organization:u.s. board on geographical names

Who Decides What Names Go on a Map?
▻http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2015/09/150918-us-board-geographical-names-125th-anniversary-national-geographic-maps-place-names/?sf13237209=1

« The 33 founders of the National Geographic Society first met at the Cosmos Club in Washington, D.C., on January 13, 1888. This 1963 painting depicts them signing the new organization’s charter. Four of these men—Henry Ogden, John Wesley Powell, Henry Gannett, and Marcus Baker—were also charter members of the U.S. Board on Geographical Names (BGN) in 1890. »

Would a place by any other name smell as sweet? Maybe. But how would you find it on a map?

The U.S. Board on Geographic Names (BGN) has spent the past 125 years making sure that’s not an issue. By standardizing place names on government maps, it eliminates problems that arise from inconsistencies and redundancies—a boon to mapmakers and map-readers alike.

As the BGN celebrates its quasquicentennial anniversary on Friday with a gala symposium at the Library of Congress, it’s time to look back at why the board was founded (by a group that includes several charter members of the National Geographic Society), how it works, and why it’s as essential to clear communication in 2015 as it was in 1890.
What It Is

The BGN comprises members from six federal departments and the Central Intelligence Agency, the Government Publishing Office, the Library of Congress, and the U.S. Postal Service. It rules on hundreds of naming decisions each year and maintains geographical databases (available at geonames.usgs.gov) containing more than two million domestic records and over 11 million records for foreign names.

#toponymie #géographie #cartographie #manipultion #propagande #colonialisme