Geographic Names Information System

The logo of the United States Geological Survey (USGS) The Geographic Names Information System (GNIS) is a database of name and location information about more than two million physical and cultural features, encompassing the United States; the associated states of the Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Palau, and Antarctica. It is a type of gazetteer. It was developed by the United States Geological Survey (USGS) in cooperation with the United States Board on Geographic Names (BGN) to promote the standardization of feature names.

Data were collected in two phases. A third phase was considered, which would have handled name changes where local usages differed from maps, it was never begun.