About the data

Source

Names, feature classes, counties and coordinates come from the Geographic Names Information System, the federal register of place names maintained by the U.S. Geological Survey. Elevation is read from the USGS 3D Elevation Program at each recorded coordinate.

Both are works of the United States government. Under 17 U.S.C. 105 they are not subject to copyright in the United States.

What is recorded and what is calculated

Fields marked calculated are arithmetic over the federal fields named beside them, and the formula is shown. Elevation in feet is elevation in metres multiplied by 3.28084. Nothing else is derived, and no figure here is an estimate or a projection.

What this site does not say

It does not say whether a place is beautiful, quiet, crowded, easy to reach or worth the drive. Nobody writing it has been to any of these places, the federal register does not record impressions, and inventing them would make every other statement here less trustworthy.

It does not rank places, score them, or recommend them. It does not publish photographs of them.

Why a name can appear more than once

The federal register carries the same name in many places — there are eighty-eight Deer Creeks in these two states. Where a name repeats inside one county, the page carries the USGS topographic sheet as well, which is how the register itself tells them apart.

Coverage

This site does not cover every named place in Oregon and Washington; the register holds almost sixty thousand. It covers the places people are actually looking for, and it grows as that changes.