Maps and GIS: useful websites. Gazetteers
There are two types of gazetteer - those which simply give coordinates and/or codified information, and those which give a verbal description of a place. The latter will usually also give coordinates. Both types are listed here.
Collections of links
- Place Names
Collection of links to web based gazetteers maintained by Arizona State University Libraries. includes world and country gazetteers. - Geographical Names on the Internet
Links to various country gazetteers. Maintained by the Permanent Commitee for Geographical Names (PCGN) for British official use.
World gazetteers
- NGA GeoNet Names Server
Provides access to the United States National Imagery and Mapping Agency's (NIMA) database of foreign (i.e. non-USA) geographic feature names. Includes approximately 5 million features and 7 million feature names. Use the Text based search page for easiest access. - Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names
Gazetteer of places with an emphasis on places important for art and architecture. Produced by the Getty Research Institute. - Alexandria Digital Library Gazetteer
The Alexandria Digital Library (ADL) is a distributed digital library with collections of georeferenced materials and a gazetteer. - World Gazetteer (population)
Current and some recent historical population data for all countries and territories, their administrative divisions, cities and towns. Contains the national flags for all countries and territories and some administrative divisions and some summary statistics. Can be sorted by country, city name, population, latitude or longitude.
Country gazetteers
- Ordnance Survey Gazetteer of Great Britain
To access the Ordnance Survey Gazetteer of Great Britain, see Digimap. - Gazetteer for Scotland
Maintained by the Robertson Trust. "The first comprehensive gazetteer of Scotland since 1885." - Geographical Names of Canada
Under the auspices of Natural Resources Canada, this site is maintained by the Secretariat of the Canadian Permanant Committee on Geographic Names (CPCGN). - Geographic Names Information Server (United States)
GNIS has information about almost 2 million physical and cultural geographic features in the United States. Also covers Antarctica. Developed by the United States Geological Survey and the U.S. Board on Geographic Names. - US Gazetteer
Gazetteer derived from the United States census. Maintained by the U.S. Census Bureau. - Imperial Gazetteer of India
Full text - can be browsed or searched. Part of a much larger historical resource on South Asia - the Digital South Asia Library.
Please note: our site descriptions are based on information available on the site described at the time it was evaluated.
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