Introduction

The Archives Catalogue includes a taxonomy of more than 1,600 geographic place access points that support browsing, faceted browsing, and advanced searching.
During archival processing or digitization, Archives staff convert verbatim locality information into standardized geographic place access points. Archives staff gather standardized terms from the Library of Congress Subject Headings database (LCSH).
If LCSH does not include a standardized form of the geographic location, Archives staff construct an access point in accordance with the rules prescribed in Chapter 23 of the Rules for Archival Description.
The Libraries also uses select places taxonomy data to:
- Maintain the /wiki/spaces/APM/pages/85688440 embedded in the Archives Catalogue.
- Help generate Darwin Core metadata for cataloguing herbarium specimens and other biodiversity material.

Create a new geographic place access point in the Archives Catalogue

Tip

See the official Access to Memory (AtoM) documentation on adding geographic place names.

Only editors and administrators of the Archives Catalogue can create new geographic place access points.

Click on the Add menu and select "Terms":
Select Places from the drop-down list of taxonomies.
Geographic place access points can also be created by clicking on the "Add new" button at the bottom of the "Browse Places" page.
Complete the data entry form. Refer to the following metadata guidelines.
Click on the "Create" button to save the new access point.

Taxonomy

Information element	Taxonomy
Darwin Core element
Required	Mandatory
Repeatable	No
Guidance	Select the Places taxonomy from the auto-complete list.
Examples	Places

Name

Information element	Name
Darwin Core element	dwc.locality
Required	Mandatory
Repeatable	No
Guidance	Check Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH) for standardized form of name. Create local heading if no standardized form exists.
Examples	Bogotá (Colombia) Halibut Bay (N.S.) Africville (Halifax, N.S.)

Use for

Information element	Use for
Darwin Core element
Required	Optional
Repeatable	Yes
Guidance	Optionally, enter one or more non-preferred terms. Recommended practice is to add UF terms when they are present in the LSCH record.
Examples	Bombay (India) (use for Mumbai (India)) Frobisher Bay (N. T.) (use for Iqaluit (Nunavut))

Code

Information element	Code
Darwin Core element	dwc.decimalLatitude dwc.decimalLongitude
Required	Mandatory
Repeatable	No
Guidance	Use one of the following tools to determine the decimal coordinates for the geographic place: Nova Scotia coordinates: Natural Resources Canada: http://www.nrcan.gc.ca/earth-sciences/geography/place-names/data/9245 US coordinates: Earth Explorer: https://earthexplorer.usgs.gov/ Non-US coordinates: GeoNames WMS Viewer: http://geonames.nga.mil/namesviewer/ Country centroid coordinates: ArcGIS centroids of all countries: http://www.arcgis.com/home/item.html?id=f4d8f9131fe6411f8da592208fbe5ddc Tip Refer to the MaNIS georeferencing guidelines for guidance on determining decimal coordinates and interpreting vagueness in locality information. Enter the coordinates of the place in decimal degree format: latitude, longitude
Examples	63.733333, -68.5 60, -96

Scope note(s)

Information element	Scope note(s)
Darwin Core element
Required	Do not use
Repeatable	No
Guidance	Do not use
Examples	N/A

Source note(s)

Information element	Source note(s)
Darwin Core element	dwc.georeferenceSources
Required	Mandatory
Repeatable	Yes
Guidance	Provide references to maps, gazetteers, or other resources used to georeference the locality, described specifically enough to allow anyone in the future to use the same resources. If multiple sources were used, provide references to each source.
Examples	National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency. "GeoNames WMS Viewer." Accessed June 18, 2018. http://geonames.nga.mil/namesviewer/default.asp. Natural Resources Canada. "Canadian Geographic Names Database." Accessed June 18, 2018. http://www4.rncan.gc.ca/search-place-names/search?lang=en. U.S. Geological Survey. "Earth Explorer." Accessed June 18, 2018. https://earthexplorer.usgs.gov/.

Display note(s)

Information element	Display notes(s)
Darwin Core element
Required	Do not use
Repeatable	No
Guidance	Do not use
Examples	N/A

Broad term

Information element	Broad term
Darwin Core element
Required	Mandatory
Repeatable	No
Guidance	Continents are the broadest terms in the taxonomy. Use counties as broader terms for municipalities located within Nova Scotia. Use provinces, territories, or states as broader terms for municipalities found elsewhere in Canada or within the United States. Use countries as broader terms for municipalities located in other countries. Enter the broader term for the geographic place, as follows: Continent Country Municipality Canada Province / territory Municipality Nova Scotia County Municipality United States State Municipality
Examples	Colchester (N.S. : County) Québec Massachusetts Brazil South America

Related term(s)

Information element	Related term(s)
Darwin Core element
Required	Do not use
Repeatable	No
Guidance	Do not use
Examples	N/A

Converse term

Information element	Converse term
Darwin Core element
Required	Do not use
Repeatable	No
Guidance	Do not use
Examples	N/A

Add new narrower terms

Information element	Add new narrower terms
Darwin Core element
Required	Do not use
Repeatable	No
Guidance	Do not use
Examples	N/A

Example: Mumbai (India)

The geographic place heading for Mumbai includes all five mandatory fields and an optional "Use for" note to redirect researchers who may still use the old place name "Bombay."

The treeview on the left and the breadcrumb links under the access point title illustrate the hierarchical organization of the Places taxonomy. The heading for Mumbai is nested under India, which is nested under Asia, a top-level term in the taxonomy.

The access point also includes a static Google map image, which AtoM generates automatically based on the coordinates in the Code field.

Add geographic place access point to an archival description

Click on the Access points area of the archival description.
Search for an existing term in the Places taxonomy by typing the first few characters of the term name. Do not attempt to create new terms in the archival description. If a desired term is not in the Places taxonomy, see a staff member with editor or administrator privileges.
Select the correct term(s).
Click on the "Save" button at the bottom of the screen.
Review the archival description to ensure the place name is accurate and shows the desired hierarchy.