----------------------------Original message---------------------------- To answer the query about having FTP access to Board on Geographic Names data, I have some news I hope is still correct. During the GEBCO Sub-Committee on Geographic Names held here in the SIO Library this past April/May, two of the attendees were high-ranking DMA BGN officials. The very first session was by the DMA and went into great detail about a new automated data base that would literally replace their acres of shoe boxes full of index cards. Soon all the DMA BGN files of terrestrial and undersea place-names will be retrieved and archived electrically instead of manually. I foolishly asked if the civilian sector, such as institutions of higher education, would have any direct access to this data via something like an FTP system. The answer, of course (as the DMA continues to cut the civilian sector loose), was a polite "no". Got a place-name question for the BGN? Be nice to them, be patient, and remember you're dealing with the DMA. I recommend the DMA SAILING DIRECTIONS (enroute versions) and NOS COAST PILOTS ( for U.S. territorial waters) for searching islands by place-name. Each have excellent gazetteers and the DMA includes Lat/Long in their lists. I've never seen anything that would list world islands by size, nor has such a question ever arisen in my experience. However, the United Nations is looking into island size as it pertains to the global warming issue and islands that are imperiled by sea level rise. A useful tome for understanding the island thing is Henry Stommel's LOST ISLANDS: THE STORY OF ISLANDS THAT HAVE VANISHED FROM NAUTICAL CHARTS (University of British Columbia Press, 1984). - Paul Leverenz Scripps Institution of Oceanography Library