLocations

Data Exchange OverheadData Exchange Overhead– Data multiply stored at multiple sitesData multiply stored at multiple sites– Maintenance, maintenance, maintenanceMaintenance, maintenance, maintenance

Location sharingLocation sharing– Location as in URLLocation as in URL– Single data store, single maintenance authoritySingle data store, single maintenance authority

Example: “NIMA in a Box”Example: “NIMA in a Box”– Static geospatial data on CD-ROMStatic geospatial data on CD-ROM– Pointers (URLs) to dynamic data at NIMAPointers (URLs) to dynamic data at NIMA

Includes US BGN Geographic Names Data Base Includes US BGN Geographic Names Data Base recordsrecords

R. E. Flynn, US Board on Geographic Names

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Sharing Data … As PropertySharing Data … As Property

Issue across geospatial data spectrumIssue across geospatial data spectrum

Beyond money to intellectual propertyBeyond money to intellectual property Geographic names as a commodity vs. …Geographic names as a commodity vs. … Standardized geographic names as Standardized geographic names as

community heritagecommunity heritage

=