NatMap Briefing with Speakers Notes

1
Proposed National Standard for Named Physical
CulturalGeographic Features
Geographic Names Project U.S. Geological
Survey U.S. Department of the Interior
2
Full Title

• Identifying Attributes for Named Physical and
  Cultural Geographic Features (Except Roads and
  Highways) of the United States, Territories,
  Outlying Areas, and Freely Associated Areas, and
  the Waters of the Same to the Limit of the Twelve
  Mile Statutory Zone

3
Timeline
Translating existing federally developed
standards into a national, public, consensus
based standard

• 1890 U.S. Board on Geographic Names Established
• 1947 Board reauthorized in public law 80-242
• 1975 Geographic Names Information System (GNIS)
  implemented
• 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 Proposal submitted to ANSI INCITS L1
  Committee
• 21 Sep 06 Briefed to FGDC Homeland Security
  Working Group
• 12 Oct 06 Briefed to INCITS L1 Committee
• 18 Oct 06 Proposal accepted by INCITS L1
  Committee
• May 07 Draft Standard submitted to INCITS L1
  Committee
• TBD 07 Standard approved

4
Supersedes

• ANSI X3.471988 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-DC31994, Codes for Named Populated
  Places, Primary County Divisions, and Other
  Locational Entities of the United States, Puerto
  Rico, and the Outlying Areas

5
Standardization not Regulation
Why Standardize Feature Names and Locations?

• Homeland Security/Homeland Defense
• Civil Support
• Emergency Preparedness Response
• Regional Local Planning
• Site Selection Analysis
• Cartographic Application
• Environmental Problem-solving
• Tourism
• All Levels of Communication

The implications of incorrect, inaccurate, or
contradictory feature data appearing
simultaneously from multiple sources are, if
anything, more serious today.
6
Need for Names Standardization

• Before19th Century
• Scientific and exploration expeditions recorded
  conflicting feature names, resulting in
  significant confusion and difficulty
• Today
• Geographic names are a key component of the
  National Spatial Data Infrastructure
• An official A-16 layer
• And a base layer of The National Map
• Always
• Consistency is a key attribute of base geographic
  information

7
U.S. Board on Geographic Names

• 4 September 1890 Established byPresidential
  Executive Order
• 25 July 1947 Re-established by Public Law
  80-242

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

http//geonames.usgs.gov/
8
U.S. Board on Geographic Names

• Ensures uniformity in geographic nomenclature and
  orthography throughout the Federal government
• Formulates principles, policies, and
  proceduresfor domestic feature names
  standardization.
• Serves as Federal authority to which name
  problems, name inquiries, name changes, and new
  name proposals are directed
• Promulgates Decisions with respect to geographic
  names and locations
• Publishes official feature names and locations

9
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.go
v/docs/pro_pol_pro.pdf)
10
Geographic Names Information System

• Official Federal source for feature names and
  locations
• Base theme of The National Map
• Authoritative A16 database for geographic names
• Conforms to Board principles, policies,
  guidelines
• 30 Years of Data from authoritative sources
• Stable, mature geographic information system
• Full national coverage, consistent, seamless
• Quality assured, prevents duplication
• Open, interoperable, available, web services
• Functioning partner base Federal, State, Local,
  Tribal
• Large user community of long standing

11
Feature Examples in the GNIS

• 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)

12
Scope of Standard

• Domestic named geographic features, geographic
  areas, locational entities
• All types, physical and cultural (Except roads
  and highways)
• Generally recognizable and locatable by name
• Of interest to all levels of government and
  public for any purpose
• As defined by authoritative source/data owner
• Inclusive, not exclusive
• Standard does not address specifications
  relating to ownership, permanence, size, scale,
  types, classes, or other factors

13
Exclusion Guidelines

• Generally excluded
• Brand name commercial facilities (unless a
  landmark)
• Unnamed features locatable only by address or
  other locative attribute
• Small infrastructure and utility elements, e.g.,
  utility poles, junction boxes, pumping stations,
  mile markers
• Mobile or transitory features that do not achieve
  significant name and location recognition
• Guidelines subject to review and revision by the
  Board on Geographic Names and staff

The final authority concerning applicability of
any particular feature or feature set to this
standard rests with the U.S. Board on Geographic
Names or the staff of the Geographic Names
Project.
14
A Geographic Feature is
An entity on the landscape/seascape that requires
identification, location, and attribution for
information of government and the public having

• Feature ID
• Name
• Location

Minimum Identifying Attributes
Characterized and differentiated solely by
functionnot by relationships, hierarchies, size,
extent, age, composition, structure, ownership,
or other factors
15
The Feature Identifier (ID) is

• Permanent, unique, national record number
• To absolutely identify that record
• To absolutely distinguish the record from all
  others
• In any database, dataset, file, or document
• Without information content
• Not a code but doesnt restrict the use of codes
• Not subject to change as attribute values change
• Can be mapped to system-specific record
  identifiers
• Never withdrawn and never reassigned
• Assigned sequentially to new records
• Highest existing number plus 1

