Evaluation of Geographic Vocabularies and Their Usage

Abstract The ability to designate locations as they pertain to information resources is important for documenting both provenance and subject matter. However, the naming of places is a complex matter. This article presents an overview of several common geographic vocabularies in use by libraries and cultural heritage institutions and evaluates them according to criteria corresponding to various user groups. To better understand how these geographic vocabularies are used in practice, it presents the results of survey that assesses the state of geographic vocabulary usage in the field. Finally, a discussion on the current state of geographic vocabularies and emerging challenges is presented as a source for future discussion.