No level of government has official designations for regions. The U.S. Board on Geographic Names, which is responsible by law for standardizing geographic name usage throughout the Federal government, is often asked for official names and boundaries of regions, but does not and cannot provide them.
Regions are application-driven and highly susceptible to perception. Individuals might agree on the core of a region, but agreement deteriorates rapidly outward from that core. The criteria or application would have to be defined, such as physiographic (this would include parts of States, but there is more than one system); political (definite disagreement based upon perception); cultural (unlimited variables); and other applications.
Regional definitions applied by any organization reflect their particular needs or application, not a government standard.
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How can I acquire or download Geographic Names Information System (GNIS) data?
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- FAQ
What is the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS)?
The Geographic Names Information System (GNIS) was developed by the U.S.Geological Survey (USGS) in cooperation with the U.S. Board on Geographic Names (BGN), which maintains cooperative working relationships with state names authorities to standardize geographic names. GNIS contains information about the official names for places, features, and areas in the 50 states, the District of Columbia...
What is the most common city/town name in the United States?
There are no official definitions of city, town, village, hamlet, neighborhood, etc. All named entities with human habitation are classified as Populated Place, including incorporated places (20 percent of the Nation's communities), unincorporated places (the majority), housing developments not yet incorporated, and neighborhoods within incorporated places. The most frequently occurring community...
What is the difference between "mountain", "hill", and "peak"; "lake" and "pond"; or "river" and "creek?"
There are no official definitions for generic terms as applied to geographic features. Any existing definitions derive from the needs and applications of organizations using those geographic features. The Geographic Names Information System (GNIS) database utilizes 63 broad categories of feature types defined solely to facilitate retrieval of entries with similar characteristics from the database...
How can I acquire or download Geographic Names Information System (GNIS) data?
Download Geographic Names Information System (GNIS) data using the U.S. Board on Geographic Names website. Query the database for official geographic feature names, their location attributes, variant names, and other data. Display, print, and download up to 2,000 records from a query. GNIS data can also be downloaded via The National Map Downloader. Define an area of interest on the map, then put...
What constitutes the United States? What are the official definitions?
Geographically (and as a general reference), the United States of America includes all areas considered to be under the sovereignty of the United States, but does not include leased areas. On May 14, 1959, the U.S. Board on Geographic Names issued the following definitions based partially on the Alaska Omnibus Bill, which defined the Continental United States as "the 49 States on the North...
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