science

GEOnet Names Server

GEOnet Names Server is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand GEOnet Names Server rather than just read about it. In short: The GEOnet Names Server (GNS), sometimes also referred to in official documentation as Geographic Names Data or geonames in domain and email addresses, is a service that provides access to the United States National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency's (NGA) and the US Board on Geographic Names's (BGN) database of geographic feature names and coordinates for locations outside the US. The database is the official reposit…

Key takeaways

GEOnet Names Server belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect GEOnet Names Server to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of GEOnet Names Server from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

The GEOnet Names Server (GNS), sometimes also referred to in official documentation as Geographic Names Data or geonames in domain and email addresses, is a service that provides access to the United States National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency's (NGA) and the US Board on Geographic Names's (BGN) database of geographic feature names and coordinates for locations outside the US. The database is the official repository for the US Federal Government on foreign place-name decisions approved by the BGN. Approximately 20,000 of the database's features are updated monthly. Names are not deleted from the database, "except in cases of obvious duplication". The database contains search aids such as spelling variations and non-Roman script spellings in addition to its primary information about location, administrative division, and quality. The accuracy of the database had been criticised.

Accuracy US forces serving in Afghanistan in 2004 reported numerous instances of incorrect place-names, and incorrectly placed or absent place-names that were sourced ultimately to the Geographic Names Database. A 2008 survey of South Korea toponyms on GNS found that roughly 1% of them were actually Japanese names that had never been in common usage, even during the period of Japanese colonial rule in Korea, and had come from a 1946 US military map that had apparently been compiled with Japanese assistance. In addition to the Japanese toponyms, the same study noted that "There are many spelling errors and simple mis-understanding of the place names with similar characters" amongst South Korea toponyms on GNS, as well extraneous names of Chinese and English origin.

See also Geographic Names Information System (GNIS), a similar database for locations within the United States United Nations Conference on the Standardization of Geographical Names

References

External links GEOnet Names Server GEOnet feature codes reference tables Country files download page

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with GEOnet Names Server

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what GEOnet Names Server claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to GEOnet Names Server before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about GEOnet Names Server ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of GEOnet Names Server

In research: GEOnet Names Server appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses GEOnet Names Server in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: GEOnet Names Server is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Gazetteers, Geocodes, Geographical databases, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for GEOnet Names Server outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study GEOnet Names Server in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what GEOnet Names Server means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain GEOnet Names Server out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is GEOnet Names Server in simple terms?

Why does GEOnet Names Server matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study GEOnet Names Server?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on GEOnet Names Server.