Wisconsin Gazetteer
| Class | Definition |
|---|---|
| Airport | Manmade facility maintained for the use of aircraft (airfield, airstrip, landing field, landing strip). |
| Arch | Natural arch-like opening in a rock mass (bridge, natural bridge, sea arch). |
| Area | Any one of several areally extensive natural features not included in other categories (badlands, barren, delta, fan, garden). |
| Arroyo | Colloquial usage in southwestern United States. The valley of an ephemeral stream with a flat floor and steep banks or the ephemeral stream flowing through a valley with a flat floor and steep banks, either hydrographic or hypsographic (draw, wash, gully). |
| Bar | Natural accumulation of sand, gravel, or alluvium forming an underwater or exposed embankment (ledge, reef, sandbar, shoal, spit). |
| Basin | Natural depression or relatively low area enclosed by higher land (amphitheater, cirque, pit, sink). |
| Bay | Indentation of a coastline or shoreline enclosing a part of a body of water; a body of water partly surrounded by land (arm, bight, cove, estuary, gulf, inlet, sound). |
| Beach | The sloping shore along a body of water that is washed by waves or tides and is usually covered by sand or gravel (coast, shore, strand). |
| Bench | Area of level to gently sloping land on the flank of an elevation such as a hill, ridge, or mountain where the slope of the land rises on one side and descends on the opposite side (first bottom, flood-plain step, level, terrace, tread). |
| Bend | Curve in the course of a stream and (or) the land within the curve; a curve in a linear body of water (bottom, loop, meander). |
| Bridge | Manmade structure carrying a trail, road, or other transportation system across a body of water or depression (causeway, overpass, trestle). |
| Building | A manmade structure with walls and a roof for protection of people and (or) materials, but not including church, hospital, or school. |
| Canal | Waterway, primarily manmade, used by watercraft or for drainage, irrigation, mining, or waterpower (ditch, lateral, sluice). |
| Cape | Projection of land extending into a body of water (lea, neck, peninsula, point). |
| Cave | Natural underground passageway or chamber, or a hollowed out cavity in the side of a cliff (cavern, grotto). |
| Cemetery | A place or area for burying the dead (burial, burying ground, grave, memorial garden). |
| Census | A statistical area delineated locally specifically for the tabulation of Census Bureau data (census designated place, census county division, unorganized territory, various types of American Indian/Alaska Native statistical areas). Distinct from Civil and Populated Place. |
| Channel | Linear deep part of a body of water through which the main volume of water flows and is frequently used as a route for watercraft (passage, reach, strait, thoroughfare, throughfare). Not a Stream or Valley. |
| Church | Building used for religious worship (chapel, mosque, synagogue, tabernacle, temple). |
| Civil | A political division formed for administrative purposes (borough, county, incorporated place, municipio, parish, town, township). Distinct from Census and Populated Place. |
| Cliff | Very steep or vertical slope on one side (bluff, crag, escarpment, head, headland, nose, palisades, precipice, promontory, rim, rimrock, scarp). |
| Crater | Circular-shaped depression at the summit of a volcanic cone or one on the surface of the land caused by the impact of a meteorite; a manmade depression caused by an explosion (bowl, caldera, lua, maar). |
| Crossing | A place at which a river or stream may be crossed (landing, ferry, ford). |
| Dam | Water barrier or embankment built across the course of a stream or into a body of water to control and (or) impound the flow of water (breakwater, dike, jetty). |
| Falls | Perpendicular or very steep fall of water in the course of a stream (cascade, cataract, waterfall). |
| Flat | Relative level area within a region of greater relief (clearing, glade, pan, park, playa lake, salina, upland) |
| Forest | Bounded area of woods, forest, or grassland under the administration of a political agency (see "woods") (national forest, national grasslands, State forest). |
| Gap | Low point or opening between hills or mountains or in a ridge or mountain range (col, notch, pass, saddle, water gap, wind gap). |
| Glacier | Body or stream of ice moving outward and downslope from an area of accumulation; an area of relatively permanent snow or ice on the top or side of a mountain or mountainous area (icefield, ice patch, snow patch). |
| Gut | Relatively small coastal waterway connecting larger bodies of water or other waterways (creek, inlet, slough). |
| Harbor | Sheltered area of water where ships or other watercraft can anchor or dock (hono, port, roads, roadstead). |
| Hospital | Building where the sick or injured may receive medical or surgical attention (infirmary). |
