Geographic Names Information System

The Geographic Names Information System (GNIS), developed by the USGS in cooperation with the U.S. Board on Geographic Names (BGN), contains information about almost 2 million physical and cultural geographic features in the United
States. The Federally recognized name of each feature described in the data base is identified, and references are made to a feature's location by State, county, and geographic coordinates. The GNIS is our Nation's official repository of domestic
geographic names information. The GNIS web site also provides links to other geographic information servers and gazetteers.

Information about foreign geographic feature names can be obtained from the GEOnet Names Server, developed and maintained by the National Imagery and Mapping Agency.

The GNIS CD-ROM is available for borrowing from Branner Library.