Gazetteers and Place Names

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U.S. Gazetteers

U.S. Gazetteer from the Census Bureau
Look up a place name here for any populated place in the U.S. Even has the smallest places. Gives population A special feature is that one can also find a place with only the zip code. Gives population, latitude, longitude, and zip code. You can also zoom in on a map showing the location of the place within the state.

U.S. Geographic Names Information System

Also has all populated places in the U.S. including the smallest. In addition to populated places, you can look up a wide variety of places by name such as airports, bays, beaches, caves, cemeteries, dams, falls, lakes, mountains, harbors, military and historical places, parks, etc. Can zoom in on a map showing location of place within the state.

 

Mapfinder from the USGS

Enter name of populated place in the U.S. and select state. Search does not actually produce a detailed map, but instead shows your place in relation to the surrounding quadrangles. A very helpful feature is that it also gives names of many small towns and areas surrounding your place. These maps may then be ordered online directly from the U.S. Geological Survey.

 

World Gazetteers and Place Information

 

Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names
Comprehensive coverage of world places. Especially good for cross references to variant spellings. Start here in searching for places around the world. Also good for small U.S. places. For each place, gives country, province or state, and latitude and longitude.

 

GEONet Names Server
Choose "Access GEONet." From the U.S. Board of Geographic Names. Will retrieve even very small places around the world. However, you must know country. Gives latitude and longitude.

Global Gazetteer

This excellent gazetteer covers 2,880,532 world cities and towns. For each city or town, gives latitude, longitude, altitude, and weather. Also gives selection of maps and other links to that town or city.

 

Foreign Country and Area Gazetteers

 

Great Britain Ordnance Survey
When you choose Get-A-Map, you can search maps by place name, post code or grid reference.

 

Canadian Geographical Names
When you ask for a place name, you are given all places in Canada with that name, by province. Choose desired place and get latitude and longitude. Also gives option for national and regional maps, and distance from other places. A useful feature is an option for a list of all places within a 3-mile radius of the targeted place. This may include features such as mountains and lakes, military bases, conservation areas, etc. You can also query with latitude and longitude only, without a place name.

Jewish General ShtetlSeeker
Search for places including small towns in Central and Eastern Europe. Use exact spellings or Soundex function button. Search will display latitude and longitude as well as distance to country's capital.

Place Names Identified and Shown on Maps

Mapblast
The special "mapblast" feature will zoom in to a particular street address anywhere in the U.S. and show you the named streets surrounding the address. Useful for finding very small areas.

 

Mapquest
Gives maps and plots your route from one place to another in the U.S. Click on driving directions to get distance in miles and driving time from any one U.S. place to any other U.S. place. Very useful for mileage and driving times.

 

Shell GeoStar
Shows maps, distances in miles and kilometers and helps you plan routes in European countries.

 

Via Michelin
Shows maps, distances between cities and towns, and helps you plan routes in European countries. After entering your towns and countries, click on "results." Not always dependable but useful when it works.

 

Distances

How Far Is It?
Figures the distances in miles and kilometers (as the crow flies) between places. Includes U.S. places from Census data and a supplementary list of world cities.

Metasites

 

Geographical Information Sources
University of Illinois Map and Geography Library

Perry-Castaneda Library Map Collection
From the University of Texas. Excellent site with more than 93 links. Has links for cartography, for city, county, state, historical, and weather maps, and to the PCL map collection.

 

Yahoo Geographic Name Servers
Provides links to a variety of sites where gazetteers and information on place names may be found.

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Additional print resources for Gazetteers and Place Names.