Domestic Names - State and Topical Gazetteer Download Files

Data extracts from the Geographic Names Information System are available for download as pipe-delimited text (.txt) files within a compressed (.zip) format. These files contain primary feature attributes, but do not contain all attributes. Communications concerning the download files should be addressed to gnis_manager@usgs.gov.

• GNIS Metadata

States, Territories, Associated Areas of the United States

Select from the list below. File Format

The above State Files were last revised on Jan. 28, 2008

• AllStates.zip - Download all 60 individual state files in one .zip (.zip - 62 MB)
  (updated Jan. 28, 2008)

The following National File was last revised on Feb. 5, 2008. This file contains data combined from all 52 States, U.S. Associated Areas and Territories. This .txt file had to be split due to large size.

Please Note: A new field called 'Source_State_Alpha' indicates the state containing the source coordinates of a linear feature only (Class = Stream, Valley, Arroyo). The Primary_State_Alpha field is a One to One relationship between the Features and States showing the single state in which each feature originates, while the Source_State_Alpha field is a One to Many relationship between Features and States showing all the states through which a feature runs.

• NationalFile_split_1.zip - This is the first 1,000,000 lines of data (.zip - 32.8 MB, unzipped 114 MB)
• NationalFile_split_2.zip - This is the remainder lines of data. (.zip - 33.1 MB, unzipped 111 MB)

Topical Gazetteers

Topical Gazetteers are included for the following:

• Populated Places – Named features with human habitation—cities, towns, villages, etc. (Updated on Feb. 26, 2008)
• Historical Features – Features that no longer exist on the landscape. (Updated on Feb. 26, 2008)
• Concise Features – Large features that should be labeled on maps with a scale of 1:250,000. (Updated on Feb. 2, 2007)
• All Names – All names, both official and nonofficial (variant), for all features in the nation. (Updated on Feb. 5, 2008)
• Antarctica Features – Features in Antarctica approved for use by the United States government. (Updated on Feb. 5, 2008)
• Government Units – Full official names, alphabetic, and numeric codes of states and counties (Reference FIPS 6-4) (Updated on Feb. 26, 2008)

Select from the list below. File Format

State Files with Federal Codes

Important Notice: These files include primary attributes from the former Federal Information Processing Standard (FIPS) 55 database. The GNIS Feature ID superseded the FIPS55 Place Code (now referred to as the Census Code) as the Federal standard geographic feature record identifier. The FIPS 55-3 standard has been withdrawn and the FIPS55 data have been incorporated into the GNIS. The Census Bureau will continue to assign five digit codes for internal purposes until the transition to the GNIS Feature ID is completed following the 2010 census, at which time the codes will be no longer assigned or used. Until then but no later, Census codes will be available in these files. Legacy systems are highly encouraged to convert to the Feature ID as soon as possible. See FIPS 55 Change Notice. In addition, General Services Administration Geographic Location Codes and Office of Personnel Management Duty Station Codes will be added to these files in 2008. (Note: FIPS 6-4 State and county codes are separate codes and are NOT affected by this change.)

The files below were last updated Feb. 21, 2008.

FIPS55 Class Code Definitions

Select from the list below. File Format

• Download all states FIPS55 data combined into one .txt file (.zip - 3.82 MB)
  (updated Feb. 21, 2008)
• Download all 60 individual states FIPS55 data files in one .zip (.zip - 3.62 MB)
  (updated Feb. 21, 2008)