Mapping, Remote Sensing, and Geospatial Data

Landsat Collection 2 Surface Temperature products are generated from several input data sources and atmospheric profiles. This includes NASA's Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) Global Emissivity Dataset (GED). The ASTER GED dataset is created from all clear-sky pixels of ASTER scenes acquired from 2000 through 2008. While this dataset has a global spatial...

Each State has a State Naming Authority responsible for management of geographic names within its state. The Task Force welcomes feedback through the public comment period announced in the Federal Register on proposed candidate names and any additional names that State Naming Authorities would like to recommend. Other state agencies are also welcome to provide its feedback and recommendations...

The Derogatory Geographic Names Task Force has opened a written public comment period and DOI is offering Tribal Consultation (see correction to Zoom links) to all federally recognized tribes. Both of these opportunities were announced in the Federal Register on Feb. 23. In addition, the Task Force issued a letter through the Bureau of Indian Affairs to each federally recognized Tribe. Both the...

Secretary's Order 3404 and the DOI Derogatory Geographic Names Task Force are considering only the sq___ derogatory term in its scope. Secretary’s Order 3405 creates a Federal Advisory Committee for the Department to formally receive advice from the public regarding additional derogatory terms, derogatory terms on federal land units, and the process for derogatory name reconciliation.

The Board on Geographic Names does not declare a word derogatory or offensive, with the one exception being the 1974 case when the pejorative word for Japanese was declared derogatory and mandated to be changed to “Japanese” in all occurrences. The Board on Geographic Names does, however, consider renaming any feature with a name considered derogatory or offensive on a case-by-case basis when a...

The Board on Geographic Names’ Principles, Policies, and Procedures document contains the current Derogatory and Offensive Names Policy. Prior to Secretary's Order 3404, only two other words had been declared derogatory by the BGN in all occurrences: 1. In 1963, the Board on Geographic Names, at the request of the Secretary of the Interior, mandated that the pejorative form of the word “Negro” be...

All name changes will be reflected in Domestic Names Geographic Names Information System (GNIS), the authoritative federal database. Federal agencies rely on the GNIS for the publication of map products or other services. Often, private mapping companies (e.g., Google Maps, Apple Maps, Esri) use the federal databases but they are not required to do so.

All name changes will be reflected in Domestic Names Geographic Names Information System (GNIS), the authoritative federal database. Federal agencies rely on the GNIS for the publication of map products or other services. States may maintain its own names database or have other policies that govern state map production but they also typically use the names from the federal database for consistency...

Any renaming activity pursuant to Secretary's Order 3404 only applies to federal use. The names of cultural or man-made features such as roads, streets, shopping centers, churches, schools, hospitals and airports are not under the Board on Geographic Names’ purview, with very limited exceptions.

The Task Force will conclude its duties and responsibilities by recommending replacement names to the BGN, upon which the BGN will render a decision. The decisions of the BGN are immediately official for federal use. However, if, a Tribe, a member of the public, or another interested party believes the replacement name is not the most appropriate choice, they are welcome to propose that it be...

Secretary's Order 3404 outlines the process. The Derogatory Geographic Names Task Force will review all candidate names, including those generated by U.S. Geological Survey, received by the Board on Geographic Names as part of a formal proposal prior to 1/24/22, or contributed through the public comment period or Tribal Consultations. As outlined in Secretary's Order 3404, "The task force will...

A list of five candidate names for each geographic feature was developed by the U.S. Geological Survey as directed by Secretary's Order 3404. The candidate replacement names were derived through a search of nearby named geographic features until at least five nearby names were available. The candidate replacement name will replace the derogatory modifier. For example, “Castle Creek” is the nearest...