The Standardization of Geographical Names in Brazil: some challenges
ISBN 978-85-88783-11-9
Authors
1Rocha BĂ©renger Resende, A.C.; 2Pereira de Souza, B.C.; 3Barreto dos Santos, C.J.; 4Rainha Moreira, G.; 5Almeida Mathias, M.; 6Oliveira Nagem, V.
1IBGE Email: ana.resende@ibge.gov.br
2IBGE Email: beatriz.souza@ibge.gov.br
3IBGE Email: claudio.santos@ibge.gov.br
4IBGE Email: graciosa.moreira@ibge.gov.br
5IBGE Email: marcia.mathias@ibge.gov.br
6IBGE Email: vania.nagem@ibge.gov.br
Abstract
The standardization of geographical names has become a key action to improve the quality of cartographic products, as well as of operations of census, national defense, rescue in occurrences of disasters, land, sea and air communications and of aquatic and mineral exploration. Incorrect geographical names can lead, for example, to sending rescue teams to a site different from the one where a rescue operation is needed. The activity of standardization of geographical names is often complex, requiring additional research on spelling, semantic, historical and cultural aspects, besides the analysis of the cartographic context. The most common difficulties in standardizing the official geographic names are the numerous and frequent changes in spelling rules, discrepancies between the local use of some geographical names and the legislation that determines their creation, and also the impossibility of obtaining the original text of the legislation which creates the feature or a reliable copy of it. The objective of this paper is to describe the major technical difficulties faced by the Reference Center on Geographic Names (CRNG) of the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE) in the standardization of the Brazilian set of geographic names and the efforts towards this standardization. Some solutions regarding issues related to "traditional use" and the spelling according to present rules have been found and implemented by the CRNG, meeting, whenever possible, the recommendations of the United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names.
Keywords
standardization; geographical names; toponymy