| Island | Area of dry or relatively dry land surrounded by water or low wetland (archipelago, atoll, cay, hammock, hummock, isla, isle, key, moku, rock). |
| Isthmus | Narrow section of land in a body of water connecting two larger land areas. |
| Lake | Natural body of inland water (backwater, lac, lagoon, laguna, oxbow, pond, pool, resaca, tank, tarn, waterhole). |
| Lava | Formations resulting from the consolidation of molten rock on the surface of the Earth (kepula, lava flow, mawae, traps). |
| Levee | Natural or manmade embankment flanking a stream (bank, berm). |
| Locale | Place at which there is or was human activity; it does not include populated places, mines, and dams (battlefield, crossroad, camp, farm, ghost town, landing, railroad siding, ranch, ruins, site, station, windmill). |
| Military | Place or facility used for various aspects of or relating to military activity. |
| Mine | Place or area from which commercial minerals are or were removed from the Earth; not including oilfield (pit, quarry, shaft). |
| Oilfield | Area where petroleum is or was removed from the Earth. |
| Park | Place or area set aside for recreation or preservation of a cultural or natural resource and under some form of government administration; not including National or State forests or Reserves (national historical landmark, national park, State park, wilderness area). |
| Pillar | Vertical, standing, often spire-shaped, natural rock formation (chimney, hoodoo, monument, pinnacle, pohaku, rock tower). |
| Plain | A region of general uniform slope, comparatively level and of considerable extent; can refer to the flat area of a large mesa (desert, grassland, highland, kula, plateau, savanna). |
| Populated Place | Place or area with clustered or scattered buildings and a permanent human population (city, settlement, town, village). A populated place is usually not incorporated and by definition has no legal boundaries. However, a populated place may have a corresponding "civil" record, the legal boundaries of which may or may not coincide with the perceived populated place. Distinct from Census and Civil classes. |
| Post Office | An official facility of the U.S. Postal Service used for processing and distributing mail and other postal material. |
| Range | A single mass of hills or mountains; a complex, interconnected series of mountain ranges having a well-defined longitudinal trend (cordillera, mountain belt, sierra). |
| Rapids | Fast-flowing section of a stream with turbulent flow, often shallow and with exposed rock or boulders, wheredischarge is mostly influenced by velocity rather than width and depth (dalles, riffle, ripple). |
| Reserve | A tract of land set aside for a specific use (does not include forests, civil divisions, parks). |
| Reservoir | Artificially impounded body of water (lake, tank). |
| Ridge | Elevation with a narrow, elongated crest that can be part of a hill or mountain (arête, crest, chenier, cuesta, divide, esker, hogback, mogote, lae, ridge, spur). |
| School | Building or group of buildings used as an institution for study, teaching, and learning (academy, college, high school, university). |
| Sea | Large body of salt water (gulf, ocean). |
| Slope | A gently inclined part of the Earth's surface (grade, pitch). |
| Spring | Place where underground water flows naturally to the surface of the Earth (seep). |
| Stream | Linear body of water flowing on the Earth's surface (anabranch, awawa, bayou, branch, brook, creek, distributary, fork, kill, pup, rio, river, run, slough) |
| Summit | Prominent elevation rising above the surrounding level of the Earth's surface; does not include pillars, ridges, or ranges; can occur as a single isolated mass or in a group (ahu, ballon, berg, bald, butte, cerro, colina, cone, cumbre, dome, head, hill, horn, knob, knoll, mauna, mesa, mesita, mound, mount, mountain, peak, pu?u, rock, sugarloaf, table, volcano). |
| Swamp | Poorly drained wetland, fresh or saltwater, wooded or grassy, possibly covered with open water (bog, cienega, everglades, fen, marais, marsh, pocosin, slough). |
| Tower | A manmade structure, higher than its diameter, generally used for observation, storage, or electronic transmission. |
| Trail | Route for passage from one point to another; does not include roads or highways (jeep trail, path, ski trail). |
| Tunnel | Linear underground passageway open at both ends. |
| Unknown | This class is assigned to legacy data only. It will not be assigned to new or edited records. |
| Valley | Linear depression in the Earth's surface that generally slopes from one end to the other (barranca, canyon, chasm, cirque, cove, coulee, draw, fjord, glen, gorge, gulch, gulf, gully, hollow, ravine). |
| Well | Manmade shaft or hole in the Earth's surface used to obtain fluid or gaseous materials. |
| Woods | Small area covered with a dense growth of trees; does not include an area of trees under the administration of a political agency. |
