FLORIDA GEOGRAPHIC DATA LIBRARY DOCUMENTATION

TITLE: USGS GEOGRAPHIC NAMES INFORMATION SYSTEM (GNIS) IN FLORIDA

Geodataset Name:       GNIS_AUG09
Geodataset Type:       SHAPEFILE
Geodataset Feature:    Point
Feature Count:         51929
GENERAL DESCRIPTION:
This dataset contains information about physical and cultural geographic features of all types, but not including roads and highways. The database holds the Federally recognized name of each feature and defines the feature location by state, county, USGS topographic map, and geographic coordinates.
DATA SOURCE(S):                    United States Geological Survey
SCALE OF ORIGINAL SOURCE MAPS:     N/A
GEODATASET EXTENT:                 State of Florida
PUBLICATION DATE: 20090803 TIME PERIOD OF CONTENT: Begin Date: 19810501 End Date: 20090803 DOWNLOAD LINK: http://www.fgdl.org/metadataexplorer/explorer.jsp

FEATURE ATTRIBUTE TABLES:

Datafile Name: GNIS_AUG09.DBF
ITEM NAME WIDTH TYPE
OBJECTID
4 OID
Shape
4 Geometry
FEATURE_ID
8 Double
FEATURE_NA
105 String
FEATURE_CL
16 String
STATE_ALPH
8 String
STATE_NUME
4 Integer
COUNTY_NAM
15 String
COUNTY_NUM
4 Integer
PRI_LATDMS
16 String
PRI_LONDMS
16 String
PRI_LATDEC
8 Double
PRI_LONDEC
8 Double
SOU_LATDMS
19 String
SOU_LONDMS
19 String
SOU_LATDEC
19 String
SOU_LONDEC
19 String
ELEVATION
4 Integer
MAP_NAME
30 String
DATE_CREAT
36 Date
DATE_EDITE
12 String
DESCRIPT
105 String
FGDLAQDATE
36 Date
AUTOID
4 Integer

FEATURE ATTRIBUTE TABLES CODES AND VALUES:

Item
Item Description
OBJECTID Internal feature number.

Shape Feature geometry.

FEATURE_ID Feature Identifier. A permanent, unique identifying number for a geographic feature record.

FEATURE_NA Feature Name. Recognized as the official name of the US Board on Geographic Names for use throughout the Federal Government. The official name is established either by policy of by decision of the Board on Geographic Names.

FEATURE_CL Feature Class. A feature class is a designation for a group of features in a broadly defined descriptive category.
AIRPORT = Manmade facility maintained for the use of aircraft (airfield, airstrip, landing field, landing strip).

ARCH = Natural arch-like opening in a rock mass (bridge, natural bridge, sea arch).

AREA = Any one of several areally extensive natural features not included in other categories (badlands, barren, delta, fan, garden).

ARROYO = Watercourse or channel through which water may occasionally flow (coulee, draw, gully, wash).

BAR = atural accumulation of sand, gravel, or alluvium forming an underwater or exposed embankment (ledge, reef, sandbar, shoal, spit).

BASIN = Natural depression or relatively low area enclosed by higher land (amphitheater, cirque, pit, sink).

BAY = Indentation of a coastline or shoreline enclosing a part of a body of water; a body of water partly surrounded by land (arm, bight, cove, estuary, gulf, inlet, sound).

BEACH = The sloping shore along a body of water that is washed by waves or tides and is usually covered by sand or gravel (coast, shore, strand).

BENCH = Area of relatively level land on the flank of an elevation such as a hill, ridge, or mountain where the slope of the land rises on one side and descends on the opposite side (level).

BEND = Curve in the course of a stream and (or) the land within the curve; a curve in a linear body of water (bottom, loop, meander).

BRIDGE = Manmade structure carrying a trail, road, or other transportation system across a body of water or depression (causeway, overpass, trestle).

