A table of geographic names for Connecticut and the surrounding area. Includes the following categories: bay, beach, cliff, falls, flat, gap, hill, island, lake. point, populated place, reef, ridge, river, rock, swamp, town, and valley. Also includes geographic names in adjacent areas of Massachusetts, New York, and Rhode Island. Each geographic name is identified with a unique Geographic Name Number (GEONAME_NO).

This table is the primary attribute table for point features in the Geographic Names (Geographic_Name) feature class. Use the Geographic Name Number attribute (GEONAME_NO) to join records in this table to the points in the Geograhic Names feature class. The table join is necessary to label point features on a map with their corresponding geographic name. Depending on need, classify labels according to either CATEGORY, AV_LEGEND, or IMS_LEGEND values. For best results, label features with the SHORT_NAME attribute.

For additional information about the national Geographic Names Information System, contact the U.S. Geological Survey at www.geonames.usgs.gov. Depending on data format, additional related attribute data tables may not included with the distributed data, but are available upon request. Refer to the Entity And Attribute Overview section of this metadata for descriptions of these related data tables.

Many feature names are derived from the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS), which was developed by the U.S. Geological Survey in cooperation with the U.S. Board of Geographic Names. The names of rivers, streams, brooks, reservoirs, lakes and ponds were originally compiled and mapped from various sources, including GNIS, by James Bogar, a Cartographer with the State of Connecticut, Department of Environmental Protection.

ground condition

None. The data is in the public domain and may be redistributed.

No restrictions or legal prerequisites for using the data. The data is suitable for use at appropriate scale, and is not intended for maps printed at scales greater or more detailed than 1:24,000 scale (1 inch = 2,000 feet). Although this data set has been used by the State of Connecticut, Department of Environmental Protection, no warranty, expressed or implied, is made by the State of Connecticut, Department of Environmental Protection as to the accuracy of the data and or related materials.  The act of distribution shall not constitute any such warranty, and no responsibility is assumed by the State of Connecticut, Department of Environmental Protection in the use of these data or related materials. The user assumes the entire risk related to the use of these data. Once the data is distributed to the user, modifications made to the data by the user should be noted in the metadata. When printing this data on a map or using it in a software application, analysis, or report, please acknowledge the State of Connecticut, Department of Environmental Protection as the source for this information. For example, include the following data source description when printing this layer on a map: Place Names - From the Geographic Names layer, compiled and published by CT DEP and USGS. Source map scale is 1:24,000.

Information encoded about these point features is used to cartographically label or center small-sized maps on geographically named features. This feature class includes two sets of points. One set is for labeling maps with geographic names and the other set is for navigating (centering) a map on individual geographically named features such as a hill or pond. Some points are only used for map labeling purposes, some points are only used for map navigation purposes, and some points are used for both a map labeling and a map navigation purposes. Two attributes, ISMAPLABEL and ISMAPNAV, define these two sets of points.

Map Label Points - ISMAPLABEL = "True"

Use the ISMAPLABEL, STATE_COD and SCALELEVEL attributes to define a set of map label points appropriate for display at a particular map scale. For example, use the SQL expression, ISMAPLABEL = "True", to define a layer with all map label points. Use the SQL expression, ISMAPLABEL = "True" and STATE_COD = "CT", to define a layer with map label points for Connecticut. For example, use the SQL expression, ISMAPLABEL = "True" and STATE_COD = "CT" and SCALELEVEL <= 5, to define a layer with map label points appropriate for display in Connecticut between 1:75,000 and 1:100,000 scale. Or use the SQL expression, ISMAPLABEL = "True" and STATE_COD = "CT" and SCALELEVEL <= 6, to define a layer with Connecticut map label points appropriate for display between 1:24,000 and 1:75,000 scale. Typically, map label points are labeled without showing the actual point features on the map.  Do not symbolize point features; assign them no color. Just label the points with their geographic name. Create label classes according to geographic name categories and assign different text symbology to each class. For example, geographic names that are hills are typically labeled with black text and water bodies are usually blue. The CATEGORY attribute in (the related GeoName data table) classifies features according to whether each one is a bay, beach, hill, lake, populated place, waterbody, etc. So geographic name labels based on CATEGORY = "Hill" can be shown in black, and geographic name labels with CATEGORY = "Waterbody" can be shown in blue. It is possible to reduce the number of classes and achieve the same labeling results by using the AV_LEGEND or IMS_LEGEND attribute to classify labels into broader categories than those provide by the CATEGORY attribute. AV_LEGND and IMS_LEGEND attributes combine features into a smaller number of categories for the purpose of simplifying the assignment of label text symbology to similar types of geographically named features. Also, position the label text to the upper right of the point location and use the SHORT_NAME attribute as the label field for all map label point features. 

Map Navigation Points - ISMAPNAV = "True"

Use the SQL expression, ISMAPNAV = "True", to define a map navigation layer with center points for navigating maps to all geographically named features. Use the NAVSCALE attribute to obtain an appropriate map scale for centering the map on a particular map navigation point. Map navigation points are not to be visually displayed on a map. Rather, they are intended to be used as a data source for gazetteer and place name-searching applications where a form is used to search for a geographically named place that the map can be panned to. There is one map navigation point for each Connecticut town that a geographically named feature is located in. For example, a hill will have one map navigation point located in the one town that the top of the hill is located in. However, a river will have a map navigation point located on the river in each town that it flows through. Use the NAME attribute when searching and querying for map navigation point features by geographic name.

Other Attributes

The STATE_COD and TOWN_NO attributes encode which state and Connecticut town each point feature is located in. Use the TOWN_NO attribute as the join key field to the Town data table with the TOWN attribute that holds the town name. Use the GEONAME_NO attribute as the join key field to the GeoName attribute data table with the NAME and SHORT_NAME fields that hold the full and abbreviated name of the feature such as "Connecticut River" and "Connecticut R", respectively. Use the SHORT_NAME attribute as the label field for all map label point features. Use the NAME attribute when searching and querying for map navigation point features by geographic name. Use the DATA_SRC, SRC_KEY, and SRC_KEYVAL attributes to reference (link) the geographic names to features in other source data layers such as Hydrography Master. 

State of Connecticut, Department of Environmental Protection

Table records conform to the following rules. There are no duplicate records in the GeoName table. The GEONAME_NO attribute is the primary key and uniquely identifies each geographic name listed in the table. Use the GEONAME_NO attribute to join the GeoName table to the Geographic_Name point features.

This dataset contains information about natural, physical and some cultural features in Connecticut and nearby portions of Massachusetts, New York and Rhode Island identified by the State of Connecticut, Department of Environmental Protection. Data is periodically updated as additional categories of features are included and as errors are corrected.

Connecticut Geograhic Name Table

Although this data set  has been used by the State of Connecticut, Department of Environmental Protection, no warranty, expressed or implied, is made by the State of Connecticut, Department of Environmental Protection as to the accuracy of the data and or related materials.  The act of distribution shall not constitute any such warranty, and no responsibility is assumed by the State of Connecticut, Department of Environmental Protection in the use of these data or related materials. The user assumes the entire risk related to the use of these data. Once the data is distributed to the user, modifications made to the data by the user should be noted in the metadata.

Geographic information sytem (GIS), computer-aided drawing or other mapping software is necessary to display, view and access the information.

The data distributor does not provide custom GIS analysis or mapping services. Data is available in a standard format and may be converted to other formats, projections, coordinate systems, or selected for specific geographic regions by the party receiving the data.