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At 12:06 PM 07-01-98 EST, you wrote:
>----------------------------Original message----------------------------
>
>
>Introducing the
>Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names
>
>
>The Getty Information Institute is pleased to announce the release of its
>latest vocabulary tool, the Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names
>(TGN). Described as *an important and promising start in efforts to create
>a unified source for geographic name information around the globe* the
>TGN is intended to be a source of geographic names for documenting
>and retrieving cultural heritage information. For example, geographic
>names may be used to record the current location of an art object, its
>place of origin and the sites of an artist's birth, activity and death.
>The TGN is the product of eight years of research and is based on data
>provided by several Getty projects. The nearly 900,000 places in the
>TGN are arranged in a hierarchical structure representing all nations of
>the modern world. This hierarchy is arranged from broader to narrower
>context (e.g., continents, nations, states, provinces, cities etc.). The
>TGN provides vernacular and English names of places, variant names in
>other languages, and whenever possible, historical names. The record
>for a place may also contain geographical coordinates, dates, and notes.
>The TGN is available in three formats: on the Web, as tagged ASCII files,
>and in relational tables. The Web version is available at
>http://www.gii.getty.edu/tgn_browser. The relational tables and tagged
>ASCII files will be available upon request in early 1998.
>The TGN will be expanded with the addition of new names and historical
>places. While we continue to collaborate with various Getty contributors,
>the growth of the TGN depends on our forming partnerships with other
>institutions interested in contributing their expertise to the development of
>the resource. If you are interested in becoming a contributor to the TGN,
>please contact the Getty Information Institute's Vocabulary Program at
>(310) 440 6364 or send e-mail to <a href="/scripts/wa-UGA.exe?LOGON=A3%3D9801%26L%3DMAPS-L%26E%3D7BIT%26P%3D33573%26B%3D--%26T%3Dtext%252FplainTEXT%252FPLAIN%3B%2520charset%3DUS-ASCII%26pending%3D" target="_parent" >[log in to unmask]</a> Comments and
>questions about the TGN may be sent to <a href="/scripts/wa-UGA.exe?LOGON=A3%3D9801%26L%3DMAPS-L%26E%3D7BIT%26P%3D33573%26B%3D--%26T%3Dtext%252FplainTEXT%252FPLAIN%3B%2520charset%3DUS-ASCII%26pending%3D" target="_parent" >[log in to unmask]</a> The Vocabulary
>Program also plans to host several training sessions on the TGN. If you
>are interested in training, please e-mail <a href="/scripts/wa-UGA.exe?LOGON=A3%3D9801%26L%3DMAPS-L%26E%3D7BIT%26P%3D33573%26B%3D--%26T%3Dtext%252FplainTEXT%252FPLAIN%3B%2520charset%3DUS-ASCII%26pending%3D" target="_parent" >[log in to unmask]</a>
>
 
 
 
I've just had a look @ the Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names and there
*MAY* be a latitude/longitude formatting problem.  Comparing the
Thesaurus position of Puerto Vallarta, Mexico  of 20.36N x 105.15 W
with the position we usefor hurricane tracking, 20.60N x 105.25W, the
only way I can conform the two is to assume the Getty listing really is
in degrees-minutes format and should be shown as 20-36N x 105-15W.
I've emailed the Getty Thesaurus contact requesting confirmation of
the formatting.  Judging by the notes attached to each entry (which is
a proper scholarly requirement) various sources of data were used for
positional information, some of which may be in degrees-minutes and
some in decimal degrees.   Stand by for a response.
 
 
 
Stephen Baig
 
Oceanographer,
TPC/National Hurricane Center
Miami, FL