The geographic names in this database are provided for the guidance of and use by the Federal Government and for the information of the general public. The names, variants, and associated data may not reflect the views of the United States Government on the sovereignty over geographic features. NGA is not responsible for third party uses of GNS feature coordinates.

Services

Last Database Update mm/dd/yy

Geographic Names Server

Next Database Update mm/dd/yy
Current GNS Count: Features and Names
GNS is current to GENC Standard Ed Update
GNS Tools
Geographic Names Search Application

Use the Geographic Names Search Application to query the GNS database. Users can search, discover, view, and download geographic names from around the world. Search options allow for selections by name, country, administrative divisions, feature/name characteristics, and spatial filtering.

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GNS Search App Help GNS Search App Help
Searchable GNS Codes

The GNS Code Reference Tables provide an ordered list of codes used in the GNS for various data attribution fields. Users can query the following tables to search for a particular code or codes.

ADM1 Codes Country Codes Designation Codes Language Codes Name Type Codes Transliteration System Codes Regional Keyboard (RK) Codes Script Codes Feature Classification FC Codes Display Codes Dialect Codes

ADM1 Codes: An alphanumeric code that designates the first-order administrative division of a feature, similar to a state in the United States. This field can contain one, or multiple, comma-separated, non-spaced ADM1 codes to identify shared features that run through multiple administrative subdivisions. Code values as specified in the Geopolitical Entities, Names, and Codes (GENC) Standard.

Country Codes: A three-letter code designating the country or geopolitical entity in which the name applies for international features. This field can contain one, or multiple comma-separated non-spaced country codes to identify international (shared) features that run through multiple countries. Code values as specified in the Geopolitical Entities, Names, and Codes (GENC) Standard.

Designation Codes: A two to five-character code that designates the type of a feature with which a geographic name is associated.

Language Codes: The International Organization for Standardization (ISO 639-3) three-character code that designates the language or macrolanguage of the source of a geographic name.

Name Type Codes: A one or two letter code that designates the type of a geographic name based on its scope of use, quality of source and/or its transliteration status.

Transliteration System Codes: A code designating the system employed to transliterate a geographic name in non-Latin/non-Roman script into the corresponding Latin/Roman script.

Font RK Codes: A numeric code recording the Regional Keyboard (RK) font set used for the name in internal data production. This code determines the equivalent characters used when generating the SORT and NO DIACRITICS (ND) feature names rendered in Roman script.

Script Codes: The International Organization for Standardization (ISO 15924) four-character code that designates the script of a geographic name.

Feature Classification Codes: A one-letter code designating one of nine major feature categories into which similar feature designations are grouped.

Display Codes: A numeric code that designates the scale interval within which the geographic name label of a named feature is determined to be suitable for the purposes of cartographic display. Used to aid in the visualization and selection of named features at different scales. Comma-separated non-spaced scale range values that range from 1 to 9.

The display values correspond to the following scale ranges:

  • 1 - 25,999
  • 26,000 - 67,999
  • 68,000 - 150,999
  • 151,000 - 225,999
  • 226,000 - 325,999
  • 326,000 - 425,999
  • 426,000 - 625,999
  • 626,000 - 999,999
  • 1,000,000 or Smaller
  • A feature with display value of 1 should appear in a visualization client or service between scales of 1 and 25,999. It should not appear at scales of 26,000 and smaller.
  • A feature with display values of 1,2,3 should appear in a visualization client or service between scales of 1 through 150,999. It should not appear at scales of 160,000 and smaller.

Dialect Codes: The International Organization for Standardization (ISO 639-3) three character code that designates the language dialect, if applicable, of the source of a geographic name.

