Place Name Change and GIS

A Review of Recent Literature

Authors

  • Karen Jensen Concordia University

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.15353/acmla.n175.6386

Keywords:

toponymy, geographical names, digital humanities, GIS

Abstract

This article reviews some of the recent literature on how GIS relates to toponymy in general and, more specifically, to changing place names. It reviews articles on Indigenous names and commemorative place names while considering some of the main reasons place names are revised, such as linguistic and political change in a region. It reviews articles describing settler names in North America and considers questions of gender equity in place names.

Author Biography

Karen Jensen, Concordia University

Head, Cataloguing and Collection Maintenance

References

Ahmed Ahmouda and Hartwig H. Hochmair, “Using Volunteered Geographic Information to Measure Name Changes of Artificial Geographical Features as a Result of Political Changes: A Libya Case Study,” GeoJournal 83 (2018): 237-55. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10708-016-9764-5

Brett R. Chloupek, “A GIS Approach to Cultural and Historical Toponymic Research in Nebraska,” Journal of Cultural Geography 35, no. 1 (2018): 23-43. https://doi:10.1080/08873631.2017.1317182

Carol Devine, “Mapping Antarctic and Arctic Women: An Exploration of Polar Women’s Experiences and Contributions through Place Names,” Polar Record 58 (2022): e35. https://doi.org/10.1017/S003224742100070X

Dolores Gutiérrez-Mora and Daniel Oto-Peralías, “Gendered Cities: Studying Urban Gender Bias through Street Names,” Environment and Planning B: Urban Analytics and City Science 49, no. 6 (2022): 1792-1809. https://doi.org/10.1177/23998083211068844

Geographical Names Board of Canada, Principles and Procedures for Geographical Naming, 2011 (Ottawa: Natural Resources Canada, Geographical Names Board of Canada, 2012), 8.

Isabelle Buchstaller, Małgorzata Fabiszak, Seraphim Alvanides, Anna Weronika Brzezińska, and Patryk Dobkiewicz, “Commemorative City-Texts: Spatio-Temporal Patterns in Street Names in Leipzig, East Germany and Poznań, Poland,” Language in Society 53, no. 2 (2024): 291-320. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0047404523000040

Jade Payne, “This Antarctic Glacier is Gone, But It’s a Good Thing,” GlacierHub, September 25, 2018, accessed January 5, 2025, https://glacierhub.org/2018/09/25/this-antarctic-glacier-is-gone-but-its-a-good-thing/

Jaroslav David, “Commemorative Place Names — Their Specificity and Problems,” Names 59, no. 4 (2011): 214-28. https://doi.org/10.1179/002777311X13082331190074

Johnny Grandjean Gøgsig Jakobsen, “Cartography in Danish Place-Name Studies,” Norsk Geografisk Tidsskrift - Norwegian Journal of Geography 75, no. 1 (2021): 7-21. https://doi:10.1080/00291951.2020.1851755

Lauren Beck, Canada’s Place Names and How to Change Them (Montreal: Concordia University Press, 2022), 119.

Nadezhda Mamontova and Viktoriya Filippova, “Soviet and Russian Regimes of Spatial Inscription: A Critical Analysis of Indigenous versus Official Place Names on Maps in Siberia, 1920s-2000s,” Cartographica: The International Journal for Geographic Information and Geovisualization 59, no. 1 (2024): 1-16. https://doi.org/10.3138/cart-2023-0015

Nadezhda Mamontova and Elena Klyachko, “‘Process Toponymy’: A GIS-Based Community-Engaged Approach to Indigenous Dynamic Place Naming Systems and Vernacular Cartography,” Cartographica: The International Journal for Geographic Information and Geovisualization 57, no. 3 (2022): 213-25. https://doi.org/10.3138/cart-2022-0010

Peter Adams, “Fritz Müller’s Legacy on Axel Heiberg Island, Nunavut, Canada,” Annals of Glaciology 31 (2000): 3. https://doi.org/10.3189/172756400781819798

Robert B. MacNaughton, Lynn T. Dafoe, and James W. Haggart, “North American Commission on Stratigraphic Nomenclature Note 72 - Application for Revisions to the North American Stratigraphic Code to Address Culturally Offensive or Inappropriate Unit Names and to Encourage the Use of Indigenous Place Names,” Stratigraphy 19, no. 3 (2022): 187-200. https://doi.org/10.29041/strat.19.3.03

Stephan Fuchs, “An Integrated Approach to Germanic Place Names in the American Midwest,” The Professional Geographer 67, no. 3 (2015): 330-41. https://doi.org/10.1080/00330124.2014.968834

U.S. President. Executive Order. "Executive Order of January 20, 2025, Restoring Names that Honor American Greatness." https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/01/restoring-names-that-honor-american-greatness/

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Published

2025-03-13

How to Cite

Jensen, K. (2025). Place Name Change and GIS: A Review of Recent Literature. Bulletin - Association of Canadian Map Libraries and Archives (ACMLA), (175), 1–10. https://doi.org/10.15353/acmla.n175.6386

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