2010 U.S. Census Place Name Gazetteer

The Gazetteer file is furnished courtesy of the U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census. It has been modified as follows:

1. Several columns deemed unnecessary for this application have been deleted, leaving only the State, Place Name, Latitude and Longitude.

2.Diacritic marks have been removed and special characters have been standardized to English. To obtain a copy of the original file, copy the following link and paste it into your browser's address line:

http://www.census.gov/geo/www/gazetteer/gazetteer2010.html

When the list of gazetter files is displayed, click on Places (2.4 MB). The file will download.

The 2010 U.S. CENSUS PLACE NAME GAZETTEER file as presented here contains approximately 29,500 place names with their latitudes and longitudes. For applications to genealogy research please see the following WIKI article:

https://wiki.familysearch.org/en/Latitude_and_Longitude_in_Family_History_Research

The file is tab-delimited. A copy of the same file, comma-delimited, can be obtained by emailing zurcarev83@gmail.com

Keep in mind that latitude numbers preceded by minus signs (-) indicate south latitude, or latitude south of the equator. Longitude numbers preceded by minus signs (-) indicate west longitude, or longitude west of the Greenwich meridian. Therefore, when copying and pasting the numbers into an application such as a digital map or a distance calculator, always include minus signs if they are present. For instance, to see the first Gazetteer entry on a map, copy the following URL to your browser's address line:

http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&amp;tab=wl

A search field will appear. Copy the numbers 33.091627,-85.527029 from the Gazetteer into the search field. Remember to include the minus sign(-). The columns are separated by a TAB. Don't bother to change the TAB to a comma--the Google software will accept the TAB.

Many place names have been changed from their original designations, depending on their occupancy and use. If you don't find the exact latitude and longitude of a point you want, get as close as possible to it using a location from this Gazetteer, and then derive the latitude and longitude of the point you want. The following URL gives instructions for finding the latitude and longitude of a point which appears on a Google map:

http://maps.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?hl=en&amp;answer=1334236

If you want to create your own gazetteer and add your own entries, simply copy the contents of the PDF file into a word processor, define the tab locations, and then enter your own data.

(Site currently under construction.)