Generic Term Glossary

The generic term is the descriptive portion of a full name that references a common, often geomorphologic, feature such as cerro (mountain), arroyo (stream), or golfo (gulf). For example, in the geographic name “Golfo de Tehuantepec,” Golfo would be the generic term. Generic terms for names are collected in the GNS data and can be used to create generic term glossaries for cartographic products or other purposes. Note: generic terms are generally not collected for populated place names or English-based generics. Use the tool below to generate a glossary of generic terms per country. Glossary items can be grouped and sorted by either the generic term itself, or the feature type (feature designation code).

Note: To create a customized glossary, use the Geographic Names Search application to define your parameters and execute a query. Then, select the option to export the data and a generic term glossary customized to your query results will automatically be included in the resultant zip file.

Generic Term Glossary Form icon

The geographic names in this database are provided for the guidance of and use by the Federal Government and for the information of the general public. The names, variants, and associated data may not reflect the views of the United States Government on the sovereignty over geographic features. NGA is not responsible for third party uses of GNS feature coordinates.

Soft-Copy Keyboards

The regional keyboard was created to provide easy access to romanized Unicode special characters and letter/diacritic combinations, and to maintain a uniform input of those characters when adding or editing entries in the geographic names database. This keyboard is provided to support consumers of geographic names and can be used in conjunction with the Geographic Names Search application, or as needed, to paste characters into other applications. There are two versions available: a browser-based web version, and a downloadable version that can be used on Windows systems.

GeoNames Soft-Copy Keyboard: Web Version
The browser-based web keyboard tool can be accessed from here, or from within the Geographic Names Search application. It can be used to construct a name or term from a combination of regular characters and these specialized characters, which can then be copied and pasted as needed (or dragged directly into the Geographic Names Search application query filter inputs).
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Keyboard Help PDF Keyboard Help PDF
GeoNames Soft-Copy Keyboard: Windows Version
The Windows Presentation Foundation-based keyboard tool can be downloaded and used on Windows systems. It features a ”live” auto-paste functionality to populate clicked characters to the active window or application. This release of the keyboard runs on the Microsoft Windows platform and requires Microsoft.NET Framework v4.5.
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Keyboard Help PDF Keyboard Help PDF
Pre-positioned Downloadable Country Files

Complete files of geographic names information covering countries or geopolitical areas are provided in a tab-delimited text format for easy download. Pre-positioned data files include a single global dataset, files broken out by feature classification (FC), files broken out by individual country, and a zip containing all of the individual country files. Visit the GNS Data page for more information or to download files.

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REST/JSON Services

ArcGIS Server based services of the GNS content (maximum number of features returned is 3,000)

REST Services Directory
Main entry point to the REST Services Directory
 
Provides the full content of the GNS as a single Map Service
 
Provides the full content of the GNS partitioned by Feature Classification
 
Provides the full content of the GNS partitioned by Name Type
 
Provides the full content of the GNS, but introduces a scaling factor based on the DISPLAY values
 
Web Map Services (WMS) - 1.3.0 and 1.1.0 compliant

Web Map Services (WMS) - 1.3.0 and 1.1.0 compliant

Full WMS
Provides the full content of the GNS partitioned by Feature Classification
 
Provides the full content of the GNS partitioned by Name Type
 
Scaled WMS
Provides the full content of the GNS, but introduces a scaling factor based on the DISPLAY values
 
Scaled WMS by Feature Classification
View the Feature Classification definitions here.
Administrative Layer Service
 
Hydrographic Layer Service
 
Hypsographic Layer Service
 
Localities Layer Service
 
Populated Place Layer Service
 
Spot Feature Layer Service
 
Transportation Layer Service
 
Undersea Layer Service
 
Vegetation Layer Service
 
Web Feature Services (WFS) - 2.0.0 and 1.1.0 compliant

The maximum number of features returned is 3,000

Full WFS
Provides the full content of the GNS partitioned by Feature Classification
 
Provides the full content of the GNS partitioned by Name Type
 
WFS Test Page
Provides sample calls and resulting output
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KML Streaming Service

Web Feature Services, Gazetteer Profile (WFS-G) - 1.1.0 compliant

Service