GEOGRAPHIC NAMES 105 



GEOGRAPHIC NAMES 



GENERAL STATEMENT 



Nautical charts are published primarily for the use of the mariner, and are only one of the 

 many aids on which he must depend. The Coast Pilot, the List of Lights, Channel Condition 

 Reports, and Tide Tables, together with Notices to Mariners are an adjunct to the Nautical 

 Chart; and in approaching the coast from the open ocean, to coastwise navigation, to navigating 

 in bays and rivers, the numerous land and sea bottom features and aids assume varying degrees 

 of importance to the mariner. These considerations serve as a guide to the cartographer in the 

 selection of geograpliic names, names of navigational aids, channel names, and notes which 

 should be on a particular nautical chart. 



SOURCE OF GEOGRAPHIC NAMES 



Field surveys are the main source of the names appearing on nautical charts. Hydro- 

 graphic surveys supply names seaward of the shoreline, such as water features, submarine 

 features, and small geographic features seaward of the shoreline. Topographic and air- 

 photographic surveys are the source of shoreline names and names landward of the shoreline. 

 Numerous kinds of published material and reports supplement the field surveys. 



THE GEOGRAPHIC NAMES SECTION 



This section provides standardization of geographic names in the publications of this 

 Bureau, and maintains active representation in the U.S. Board on Geographic Names. 



Reports on geographic names from the field parties are processed in the Geographic Names 

 Section. Records are maintained which show the source of each name, together with its 

 verification, history, and its use in the publications of this bureau, and on maps of other agencies. 

 Names reported by field surveys which differ with names on other federal maps are submitted 

 to the Board on Geographic Names for decision. 



The section maintains a Geographic Names Standard for each nautical chart. Changes 

 in names are noted thereon, and a notice of the change is sent to the Nautical Chart Division. 

 In order for name revisions made on the charts to be reflected in other publications of the 

 Bureau, the Name Standards must be ever current. Cartographers shall notify the Geographic 

 Names Section when names are added to or deleted from a chart. 



It remains the responsibility of the cartographer to determine which names shall or shall 

 not be charted, depending upon their importance or usefulness on a particular nautical chart. 

 The Geographic Names Section determines the correct spelling and the feature to which the 

 name applies, or the area to which the name is applicable. 



Name discrepancies encountered in applying new source material to a chart shall be 

 referred to the Geographic Names Section for an opinion. New or reconstructed charts readj'^ 

 for reproduction shall be submitted to that section for approval of the charted names. 



