Changes
Jump to navigation
Jump to search
no edit summary
* This page is part of a series under the [[NBER Patent Data |NBER Patent Data Project]]* This page is a sub-page of [[Geocoding Inventor Locations]] The [http://geonames.nga.mil/ggmagaz/geonames4.asp GEOnet Names Server (GNS)] is available from the U.S. [http://www.nga.mil National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency's] and provides longitude, latitude and other information for an extensive list of place names around the world. To our knowledge it is the most comprehensive source availablefor free academic use. [http://earth-info.nga.mil/gns/html/cntry_files.html Individual country files and a zip of all country files] are provided. Note that the GNS does not use the [[ISO3166]] standard two-character country abbreviations - see below.
==Licensing==
The NGA site states: "There are no licensing requirements or restrictions in place for the use of the GNS data. Toponymic information is based on the Geographic Names Data Base, containing official standard names approved by the United States Board on Geographic Names and maintained by the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency."
==Country Codes==
The GNS uses its own two character country codes ([http://www.edegan.com/repository/GNS-CountryCodes.txt GNS-CountryCodes.txt]), which are generally different from the ISO3166 country codes ([http://www.edegan.com/repository/ISO3166-CountryCodes.txt ISO3166-CountryCodes.txt]). A translation files is available ([http://www.edegan.com/repository/GNS-ISO3166Codes.txt GNS-ISO3166Codes.txt]) from the repository; all currently assigned and used ISO3166 code are translated except for largely unpopulated places (e.g. Antartica), and U.S. dependencies that GNS does not cover (e.g. Puerto Rico). Codes that are reserved (e.g. CZ - Czechoslavkia) or no longer assigned (e.g. SU - Soviet Union, DD - Democratic Republic of Germany) are not translated.
==Other Sources==
**UNI - Unique Name Idenfier (a numeric value - often negative)
**LAT and LONG - Latitude and Longitude (Decimal - also available as DMS)
** NT - Name Type - Mostly only N (BGN Standard name) or V (Variant) present in the data**FC - Feature Classification (Only A,P and L are of use in matching to addresses)
***A = Administrative region type feature
***P = Populated place type feature
***H = Hydrographic type feature
***S = Spot type feature
**DC DSG - Feature Designation Code (DC DSG provides a refinement of NT, details are in [http://www.edegan.com/repository/GNS-DesignationCodes.txt GNS-DesignationCodes.txt]
**SHORT_FORM - a Short Form of the name that is commonly used
**FULL_NAME - the Long Form of the name
**FULL_NAME_ND - the Long Form of the name without diacritics
