Official U.S. Geographic Names for Populated Places

GNIS provides the Federal standard for geographic nomenclature, maintained by the U.S. Geological Survey for the U.S. Board on Geographic Names. It serves as the official repository of domestic geographic names data for all Federal Government use.

Use Cases

• Map official feature names to county and state for location-based applications using Feature Name, Feature County, and Feature State fields.
• Analyze the distribution of Feature Class and Feature Designation categories across different Census Areas.
• Validate or enrich location data by joining on official Feature Coordinates (latitude/longitude).

Strengths

• Official Federal standard for geographic nomenclature, ensuring authoritative name usage.
• Data includes multiple feature attributes like Feature Class, Designation, and History for context.
• Available in multiple file formats including CSV, JSON, KML, and XLS for broad tool compatibility.

Limitations

• Specific row count and column details are unknown, limiting pre-download assessment of scale and features.
• Data may have a temporal staleness, with the last update recorded in December 2020.
• Geographic coverage is explicitly domestic (U.S.), limiting international applicability.

Provenance

Source

U.S. Geological Survey's Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).

Collection Method

Actively seeks data and partnerships from Government agencies and other organizations to maintain the repository.

Freshness

Last updated on 2020-12-02.

Geography

United States (domestic).