To access click: http://mapping.usgs.gov/www/gnis/gnisform.html

This almost unknown site is a goldmine of possible th'ing sites. With this site you should be able to locate enough sites to keep you busy for months. You can locate sites in an area for a days hunt or to have a backup site in case one does not pan out. Try it, you may find sites you never knew existed in your area.

Finding possible sites with the GNIS is easy as filling in three fields. 1) Select your state: For my example: Pennsylvania 2) Enter the county name: For my example: armstrong 3) Select the Feature type: For my example: school 4) Click the "Send Query" button to get the results of your search.

Sample GNIS Search Form

[ Instructions ]  Note: If your browser does not support drop-down menus, use  Alternate Query Form.
Feature Name: [Help]	Query Variant Name Also? Yes No [Help]
State or Territory Name: [Help] Alabama Alaska American Samoa Arizona Arkansas Baker Island California Colorado Connecticut Delaware District of Columbia Florida Georgia Guam Hawaii Howland Island Idaho Illinois Indiana Iowa Jarvis Island Johnston Atoll Kansas Kentucky Kingman Reef Louisiana Maine Marshall Islands, Republic of Maryland Massachusetts Michigan Micronesia, Federated States of Midway Islands Minnesota Mississippi Missouri Montana Navassa Island Nebraska Nevada New Hampshire New Jersey New Mexico New York North Carolina North Dakota Northern Mariana Islands Ohio Oklahoma Oregon Palau, Republic of Palmyra Atoll Pennsylvania Puerto Rico, Commonwealth of Rhode Island South Carolina South Dakota Tennessee Texas Utah Vermont Virgin Islands Virginia Wake Island Washington West Virginia Wisconsin Wyoming	County Name: (Do not include the word "county") [Help]
Feature Type: [Help] Airport Arch Area Arroyo Bar Basin Bay Beach Bench Bend Bridge Building Canal Cape Cave Cemetery Channel Church Civil Cliff Crater Crossing Dam Falls Flat Forest Gap Geyser Glacier Gut Harbor Hospital Island Isthmus Lake Lava Levee Locale Military (Historical) Mine Oilfield Other Park Pillar Plain Populated Place Post Office Range Rapids Reserve Reservoir Ridge School Sea Slope Spring Stream Summit Swamp Trail Tower Tunnel Valley Well Woods	Population Range: [Help] to
Elevation Range (feet): [Help] to	USGS 7.5'x7.5' Topographic Map Name: [Help]
Does your Browser support Tables? Yes No [Help]	or

My search for schools in Armstrong county returned 52 features. I have shown a few of them. The search returns the name of the school, the Latitude, Longitude and the USGS 7.5' topo map name this feature is located on. The Latitude and Longitude is useful for locating the feature on the topo map or finding a location with a GPS system.

Geographic Names Information System Query Results ARMSTRONG COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA -- SCHOOL 52 Feature records have been selected from GNIS.*

Feature Name St County Name Type Latitude Longitude USGS 7.5' Map Apollo-Ridge Elementary School PA Armstrong school 403501N 0793356W Vandergrift Apollo-Ridge High School PA Armstrong school 403620N 0792828W Avonmore Apollo-Ridge Middle School PA Armstrong school 403501N 0793350W Vandergrift Bagdad School PA Armstrong school 403908N 0793751W Freeport Bellwood School PA Armstrong school 404643N 0793125W Kittanning Bethel Township School PA Armstrong school 404228N 0793219W Leechburg

Clicking on a returned link (in my example Apollo Ridge Elementary School) returns the System Feature Details for this feature as shown below:

Geographic Names Information System Feature Details

Feature Name: Apollo-Ridge Elementary School Feature Type: school Elevation: 840 State: Pennsylvania County: Armstrong USGS 7.5' x 7.5' Map: Vandergrift Latitude: 403501N Longitude: 0793356W

Show Feature Location using maps produced from the U.S. Census Bureau's Tiger Map Server. If this site is busy, try this alternate map site. Find the Watershed for this feature using the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Surf Your Watershed site.

Clicking the "Show Feature Location" link on this page will show you a map of this feature. Although not a topo map, you can locate a site with this map.

After getting the results of a feature search, print the page and start a file system of possible sites by county.

I have found many sites by just searching features by county.

Finding this site on the digital topo map

Now let's find this feature on the topo map. I will use the USGS DLG Viewer software to locate this site. Step one would be to download the Vandergrift USGS 7.5' Map. Step two would be to open this map in DLG Viewer. Step three is to locate the feature using the Latitude and Longitude coordinates given. (Shown below)

Feature Name Latitude Longitude Apollo-Ridge Elem School 403501N 0793356W

The given Latitude and Longitude coordinates break down into the following: 40 degrees 35 minutes (') 01 seconds (") N North, above the equator 079 degrees 33 minutes (') 56 seconds (") W West

The Latitude and Longitude coordinates appear at the bottom right in the viewer. As you move the mouse, these numbers change. Getting the coordinates may seem difficult at first, but after practicing for a while, it becomes easier.

Partial USGS DLG Viewer screen shot of selected site.

The Apollo-Ridge Elementary School is in the white circle in this image. (Which I added) Note the Latitude, Longitude coordinates at the bottom right of the image in the gray area. (The 40 35' 00.25" N, 79 33' 55.40 W) These are very close to the given coordinates. When these numbers match the given coordinates, the mouse cursor is over the site. Click the mouse to zoom in on the area. That's it you have pinpointed your selected site. Also check the Elevation given, in our case 840 feet. This might be a way to pinpoint a site, especially if it is on a hill.

Another location finder is at: http://shiva.pub.getty.edu/tgn_browser/

Digital Topographical Maps

Comments All contents Copyright © 2000 Randy Steele My web site