Geographic Names Information System: National Geographic Names Data Base, Populated Places in the United States (Phase II) United States Department of the Interior. United States Geological Survey counties geographic information systems geography mapping population distribution states (USA) ICPSR.VII The Geographic Names Information System (GNIS) is an automated data system developed by the United States Geological Survey (USGS) to standardize and disseminate information on geographic names. GNIS provides primary information for all known places, features, and areas in the United States identified by proper name. The data file described here is a standard report file written from the National Geographic Names Data Base that lists all populated place records in GNIS for the United States. The entries are sorted by state and then listed alphabetically by feature name. Information provided includes the official placename, the feature type, the Federal Information Processing Standards (FIPS) code referencing the state, the principal county in which the place is located, the geographic coordinates (in degrees, minutes, and seconds) that locate the approximate original center of the place, the year of any pertinent United States Board on Geographic Names activity regarding the placename or its application, and a reference to the 1:24,000-scale USGS topographic map on which the feature is portrayed. The elevation in feet is given if available, as is the 1980 Census population figure. 1992-02-17 coordinate data 9515 10.3886/ICPSR09515.v1 Records or entries for most named geographic features on all United States Geological Survey 7.5-minute topographic map series, with the exception of road and highway names. United States ICPSR metadata records are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 United States License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/us/).