The Geographic Names Information System (GNIS), developed by the U.S. Geological Survey in cooperation with the U.S. Board
on Geographic Names (BGN), contains information about physical and cultural geographic features in the United States and associated
areas, both current and historical, but not including roads and highways. The database also contains geographic names in Antarctica.
The database holds the Federally recognized name of each feature and defines the location of the feature by state, county,
USGS topographic map, and geographic coordinates. Other feature attributes include names or spellings other than the official
name, feature designations, feature class, historical and descriptive information, and for some categories of features the
geometric boundaries. The database assigns a unique feature identifier, a random number, that is a key for accessing, integrating,
or reconciling GNIS data with other data sets. The GNIS is our Nation's official repository of domestic geographic feature
names information. <br /> <br /> This database has been subsetted to include populated places only. <br /> <br />