| Abstract
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Location of all names on all US Geological Survey maps of Montana. Includes populated places, mountain peaks, rivers and streams, schools, farms, glaciers, railroad sidings, etc. A few populated places were found to be incorrect in the USGS file, and have been moved. The USGS was notified of these changes and has accepted them.This version of the data is missing the GNIS feature-id field, which is the unique identifier for each feature.Where the GNIS contains multiple coordinates for a feature, the data point is located at the primary coordinate. For streams, this is usually the mouth of the stream, which may be outside of Montana.Each feature is represented in this layer by its "primary point". A geographic feature may have only one primary point regardless of size or extent. The following rules for primary points were applicable in the mid 2000's, it is not known if the rules were exactly the same in 1999. The primary point of a linear feature depends on the feature class. If feature class equals stream, valley or arroyo, the primary point is the mouth. The primary point of a canal, channel, or trail is the center. The primary point of an areal feature is the approximate geographic center with the following exceptions: The primary point of a populated place is the center of original place, if known, such as the city or town hall, main post office, or town square regardless of changes over time; The primary point of a reservoir is the center of the dam; The primary point of a summit, range, ridge, or pillar is the highest point. These points do not represent feature boundaries or geometries and should not be confused with them.
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