United States Geological Survey - National Mapping Division

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The National Mapping Information Server Anonymous FTP Service

GNIS Subdirectory: ftp://mapping.usgs.gov/pub/GNIS/

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Overview

The Geographic Names Information System (GNIS) contains name and
locative information about almost 2 million physical and cultural
features located throughout the United States and its Territories. GNIS
was developed by the U.S. Geological Survey in cooperation with the U.S.
Board on Geographic Names (BGN) to promote the standardization of
feature names. GNIS is being compiled in phases. The first phase is
complete for the entire U.S., and entailed the collection of names from
Federal sources including large‑scale USGS topographic maps, National
Ocean Service charts, U.S. Forest Service maps, and digital datasets
distributed by the Federal Communications Commission, the Federal
Aviation Administration, and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The
second phase of data collection is complete or in progress for about 65%
of the U.S., and captures names from State, locally, and privately
published current and historical maps, charts, and texts.

Standard‑Format Digital Extracts

The USGS distributes standard‑format digital extracts from GNIS that
contain information about features in each State and Territory. Two
thematic extracts are also available. The Populated Places file lists
information about all cities and towns throughout the U.S. that are
described in the database. The U.S. Concise file lists information about
large physical and cultural features.

A single asterisk (\*) following the name of a State or Territory file
indicates there has been no Phase II data compilation for that file. Two
asterisks (\*\*) following the name of a State or Territory file
indicates Phase II data compilation is in progress for that file. Phase
II updates are applied to the database monthly. The files in the GNIS
subdirectory are replaced as Phase II updates are applied.

Directory Contents

The contents of the GNIS subdirectory are summarized as follows:

00README This file.

Thematic Extracts: populated_places.gz

us_concise.gz

State and Territory Feature Names Extracts:

alabama.gz alaska.gz\*

american_samoa.gz\* arizona.gz

arkansas.gz california.gz\*\*

colorado.gz\*\* connecticut.gz\*

delaware.gz district_of_columbia.gz

florida.gz georgia.gz

guam.gz\* hawaii.gaz\*

idaho.gz illinois.gz\*\*

indiana.gz iowa.gz\*\*

kansas.gz kentucky.gz\*

louisiana.gz maine.gz\*

maryland.gz\*\* massachusetts.gz\*\*

michigan.gz\* micronesia.gz\*

minnesota.gz\* mississippi.gz

missouri.gz montana.gz\*\*

nebraska.gz nevada.gz

new_hampshire.gz\* new_jersey.gz

new_mexico.gz north_carolina.gz\*\*

north_dakota.gz ohio.gz

oklahoma.gz\* oregon.gz

pennsylvania.gz puerto_rico.gz\*

rhode_island.gz\* south_carolina.gz

south_dakota.gz tennessee.gz

texas.gz\* utah.gz

vermont.gz\* virginia.gz\*\*

virgin_islands.gz\* washington.gz

west_virginia.gz\*\* wisconsin.gz\*

wyoming.gz\*

Digital File Formats

The format of State and Territory files is:

Columns Contents Column Width

1‑100 Feature Name 100

101‑109 Feature Type 9

110‑144 County 45

145‑149 State/County FIPS Code 5

150‑164 Geographic Coordinates 15

165‑179 Source Coordinates of Linear Features 15

180‑185 Feature Elevation 6

186‑235 Topographic Map 50

The format of the Populated Places file is:

Columns Contents Column Width

1‑49 Feature Name 49

50‑54 Feature Type 5

55‑58 State 4

59‑78 County 20

79‑82 State FIPS Code 4

83‑88 County FIPS Code 6

89‑107 Geographic Coordinates 19

108‑117 Federal Status of Feature Name 10

118‑125 Feature Elevation 8

126‑148 Topographic Map 23

149‑157 Population 9

The format of the Concise file is:

Columns Contents Column Width

1‑51 Feature Name 51

52‑61 Feature Type 10

62‑93 County 32

94‑110 State 17

111‑126 Geographic Coordinates 16

127‑132 Feature Elevation 6

File Compression Format

The files have been compressed with the GNU \"gzip\" utility. If you do
not have access to gzip, the FTP server will uncompress the file as you
retrieve it. To do this, simply leave off the \".gz\" extension when
retrieving the file (NOTE: This option is not available through NCSA
Mosaic and similar browsers). For example, to retrieve the file
\"alabama.gz\" without compression just use \"get alabama\". Note that
the uncompressed files are typically five times larger than the
compressed versions and so will take five times longer to transmit. The
gzip program is available via anonymous FTP at the following sites:

UNIX:

prep.ai.mit.edu: /pub/gnu

wuarchive.wustl.edu: /systems/gnu

MAC:

mac.archive.umich.edu: /mac/util/compression/macgzip1.0b0.sit.hqx

MSDOS:

prep.ai.mit.edu: /pub/gnu/gzip‑1.2.4.msdos.exe

Disclaimer

Some of the data provided were derived from sources outside of the U.S.
Geological Survey. All data and information contained in any of the data
files are provided without guarantee as to their completeness or
correctness. Any conclusions drawn from these data and information are
the sole responsibility of the user.

Point of Contact

Roger L. Payne Internal: rpayne@rgn@hqres

Branch of Geographic Names Internet: rpayne@usgs.gov

U.S. Geological Survey Voice: 703‑648‑4544

523 National Center Fax: 703‑648‑5442

Reston, VA 22092

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File: 00README.html Last Updated: March 3, 1997

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