Doing a Search with the USGS GNIS Gazetteer Data CDROM |
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| To show you how easy it is to use the search software on the GNIS CDROM, we will do some example searches. Do not to be afraid to try different things. Play around with the software. The best way to learn is by doing. This short article is not meant to replace the help included with the software, just enhance it. If you are like me you hate help files anyway and only use them as a last resort. Plus, most software help seems to be written by computer progammers for other programmers, not you and I. Besides to us men, help files are like asking for directions, we just don't do it. |
| First open a window in to the CDROM drive on your computer and double click the catview2000 icon or file name. This will start the search software. |
| After starting Catview, you need to select some data files to search. Select "File" then "Add Catalog", Double click the "gnis_datasets" folder on the CD, and select any number of state files. You can use the Shift and Ctrl keys to select more that one file. For my example I will select Pennsylvania. Then click the "Open" button. The files you selected to search now appear in the column to the left and are hi-lighted dark blue. You can select/deselect a file anytime by clicking it. Right click in this column to change the font size, select items, view etc. |
| For our first search, enter "cemetery" (no quotes) in the top (first) of the three edit fields. (You can click the arrow at the right to reuse search terms). When first doing a search I do not advise using the match case. When checked, the search word you entered must match exactly; that is "cemetery", NOT "Cemetery" or "CEMETERY". |
| Now click the "Search" button at the right. Matches will appear in the top window as they are found. In this case, 2513 matches were found in 48,993 records searched. That's a lot. Let's narrow our search to cemeterys in Erie county. Keeping "cemetery" in the first (top) field, enter "erie" in the second (middle) field. Make sure the "And" radio button is selected. This means that both the words "cemetery" and "erie" must appear in any matches. "Or" would mean any of those words can appear. Now click the "Search" button. That returned 42 cemeterys in Erie county Pennsylvania. |
| Now enter "fairview" in the third (bottom) search field and click the "Search" button. Two matches are found. Double click the first entry in the top window. A "Edit Record" window opens. Right click inside this window and select "Select All" from the menu. Right click again and select "Copy" from the menu. You can now paste these results anywhere, as shown below in the format: |
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State --Feature Name -- Feature Type -- County -- Latitude -- Longitude -- Topo Map Quad Name |
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PA Fairview Cemetery cemetery Erie 420152N 0801606W Fairview |
| We now know what Topo map quad to use: Fairview. Or enter the coordinates into our GPS and drive right to the Cemetery where Great Grandpa is buried. The coordinates are given in Degrees Minutes Seconds: 42 01 52 N -80 16 06 W using the NAD27 map datum |
| See search in Topozone: http://www.topozone.com/map.asp?z=17&n=4653274&e=560569&s=25&size=m&u=2 |
| Enter your own coordinates here: http://www.topozone.com/finddms.asp |
| For your homework, I want you to find all the golf courses in New York and California, and find stream in Kansas, Texas and Virginia. |
| I hope this quick tutorial proved how easy to use and powerful this CD is. |
Email me any comments or suggestions. |
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