Introduction to The United States Board on Geographic Names (USBGN)

1. Introduction to The United States Board on Geographic Names (USBGN) Geospatial ‘09 Snowbird, Utah Mike Fournier U.S. Census Bureau April 28, 2009

2. Introduction to The USBGN • What is the US Board on Geographic Names (USBGN)? • Background and Mission • Membership • USBGN Policies and Procedures • Geographic Names Data Resources

3. USBGN Background • The need for geographic names • standardization became apparent in the late • nineteenth century. • Many agencies were making maps and • charts of the same area.

4. The Solution and History • 1890 – The U.S. Board on Geographic Names was established by Presidential Executive Order • 1947 – The Board was re-established by Public Law 80-242 • 1947 – Advisory Committee on Antarctic Names • 1964 – Advisory Committee on Undersea Features • 1969 – Board divided into Domestic Names and Foreign Names Committees

5. USBGN Organization

6. USBGN Membership

7. Domestic Names Committee Member Agencies • Bureau of the Census • Bureau of Indian Affairs • Bureau of Land Management • Federal Emergency Management Administration • Fish and Wildlife Service • Forest Service • Government Printing Office • Library of Congress • National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration • National Park Service • US Army Corps of Engineers • US Coast Guard • US Geological Survey • US Postal Service

8. Principles, Policies, and Procedures • The decisions of the Domestic Names Committee are informed by the guidelines provided in the “Principles, Policies, and Procedures”. There are 5 principles and 10 policies upon which the procedures are based. The principles are: • Principle I: Use of the Roman alphabet • Principle II: Names in local usage • Principle III: Names established by act of Congress or Executive Order • Principle IV: Names established by other authorities • Principle V: One name for one geographic entity

9. Principles, Policies, and Procedures • The policies addressed are: • Policy I: Names being considered by Congress • Policy II: Name changes • Policy III: Commemorative names • Policy IV: Wilderness Areas • Policy V: Derogatory names • Policy VI: Use of diacritical marks • Policy VII: Name duplication • Policy VIII: Use of variant names • Policy IX: Long names • Policy X: Names of Native American origin

10. Geographic Names Information System (GNIS) • In 1987, the U.S. Board on Geographic Names designated the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS) as the only official vehicle for domestic geographic names used by the Federal government. • The GNIS Names Server provides access to the United States Geological Survey’s (USGS) and the U.S. Board on Geographic Names' database of domestic geographic feature names. • Therefore, GNIS is the only source for applying geographic names to Federal maps and other products depicting areas under U.S. jurisdiction.

11. Two Million – And Growing Fast • The GNIS currently contains: • 502,000 hydrographic features – Synchronized with NHD • 395,000 cultural features • 376,000 structural features • 257,000 landforms • 170,000 populated places • 100,000 admin features • 97,000 historical features • 14,000 transportation point features • 14,000 Antarctica features Thousands added per month. If it’s not in GNIS, it should be.

12. Foreign Names Committee • The FNC is concerned with the development of standard place name spellings for features outside the U.S. and its territories. • The FNC relies heavily on native mapping, census reports, official bulletins, and other foreign material to collect and standardize foreign geographic names for use by U.S. Government agencies.

13. Foreign Names Committee • Country-specific standardization policy • Romanization policy • Developed jointly with British Permanent Committee on Geographical Names • Topical standardization policy • High seas features

14. GEOnet Names Server (GNS) • The GEOnet Names Server (GNS) provides access to the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency's (NGA) and the U.S. Board on Geographic Names' (US BGN) database of foreign geographic feature names. • The database is the official repository of foreign place-name decisions approved by the US BGN. • The GNS contains 4.0 million features with approximately 5.5 million names .

15. Using the Geographic Names Information System for Problem Solving: How the Census Bureau Uses the GNIS to Assist in Wayfinding • Geospatial ‘09 • Snowbird, Utah • Mike Fournier • U.S. Census Bureau • April 28, 2009

16. Background • In spring 2006 the Census Bureau conducted a test in Dewey County on the Cheyenne River Reservation in South Dakota, a very rural location. • A review of the operation revealed difficulties for enumerators owing to several factors: • The reservation encompasses 2.8 M acres and is similar in size to the State of Connecticut. • The geography of the reservation is characterized by unnamed roads and a few small communities. • In these circumstances, enumerators experienced difficulties navigating this area with the maps that were provided. • A shortcoming was the lack of adequately updated point landmarks including locale names by which to assist in wayfinding in the area.

18. Recommendation and Implementation • One of the recommendations for remediation of the problem was to add more point landmarks and associated attributes to the MTDB maps. • It was then a pilot program was proposed to use the GNIS to update the point landmarks database. • Step 1: download the South Dakota file from the GNIS. • Step 2: extract the features in Dewey county. • Step 3: identify appropriate feature classes. • Step 4: extract these feature classes and recode them with Census Bureau class codes. • Features were then converted to a shape file and plotted using Arc GIS.

20. Pilot ProgramResults • 484,470 new landmarks were added to the MAF/TIGER database • Average of approximately 150 per county • Will serve as an ‘on-demand’ resource • to be used on an ‘as-needed’ basis

21. Unanticipated Utility • Need to establish coordinates for newly incorporated entity from inadequate source material • Use of the shapefiles created from the GNIS landmarks to establish a centroid location within the entity’s boundaries • Use of the shapefiles created from the GNIS landmarks to establish a populated place location within the entity’s boundaries • A new and unanticipated use for the GNIS landmarks in • generating new data points for inclusion in the database

22. Using the GNIS is a cost-effective and efficient method to update point landmark features as a source for mapping. The 65 feature classes afford flexibility in choosing the feature type of interest for the mapping application.More information on the GNIS can be obtainedat:http://geonames.usgs.gov/index.html Conclusion