Template talk:GNIS

GNIS import to WikiData for easier linking or inclusion in pages

I've been working on importing and resolving GNIS into Wikidata so it is linked to pages (possibly one off depending on the page subject). If a goal of including GNIS is for all items with GNIS ID's the data import may make identifying and including the ID on Wikipedia pages much more automated via templates/infoboxes and/or provide a human an assist with locating the ID in some capacity. See the progress of resolving the GNIS ID's to wikidata items which may or may not have a Wikipedia article in English Mix-n-match mostly imports are under Geography and Infrastructure. There are a surprising number of stub articles in Ceb Wikipedia linked to GNIS. Wolfgang8741 says: If not you, then who? (talk) 01:31, 14 December 2018 (UTC)

CS2 / CS1 support

I started {{GNIS 0}} {{cite gnis2}} so the functionality could be used in pages like Adams, California where the sources are listed at the foot of the article. It uses {{citation}}, so the format follows the CS2 or CS1 standard, with the item name, database and publisher linked separately:

• "Mount Washington", Geographic Names Information System, United States Geological Survey, United States Department of the Interior or
• "Mount Washington". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey, United States Department of the Interior.

rather than the present

• U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Mount Washington

Would it be worth merging {{GNIS 0}} code into {{GNIS}}? There should be no impact on pages that use the template at present, apart from a more standard and perhaps more useful appearance, but it could now be used in articles that use the short footnote style. Aymatth2 (talk) 19:14, 1 May 2021 (UTC)

• I have been using {{cite gnis|ref={{harvid|GNIS}}|…}} with {{sfn|GNIS}}, which isn't wholly satisfactory. Uncle G (talk) 14:55, 3 May 2021 (UTC)

  I did not notice that {{cite gnis}} exists. Hmm. {{cite gnis}} is more elegant than {{GNIS 0}} because it allows any parameters to be passed through to the cite formatting template, including |ref=, |date= and |accessdate=. On the other hand {{GNIS 0}} generates a harvid automatically and defaults to CS2, where {{cite gnis}} needs the harvid specified and defaults to CS1. With the documented |ID=, |name= and |type= parameters, the {{cite gns}} output looks just the same as {{GNIS 0}}, but {{cite gns}} supports more complete citations.

  I see three separate questions

  • Should {{GNIS}} and its variants be upgraded so they are all based on {{cite gnis}}? Or is there a reason why the present "[url long title]" output format should be retained?
  • Should {{cite gnis}} be upgraded to generate a harvid like Name_GNIS automatically if none is specified?
  • Should there be two templates, analogous to {{cite web}} and {{citation}}, or just one that takes |type=cs2 as a parameter?

  As a step in that direction I have made {{GNIS 0}} a wrapper for {{cite gnis}} and renamed it {{cite gnis2}}.Aymatth2 (talk) 16:23, 3 May 2021 (UTC)

GNIS external links currently don't work

I absolutely love this template, but be advised that the external links it generates currently do not work. This is likely due to

User Notice – September 27, 2021

The Domestic Names Geographic Names Information System (GNIS) search page is currently offline as we transition to a redesigned and updated application. We do not have a date when the new GNIS will be available, and we apologize for any inconvenience. (See notice)

When the redesigned application becomes available, will the traditional links still work? There is no guarantee of this. The GNIS template might need to be totally rewritten for compatibility with the new system. 2601:281:D47F:AE60:5DA4:CA6B:B67D:D61A (talk) 02:06, 3 October 2021 (UTC)

I've attempted to use the Internet Archive to display older copies of GNIS pages, but IA has not archived every page that Wikipedia links to. When GNIS comes back, we'll try to make these links work again. — hike395 (talk) 08:23, 3 October 2021 (UTC)

Back, but lots of data classes have been removed

I haven't had occasion to follow a GNIS link in a while, and I see from here that it was out of commission for a while. It looks like it's functioning again -- except, in at least one article I'd used the template for, both of the related entries are gone from their database. (I did the search manually to verify.)

So I looked in the Internet Archive at the link in the section above, and I found a notice from October 27, 2021, that they'd brought it back on line -- but they've removed several classes of data from their searchable database:

The following feature classes will be archived: Airport, Bridge, Building, Cemetery, Church, Dam, Forest, Harbor, Hospital, Mine, Oilfield, Park, Post Office, Reserve, School, Tower, Trail, Tunnel, and Well.

I don't know if there's anything systematic that can or should be done about this, but I imagine that this has knocked out more than a few links in the encyclopedia (turns out the links I added referenced a school and a harbor). Maybe at least a mention in the documentation that as of that date, entries may be missing?--NapoliRoma (talk) 00:48, 21 June 2022 (UTC)

I've added |type=retired to this (and all other GNIS templates), which attempts to fetch the old GNIS page from web.archive.org (as of 2020). This doesn't always work, because archive.org did not fetch every GNIS page referenced by WP. But it's better than 100% broken.

If you see a GNIS link to one of the types that NapoliRoma listed in the documentation, please give |type=retired a try. — hike395 (talk) 21:58, 12 February 2023 (UTC)

All I am getting at this point "The requested service is temporarily unavailable. Please try later." Sometimes messages like this are temporary, sometimes they last for years or forever. -- GreenC 14:35, 14 September 2023 (UTC)

Template External link is "Page not found"

• What I think should be changed:
• At top of template, External link: From
  • https://edits.nationalmap.gov/apps/gaz-domestic/public/summary/

• To
  • https://edits.nationalmap.gov/apps/gaz-domestic/public/search/names

JoeNMLC (talk) 17:39, 2 November 2023 (UTC)

 Completed. For future edits like this, editor JoeNMLC, this request should have been made on the GNIS URL talk page. P.I. Ellsworth , ed. ^{put'er there} 19:21, 2 November 2023 (UTC)

The trailing "/" after names was missed. I have fixed it in {{GNIS_URL}}. RedWolf (talk) 20:32, 3 November 2023 (UTC)

Thank you very much, editor RedWolf! P.I. Ellsworth , ed. ^{put'er there} 04:57, 4 November 2023 (UTC)