FLORIDA GEOGRAPHIC DATA LIBRARY DOCUMENTATION
VERSION 2006

TITLE: USGS GEOGRAPHIC NAMES INFORMATION

Geodataset Name:       GNIS_JUL06
Geodataset Type:       SHAPEFILE
Geodataset Feature:    Point
Feature Count:         36097
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
DATE OF AUTOMATION OF SOURCE:      20060719
GEODATASET EXTENT:                 STATE OF FLORIDA

FEATURE ATTRIBUTE TABLES:

Datafile Name: GNIS_JUL.DBF
ITEM NAME WIDTH TYPE N. DECIMAL DEGREES
OBJECTID
4 OID ---
FEATURE_ID
10 Number ---
FEATURE_NA
71 String ---
CLASS
16 String ---
ST_ALPHA
8 String ---
ST_NUM
8 Number ---
COUNTY
11 String ---
COUNTY_NUM
11 Number ---
PRI_LATDMS
16 String ---
PRI_LONDMS
16 String ---
PRI_LATDEC
19 Number 7
PRI_LONDEC
19 Number 7
SOU_LATDMS
15 String ---
SOU_LONDMS
15 String ---
SOU_LATDEC
14 String ---
SOU_LONDEC
14 String ---
ELEV_METER
11 Number ---
MAP_NAME
27 String ---
DESCRIPT
71 String ---
FGDLAQDATE
8 Date ---
SHAPE
4 Geometry ---
AUTOID
4 Integer ---

FEATURE ATTRIBUTE TABLES CODES AND VALUES:

Item
Item Description
OBJECTID Internal feature number.

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.

CLASS 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 strip).

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

Area = Any one of several really extesive natural features not included in other categories (badlands, barren, delta, fan, garden).

Bar = Natural 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).

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, lateral).

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).

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

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

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

Civil = A political division formed for administration purposes (borough, county, municipio, parish, town, township).

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

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).

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).

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

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, ghost town, landing, railroad siding, ranch, ruins, site, station, windmill).

Military (Histor = Place or facility formerly used for various aspects of or relating to military activity.

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).

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).

Populated Place = (Formerly abbreviated as ppl) place or area with clustered or scattered buildings and a permanent human population (city, settlement, town, village).

Post Office = (Formerly abbreviated as PO) an official facility of the U.S. Postal Service used for processing and distributing mail and other postal material.

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).

Spring = Place where underground water flows naturally to the surface of the Earth (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, sugarload, 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 obersavation, storage, or electronic transmission.

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

Unknown = 

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").


ST_ALPHA The state containing the geographic feature.

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

COUNTY 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.

ELEV_METER The elevation above sea level of the feature at the primary point (positive number) or depth of a feature at the lowest point below sea level (negative number).

MAP_NAME The name of the standard USGS 7.5 x 7.5 degree quadrangle map(s) containing the representation of the feature.

DESCRIPT GeoPlan added field based on FEATURE_NA
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 body of water that is washed by waves or tides and is usually covered by sand or gravel (coast, shore, strand).


FGDLAQDATE Date FGDL acquired the data.

SHAPE Feature geometry.

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 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

THE DATA INCLUDED IN FGDL ARE 'AS IS' AND SHOULD NOT BE CONSTRUED
AS LEGALLY BINDING. 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:
Data was downloaded from the United States 
Geological Survey: U.S. Board on Geographic
Names website in text format to GeoPlan in September 
2006.  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_DECI.txt
(2)  The text file was converted to .DBF format.  The .DBF file
was then converted to a shapefile using the Add XY tool in 
ArcMap.
(3)  The original points were recorded in NAD83.  GeoPlan
projected the entire dataset to FGDL Albers.
(4)  The following points plotted outside the State of Florida or
were located incorrectly.  The corresponding Feature ID's of the 
deleted points are: 296517, 296521, 296523, 296814, 297009, 
297717, 298049, 298165, 298211, 298325, 298736, 298979, 
299184, 300608, 301010, 301041, 301312, 301880, 301889, 
302374, 302376, 302384, 302456, 302754, 302829, 302904, 
302930, 302963, 303008, 303059, 303372, 303382, 303751, 
303753, 304298, 304641, 307146, 308181, 308609, 309281, 
310263, 308529, 298711, 302991, and 300536.
(5) Deleted points which plotted outside of the physical State of Florida.
(6) Added the FGDLAQDATE field.
(7) Added DESCRIPT item based on FEATURE_NA.
Process Date: 20061016

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