BUILDING = A manmade structure with walls and a roof for protection of people and (or) materials, but not including church, hospital, or school.

CANAL = Manmade waterway used by watercraft or for drainage, irrigation, mining, or water power (ditch, lateal).

CAPE = Projection of land extending into a body of water (lea, neck, peninsula, point).

CAVE = Natural underground passageway or chamber, or a hollowed out cavity in the side of a cliff (cavern, grotto).

CEMETERY = A place or area for burying the dead (burial, burying ground, grave, memorial garden).

CENSUS = A statistical area delineated locally specifically for the tabulation of Census Bureau data (census designated place, census county division, unorganized territory, various types of American Indian/Alaska Native statistical areas). See also Civil and Populated Place classes.

CHANNEL = Linear deep part of a body of water through which the main volume of water flows and is frequently used as aroute for watercraft (passage, reach, strait, thoroughfare, throughfare).

CHURCH = Building used for religious worship (chapel, mosque, synagogue, tabernacle, temple).

CIVIL = A political division formed for administrative purposes (borough, county, incorporated place, municipio, parish, town, township) with legally defined boundaries. See also Census and Populated Place classes.

CLIFF = Very steep or vertical slope (bluff, crag, head, headland, nose, palisades, precipice, promontory, rim, rimrock).

CRATER = Circular-shaped depression at the summit of a volcanic cone or one on the surface of the land caused by the impact of a meteorite; a manmade depression caused by an explosion (caldera, lua).

CROSSING = A place where two or more routes of transportation form a junction or intersection (overpass, underpass).

DAM = Water barrier or embankment built across the course of a stream or into a body of water to control and (or) impound the flow of water (breakwater, dike, jetty).

FALLS = Perpendicular or very steep fall of water in the course of a stream (cascade, cataract, waterfall).

FLAT = Relative level area within a region of greater relief (clearing, glade, playa).

FOREST = Bounded area of woods, forest, or grassland under the administration of a political agency (see "woods") (national forest, national grasslands, State forest).

GAP = Low point or opening between hills or mountains or in a ridge or mountain range (col, notch, pass, saddle, water gap, wind gap).

GLACIER = Body or stream of ice moving outward and downslope from an area of accumulation; an area of relatively permanent snow or ice on the top or side of a mountain or mountainous area (icefield, ice patch, snow patch).

GUT = Relatively small coastal waterway connecting larger bodies of water or other waterways (creek, inlet, slough).

HARBOR = Sheltered area of water where ships or other watercraft can anchor or dock (hono, port, roads, roadstead).

HOSPITAL = Building where the sick or injured may receive medical or surgical attention (infirmary).

ISLAND = Area of dry or relatively dry land surrounded by water or low wetland (archipelago, atoll, cay, hammock, hummock, isla, isle, key, moku, rock).

ISTHMUS = Narrow section of land in a body of water connecting two larger land areas.

LAKE = Natural body of inland water (backwater, lac, lagoon, laguna, pond, pool, resaca, waterhole).

LAVA = Formations resulting from the consolidation of molten rock on the surface of the Earth (kepula, lava flow).

LEVEE = Natural or manmade embankment flanking a stream (bank, berm).

LOCALE = Place at which there is or was human activity; it does not include populated places, mines, and dams (battlefield, crossroad, camp, farm, landing, railroad siding, ranch, ruins, site, station, windmill).

MILITARY = Place or facility used for various aspects of or relating to military activity.

MINE = Place or area from which commercial minerals are or were removed from the Earth; not including oilfield (pit, quarry, shaft).

OILFIELD = Area where petroleum is or was removed from the Earth.

PARK = Place or area set aside for recreation or preservation of a cultural or natural resource and under some form of government administration; not including National or State forests or Reserves (national historical landmark, national park, State park, wilderness area).

PILLAR = Vertical, standing, often spire-shaped, natural rock formation (chimney, monument, pinnacle, pohaku, rock tower).

