The GNIS data is organized by state, so the first time you bring up the GNIS Select window you must click on a state.  Momentarily the three boxes in the lower portion of the window will fill with items, and the Search button will be enabled.  (Note that for large states, "momentarily" may amount to a few seconds.)  To facilitate making frequent searches of the GNIS data, this window may remain open while you use xviewsdts, or you may close it when you are done and bring it up again when needed.



At this point you may click the Search button to get a list of all named locations in your selected state.  But since that list may be quite lengthy, you may prefer to limit your search.  One way to limit your search is to click the Nearby Only button.  This will limit the list to places in the neighborhood of the point that is currently centered in the map window.  Or you may limit your search to specific types, counties, quadrangles, or a combination of the three, by clicking on items in the three boxes in the lower portion of the window.  If you choose multiple criteria the locations you are looking for must match them all.



For instance, to search only among the hills and mountains of New Hampshire, you would click on NH in the top box, and summit in the types box.  Note that when you select a specific type, the All Types button is deselected.  Subsequent clicks on the All Types button will toggle between selecting all types, and the last specific type you selected.  The All Counties and All Quads buttons behave similarly.  Remember that the locations you are searching for must match all of your criteria.  If you click Nearby Only while looking at a surface in Grafton county, then select Cheshire from the list of counties, your search will not find anything.

Clicking on Search will bring up another window containing a list of items found.  You may scroll through the list, or you may place the mouse pointer in the list and press Ctrl-S to search for a particular location.  Various information about the locations are included in this list.  If you want more details you may select a location (by clicking on it) and click the Details button.

The GNIS Details window shows all the data contained in the GNIS database for this location.  Source Coordinates are given for streams.  Elevations are included only for some locations.  This window must be closed before you can continue to use xviewsdts.  Being a small window, it may get hidden behind others; if so you must seek it out and destroy it (or at least Close it).

After closing the GNIS Details window, you may click the Go button to load the surface containing the location.  Momentarily, the surface will be loaded from the same map series (large, intermediate, or small) and at the same zoom factor currently in use.  The location will appear in the center of the map window.  A small black bull's-eye will temporarily mark the location.  The bull's-eye will disappear once you start working with the surface.

It is also possible to add a pointnode to your overlay map. Simply select a location in the list (by clicking on it) and then click Add Pointnode.

You may leave this window up to keep it handy, or you may click Cancel when done with it.

Copyright © 2002, 2005 by Dapper Mapper