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Welcome to the
Council of Geographic
Names Authorities
in the United States
The Council of
Geographic Names Authorities (COGNA)
is
an independent non-profit organization
made up of the official geographic names authorities in the United States.
It was organized by dedicated professionals representing the official State
geographic names boards, committees, and councils in conjunction with the United States Board on
Geographic Names (US-BGN).
The beginning came in 1977 when a group of representatives from the Rocky
Mountain States came together to discuss geographic naming problems and
issues at the First Intermountain States Geographic Names Conference.
The Council makes recommendations on refining the principles, policies, and procedures in assigning or authorizing the names
of geographic features within the United
States to the US-BGN . The Council encourages cooperation among federal and state agencies that have responsibilities
for maintaining data bases of names for geographic features and/or cultural
entities as mandated by the US-BGN. The Council seeks ways to make the
information available to governmental agencies, public and private
enterprises, and the general public in addition to
seeking ways for the promotion of national standardization of the names of
geographic features within the United States.
Through its annual conference the COGNA provides a
professional and educational forum for the presentation of panel
discussions, workshops, policy issues and scholarly papers involving
geographical names.
The Council is dedicated to bringing together decision makers from federal
and state agencies, academia, and the public to deliberate on geographic naming
principles, policies, procedures, and issues. Further, the Council may take appropriate actions or make recommendations to
the US-BGN concerning the names of geographic features in the United States.
T. Wayne Furr, Executive Secretary
Council of Geographic Names Authorities
3400 36th Avenue NE
Norman, OK 73026-7809
Telephone: (405) 364-7278
Fax: (405) 364-7278 [Note: phone before faxing]
E-mail: twfurr@cogna50usa.org
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