PLAIN = A region of general uniform slope, comparatively level and of considerable extent (grassland, highland, kula, plateau, upland).

POPULATED PLACE = Place or area with clustered or scattered buildings and a permanent human population (city, settlement, town, village). A Populated Place is not incorporated and has no legal boundaries. See also Census and Civil classes.

POST OFFICE = An official facility of the U.S. Postal Service used for processing and distributing mail and other postal material.

RANGE = Chain of hills or mountains; a somewhat linear, complex mountainous or hilly area (cordillera, sierra).

RAPIDS = Fast-flowing section of a stream, often shallow and with exposed rock or boulders (riffle, ripple).

RESERVE = A tract of land set aside for a specific use (does not include forests, civil divisions, parks).

RESERVOIR = Artificially impounded body of water (lake, tank).

RIDGE = Elevation with a narrow, elongated crest which can be part of a hill or mountain (crest, cuesta, escarpment, hogback, lae, rim, spur).

SCHOOL = Building or group of buildings used as an institution for study, teaching, and learning (academy, college, high school, university).

SEA = Large body of salt water (gulf, ocean).

SLOPE = A gently inclined part of the Earth's surface (grade, pitch).

SPRING = Place where underground water flows naturally to the surface of the Earth (geyser, seep).

STREAM = Linear body of water flowing on the Earth's surface (anabranch, awawa, bayou, branch, brook, creek, distributary, fork, kill, pup, rio, river, run, slough).

SUMMIT = Prominent elevation rising above the surrounding level of the Earth's surface; does not include pillars, ridges, or ranges (ahu, berg, bald, butte, cerro, colina, cone, cumbre, dome, head, hill, horn, knob, knoll, mauna, mesa, mesita, mound, mount, mountain, peak, puu, rock, sugarloaf, table, volcano).

SWAMP = Poorly drained wetland, fresh or saltwater, wooded or grassy, possibly covered with open water (bog, cienega, marais, marsh, pocosin).

TOWER = A manmade structure, higher than its diameter, generally used for observation, storage, or electronic transmission.

TRAIL = Route for passage from one point to another; does not include roads or highways (jeep trail, path, ski trail).

TUNNEL = Linear underground passageway open at both ends.

UNKNOWN = This class is assigned to legacy data only. It will not be assigned to new or edited records.

VALLEY = Linear depression in the Earth's surface that generally slopes from one end to the other (barranca, canyon, chasm, cove, draw, glen, gorge, gulch, gulf, hollow, ravine).

WELL = Manmade shaft or hole in the Earth's surface used to obtain fluid or gaseous materials.

WOODS = Small area covered with a dense growth of trees; does not include an area of trees under the administration of a political agency (see "forest").


STATE_ALPH The state containing the geographic feature.

STATE_NUME The FIPS number representing the state the feature is located within.

COUNTY_NAM The county containing the geographic feature.

COUNTY_NUM The FIPS number representing the county the feature is located within.

PRI_LATDMS Official feature latitude location, NAD 83 DMS-degrees/minutes/seconds

PRI_LONDMS Official feature longitude location, NAD 83 DMS-degrees/minutes/seconds

PRI_LATDEC Official feature latitude location, NAD 83 DEC-decimal degrees.

PRI_LONDEC Official feature longitude location, NAD 83 DEC-decimal degrees.

SOU_LATDMS Source latitude coordinates of linear feature only (Class = Stream, Valley, Arroyo), NAD 83; DMS-degrees/minutes/seconds.

SOU_LONDMS Source longitude coordinates of linear feature only (Class = Stream, Valley, Arroyo), NAD 83; DMS-degrees/minutes/seconds.

SOU_LATDEC Source latitude coordinates of linear feature only (Class = Stream, Valley, Arroyo), NAD 83; DEC-decimal degrees.

SOU_LONDEC Source longitude coordinates of linear feature only (Class = Stream, Valley, Arroyo), NAD 83; DEC-decimal degrees.

