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agency bullet Description of Names Files for Countries and Territories Format



Note:
  • The data format is tab-delimited text.
  • The names in the country files are sorted alphabetically and are displayed in Reading Order (used in mapping applications; e.g. Mount Everest)


Field Name
Field Description
Field Type
Field Width
RC

Region Font Code.  A code that determines the character mapping used in fields containing feature name information (see Character Set Conversion Table:
1 = Americas/Western Europe;
2 = Eastern Europe;
3 = Africa/Middle East;
4 = Russia/ Central Asia;
5 = Asia/Pacific;
6 = Vietnam.

Number 1
UFI Unique Feature Identifier.  A number which uniquely identifies a feature. Number 38
UNI Unique Name Identifier.  A number which uniquely identifies a name. Number 38
LAT Latitude of the feature in ± decimal degrees; DD; (± dd.dd...):
no sign (+) = North;
negative sign (-) = South
Number 10
LONG Longitude of the feature in ± decimal degrees; DD; (± dd.dd...):
no sign (+) = East;
negative sign (-) = West.
Number 11
DMS_LAT Latitude of the feature in ±degrees, minutes, and seconds; DMS; (±ddmmss):
no sign (+) = North;
negative sign (-) = South.
Number 7
DMS_LONG

Longitude of the feature in ±degrees, minutes, and seconds; DMS; (±dddmmss) :
no sign (+) = East;
negative sign (-) = West.

Number 8
MGRS Military Grid Reference System coordinates. MGRS is an alpha-numeric system for expressing UTM/UPS coordinates. A single alpha-numeric value references an area that is unique for the entire earth. Character 15
JOG Joint Operations Graphic reference. Character 7
FC

Feature Classification: Nine (9) major Geoname feature categories into which similar feature designations are grouped.
A = Administrative region type feature
P = Populated place type feature
V = Vegetation type feature
L = Locality or area type feature
U = Undersea type feature
R = Streets, highways, roads, or railroad type feature
T = Hypsographic type feature
H = Hydrographic type feature
S = Spot type feature

Character 1
DSG Feature Designation Code.  A two to five-character code used to identify the type of Geoname feature a name is applied to. Character 5
PC Populated Place Classification.  A graduated numerical scale denoting the relative importance of a populated place.  The scale ranges from 1,  relatively high, to 5, relatively low.  The scale could also include NULL (no value) as a value for populated places with unknown or undetermined classification. Number 1
CC1 Primary Country Code. A two alphabetic character code from the Geopolitical Codes (formerly FIPS 10-4 Standard) that uniquely identify a geopolitical entity (countries, dependencies, and areas of special sovereignty). Character 255
ADM1 First-order administrative division code. A two alpha-numeric code from the Geopolitical Codes (formerly FIPS 10-4 Standard) describing a primary administrative division of a geopolitical entity, such as a state in the United States. Character 2
POP Population figures. Number 38
ELEV Elevation in meters. Number 126
CC2

Secondary Country Code. A two alphabetic character code from the Geopolitical Codes (formerly FIPS 10-4 Standard) uniquely identifying the country code of a particular Geoname feature name if different than that of the primary country code of that Geoname feature (International features).

Character 255
NT

Name Type:
C = Conventional name
N = Approved name
NS = Native Script Name
D = Unverified or daggered name
DS = Unverified name in native script
H = Historic name
HS = Historic name in native script
P = Provisional name
PS = Provisional name in native script
V = Variant or alternate name
VS = Variant name in native script

Character 2
LC

Language Code. A three alphabetic character code (ISO 639-3) uniquely identifying the language assigned to a feature name.

Character 3
SHORT_FORM A part of the full name that could substitute for the full name (Unicode UTF-8). Character 128
GENERIC The descriptive part of the full name such as Mount, River, or Sea (Unicode UTF-8 - generally does not apply to populated place names). Character 128
SORT_NAME_RO Sort name - reading order.A form of the full name that allows for alphabetical sorting of the file into gazetteer sequence. All character/diacritic combinations and special characters are substituted with QWERTY (visible U.S. English keyboard) characters, all characters are upper-cased, numerals are converted to lower-case characters (0-9 = a-j), spaces are stripped out, and commas replaced with space.  The substitution is done according to a character mapping table that is Region Font Code specific (see Character Set Conversion Table.  This field is included for the benefit of the end user of the data to aid in the sorting of names if required. Character 255
FULL_NAME_RO Full name - reading order.The full name is the complete name that identifies a named feature.  The full name is output in reading order, "Mount Everest", vs. reversed generic, "Everest, Mount", as stored in the database. Character 255
FULL_NAME_ND_RO Full name - reading order with no diacritics. Same as the full name but the character/diacritic combinations and special characters are substituted with QWERTY (visible U.S. English keyboard) characters while still maintaining casing and spaces. The substitution is done according to a character mapping table that is Region Font Code specific (see Character Set Conversion Table). Character 255
SORT_NAME_RG Sort name - reversed generic. A form of the full name that allows for alphabetical sorting of the file into gazetteer sequence. All character/ diacritic combinations and special characters are substituted with QWERTY (visible U.S. English keyboard) characters, all characters are upper-cased, numerals are converted to lower-case characters (0-9 = a-j), spaces are stripped out, and commas replaced with space. The substitution is done according to a character mapping table that is Region Font Code specific (see Character Set Conversion Table). This field is included for the benefit of the end user of the data to aid in the sorting of names if required. Character 255
FULL_NAME_RG Full name - reversed generic. The full name is the complete name that identifies a named feature. The full name is output in reversed generic, "Everest, Mount," as stored in the database, vs. reading order, "Mount Everest." Character 255
FULL_NAME_ND_RG Full name - reversed generic with no diacritics. Same as the full name but the character/diacritic combinations and special characters are substituted with QWERTY (visible U.S. English keyboard) characters while still maintaining casing and spaces. The substitution is done according to a character mapping table that is Region Font Code Specific (see Character Set Conversion Table). Character 255
NOTE This field holds a geopolitical policy note concerning the feature, populated when CC1 and ADM1 are NULL, and it could contain multiple notes (may contain data in Unicode UTF-8). Character 4000
MOD_DATE The date a new feature was added or any part of an existing feature was modified (YYYY-MM-DD). Character 10
 
 
Point of Contact: GEOnet Names Server
NGA Bethesda
phone 301-227-3059, DSN 287-3059
geonames@nga.mil

Document last modified June 10, 2010

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