16
Why a Standard Feature ID?

• Ensures national record identity and uniqueness
• Promotes horizontal and vertical data consistency
• Correlates multiple datasets
• Overlapping, potentially contradictory
• Virtually impossible to correlate masses of
  feature data based solely on attribute
  comparisons or spatial analysis
• Ensures all attributes and attribute values from
  any source apply to the specified feature and to
  no other
• Ensures Federal, State, county, local data
  properly represented in official Federal database
  available to all
• Mitigates against incorrect, inaccurate,
  contradictory feature data appearing
  simultaneously in multiple layers

17
The Standard Feature Name is

• Alpha-numeric name, title, or designation
• The one and only official name per feature(May
  be any number of variant or alternative names)
• In any language expressible in Roman Alphabet
• Within guidelines of Board on Geographic Names
• Complete and correct in wording, spelling,
  capitalization, diacritical marks, special
  characters
• Nationally consistent. Standard in form,
  presentation.
• Defined by authoritative source/data owner
• In all but a few cases requiring formal Board
  review (Mostly natural features)

18
Why a Standard Feature Name?

• Consistent common reference available to all
• Accurate and current by authoritative source
• Without a standard feature name
• Text easily looses consistency in multiple
  sources
• Even minor variations in wording, spelling,
  capitalization, diacritical marks, special
  characters
• Uneven use of generic terms in the name(School,
  Fire or Police Station, Hospital, Emergency
  Facility, etc.)
• Non-standard abbreviations
• Difficult to enforce quality assurance and
  validation
• File matching by name difficult labor intensive

19
The Standard Feature Location is

• Official point to which official name is
  referenced
• Reliable as national locational identifier
• Independent of size, extent, other spatial
  representations
• Based on verifiable document/graphic/image/GPS
• (Geocoded locations not sufficiently accurate.)
• Stored as latitude and longitude
• Decimal degrees to seven places, NAD83
• Available in geospatial format
• Defined by authoritative source/data owner
• Normally near center or centroid with exceptions
• Within guidelines of the Board on Geographic Names

20
Why a Standard Feature Location?

• Consistent common reference available to all
• Accurate and current by authoritative source
• Without a standard feature location
• Boundaries not reliable for identity or
  uniqueness
• Multiple versions, varying resolutions, differing
  precision
• Uncertain currency
• Overlapping jurisdictionshorizontal and vertical
• Subjective and/or purpose-specific definitions
• Many features have no single set of definable,
  official, recognized, or agreed upon boundaries
• 80 of communities have no legal boundaries

21
Applying as an Authoritative Source

• Apply to Geographic Names Project
• Any Federal, State, local agency, associated
  contractors
• Able to serve as responsible source of named
  feature data
• Covering National, regional, and/or feature class
  categories
• Granted primary authority to enter and revise
  data
• Data from other sources coordinated with
  authorized source
• The standard does not address conflicting claims
  of jurisdiction, authority, responsibility,
  ownership, and/or stewardship
• Resolution rests with claimants

22
Defining a National Standard Feature

• Name location become national standards upon
• Submission by authoritative source of a new
  feature
• Validation by Geographic Names Project, or
• Decision by the Board on Geographic
  Names(Natural features, canals, reservoirs only)
• Entry into Geographic Names Information System
• Assignment of a new Feature ID
• Board Policy
• Names and locations of cultural (not natural)
  features are determined by authoritative source
  and are not subject to formal Board review and
  decision

23
Revising a National Standard Feature

• Revisions submitted by authoritative source
• At any time through multiple mechanisms
• Written correspondence, telephone, electronic
  mail, secure web forms, batch files (most
  standard formats), automated exchanges utilizing
  web feature services
• Other procedures as technology advances
• Changes validated and committed by Geographic
  Names data specialists

24
Accessing Feature Data

• Feature data available through GNIS
• Public web query site (http//geonames.usgs.gov/pl
  s/gnispublic/)
• File Download Services(http//geonames.usgs.gov/d
  omestic/download_data.htm)
• Web map, feature and XML services
• Customized files on request
• Collaborative efforts on common application
  interfaces
• Other mechanisms in the future

Contains other non-standard attributesfeature
classification, secondary points, feature
State(s) and county(ies), topographic map
name(s), history, description, designations
25
Related Efforts

• Feature ID/Name/Location in DHS Geospatial Data
  Model
• Top level optional attributes (next version
  spring 2007)
• Referenced In draft FGDC Address Standard
• GNIS Feature ID superseded FIPS55 Place Code
• Draft MOU with Census to manage the transition
• Coordinating with other agencies and
  organizations
• National Gazetteer Project (Sandia Labs/Patton
  Alliance)
• GNIS the Authoritative source for domestic names
  and locations
• MOU with GSA/OPM to maintain Federal agency
  geolocation codes with relationship to Feature ID
• Coordination initiated with NGA HIFLD program and
  HSIP data collection

26
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?

27
Contacts

• Louis YostActing, Executive SecretaryU.S. Board
  on Geographic Names
• [phone]
• lyost_at_usgs.gov
• Jennifer RunyonBoard on Geographic Names Senior
  Researcher
• [phone]
• jrunyon_at_usgs.gov

• Joan HelmrichNames Coordinator
• [phone]
• jhelmrich_at_usgs.gov
• Dwight HughesSr. Software Engineer
• [phone]
• dshughes_at_usgs.gov

28
The End

• Thank you for your interest!
• Questions?