ELEVATION Elevation in meters above (-below) sea level of the surface at the primary coordinates from National Elevation Dataset

MAP_NAME Name of USGS base series topographic map containing the primary coordinates.

DATE_CREAT The date the feature was initially committed to the database.

DATE_EDITE The date any attribute of an existing feature was last edited.

DESCRIPT Description field based on FEATURE_NA

FGDLAQDATE Date that GeoPlan aquired the data

AUTOID Unique ID added by GeoPlan


USER NOTES:
This data is provided 'as is'. GeoPlan relied on the integrity
of the original data layer's topology
This data is provided 'as is' by GeoPlan and is complete to our
knowledge.
GeoPlan relied on the integrity of the attribute information within
the original data.
The U.S. Board on Geographic Names was created in 1890 and established in its 
present form by Public Law in 1947 to establish and maintain uniform geographic
name usage throughout the Federal Government. The Board serves all government 
agencies and the public as the central authority to which name inquiries, name issues, 
and new name proposals can be directed. It is comprised of representatives of Federal 
agencies associated with land management and cartography. Sharing its responsibilities 
with the Secretary of the Interior, the Board develops principles, policies, and procedures 
governing the use of both domestic and foreign geographic names as well as undersea 
and Antarctic feature names.

The Geographic Names Information System (GNIS) is the Federal standard for geographic 
nomenclature. The U.S. Geological Survey developed the GNIS for the U.S. Board on 
Geographic Names as the official repository of domestic geographic names data;
the official vehicle for geographic names use by all departments of the Federal 
Government; and the source for applying geographic names to Federal electronic and printed products.

The GNIS contains information about physical and cultural geographic features of all 
types in the United States, associated areas, and Antarctica, current and historical, but 
not including roads and highways. The database holds the Federally recognized name 
of each feature and defines the feature location by state, county, USGS topographic map, 
and geographic coordinates. Other attributes include names or spellings other than the
official name, feature designations, feature classification, historical and descriptive information, 
and for some categories the geometric boundaries.

This data is provided 'as is' and its horizontal positional accuracy
has not been verified by GeoPlan

This data is provided 'as is' and its vertical positional accuracy
has not been verified by GeoPlan

Acknowledgement of the U.S. Geological Survey would be appreciated in products derived from these data.

A note about data scale: 

Scale is an important factor in data usage.  Certain scale datasets
are not suitable for some project, analysis, or modeling purposes.
Please be sure you are using the best available data. 

1:24000 scale datasets are recommended for projects that are at the
county level.
1:24000 data should NOT be used for high accuracy base mapping such
as property parcel boundaries.
1:100000 scale datasets are recommended for projects that are at the
multi-county or regional level.
1:125000 scale datasets are recommended for projects that are at the
regional or state level or larger.

Vector datasets with no defined scale or accuracy should be
considered suspect. Make sure you are familiar with your data
before using it for projects or analysis. Every effort has been
made to supply the user with data documentation. For additional
information, see the References section and the Data Source Contact
section of this documentation. For more information regarding
scale and accuracy, see our webpage at:
http://geoplan.ufl.edu/education.html

The Florida Geographic Data Library is a collection of Geospatial Data
compiled by the University of Florida GeoPlan Center with support from
the Florida Department of Transportation. GIS data available in FGDL is
collected from various state, federal, and other agencies (data sources)
who are data stewards, producers, or publishers. The data available in
FGDL may not be the most current version of the data offered by the
data source. University of Florida GeoPlan Center makes no guarantees
about the currentness of the data and suggests that data users check
with the data source to see if more recent versions of the data exist.

Furthermore, the GIS data available in the FGDL are provided 'as is'.
The University of Florida GeoPlan Center makes no warranties, guaranties
or representations as to the truth, accuracy or completeness of the data
provided by the data sources. The University of Florida GeoPlan Center
makes no representations or warranties about the quality or suitability
of the materials, either expressly or implied, including but not limited
to any implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular
purpose, or non-infringement. The University of Florida GeoPlan Center
shall not be liable for any damages suffered as a result of using,
modifying, contributing or distributing the materials.

A note about data scale: 

Scale is an important factor in data usage.  Certain scale datasets
are not suitable for some project, analysis, or modeling purposes.
Please be sure you are using the best available data. 

1:24000 scale datasets are recommended for projects that are at the
county level.
1:24000 data should NOT be used for high accuracy base mapping such
as property parcel boundaries.
1:100000 scale datasets are recommended for projects that are at the
multi-county or regional level.
1:125000 scale datasets are recommended for projects that are at the
regional or state level or larger.

Vector datasets with no defined scale or accuracy should be
considered suspect. Make sure you are familiar with your data
before using it for projects or analysis. Every effort has been
made to supply the user with data documentation. For additional
information, see the References section and the Data Source Contact
section of this documentation. For more information regarding
scale and accuracy, see our webpage at:
http://geoplan.ufl.edu/education.html

REFERENCES:
U.S. Board on Geographic Names Definition list
http://geonames.usgs.gov/domestic/feature_class.htm

DATA LINEAGE SUMMARY:
NIS Phase I data compilation and edit - Feature name and attribute data
were collected from the largest-scale USGS topographic maps available.
These data are compared to the records of the U.S. Board on Geographic Names.
Process Date: 19810501

Data was downloaded from the United States Geological Survey: U.S. Board on Geographic Names website in text format to GeoPlan in September 2009. The original data extent was limited to the State of Florida. GeoPlan, during the QA/QC process included the following aspects: (1) The original dataset name was FL_Features_20090803.txt (2) The text file was converted to .DBF format. Field names longer than 10 characters were truncated. (3) The .DBF file was then converted to a shapefile using the Add XY tool in ArcMap. (4) The original points were recorded in NAD83. GeoPlan projected the entire dataset to FGDL Albers. (5) Removed 187 points from the dataset due to missing spatial information. (6) Removed an additional 57 points which did not have a STATE_NUME OF 12. (7) Upcased all fields. (8) Added the FGDLAQDATE field. (9) Added DESCRIPT item based on FEATURE_NA. Process Date: 20090908
Data imported to ArcSDE and exported as a shapefile. Process Date: 20090905
MAP PROJECTION PARAMETERS:

Projection                          ALBERS
Datum                               HPGN
Units                               METERS
Spheroid                            GRS1980
1st Standard Parallel               24  0  0.000
2nd Standard Parallel               31 30  0.000
Central Meridian                   -84 00  0.000
Latitude of Projection's Origin     24  0  0.000
False Easting (meters)              400000.00000
False Northing (meters)             0.00000

DATA SOURCE CONTACT (S):

Name:
Abbr. Name:
Address:


Phone:

Web site:
E-mail:
Contact Person:
         Phone:
        E-mail:
U.S. Board on Geographic Names, USGS
USGS
12201 Sunrise Valley Drive, MS 523
Reston, Virginia
20192-0523
703-648-4544

http://geonames.usgs.gov/domestic/download_data.htm gnis_manager@usgs.gov

FGDL CONTACT:
Name:                   FLORIDA GEOGRAPHIC DATA LIBRARY
Abbr. Name:             FGDL
Address:                Florida Geographic Data Library
                        431 Architecture Building
                        PO Box 115706
                        Gainesville, FL  32611-5706
Web site:               http://www.fgdl.org

Contact FGDL: 

      Technical Support:	        http://www.fgdl.org/fgdlfeed.html
      FGDL Frequently Asked Questions:  http://www.fgdl.org/fgdlfaq.html
      FGDL Mailing Lists:		http://www.fgdl.org/fgdl-l.html
      For FGDL Software:                http://www.fgdl.org/software.html