GEOGRAPHIC NAMES DATA

Transcription

1 AD-SDI DATA CONTENT STANDARD GEOGRAPHIC NAMES DATA Version 1.0 August 2010 Prepared by Abu Dhabi Systems and Information Centre (ADSIC) Abu Dhabi, UAE

2 REVISION HISTORY Revision # Reason Effective Date 1 Original Draft August Revised Draft September 2011 DISCUSSION HISTORY Discussion # With Date Summary 1 AAM 18 Sept 2011 Remarks provided by AAM team Page 2 of 20

3 Table of Contents 1 Introduction Scope, purpose, and application Scope Purpose Application Terms and definitions Symbols, abbreviated terms, and notations Methodology Defining a Geographical Name Names Conversion- Transcription and Transliteration Romanization System for Arabic Content Model Data Dictionary References Appendix A: Applications of Gazetteer Web Service Appendix B: Romanization System for Geographical Names Arabic Page 3 of 20

4 1 Introduction Geographical names are the primary geographic referencing system commonly used and are frequently utilized to inter-relate and cross-reference disparate data sources. They are a critical component for the indexing, discovery and use of a broad superset of information. They are not only used for the search and overview of maps but in other spatially related products, such as administrative reports, statistical summary tables etc. The clear, unambiguous and consistent use of geographical names is thus important for a wide range of administrative and decision-making tasks as well as in more specialized domain of spatial applications. Modern society depends on the use of standard geographical names for accurate and efficient administration and communication. A database of standard geographical names shall produce savings in time and money by increasing operational efficiency in all levels of government, industry, commerce, and education. Such a database is particularly required in map and chart production; census operations; homeland security; domestic and international land, air and sea communication; topographic and hydrographic surveys; postal and shipping deliveries; land and marine safety; emergency response management; and demographic, cultural, social and scientific research. A geographical names database also eliminates duplication of work, with only one authorized database providing correct and consistent name usage. The people of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi inherently consider geographical names an essential part of their cultural heritage. A geographical names database, authoritative and mandated by AD-SDI, gives the Emirate the means to establish its own officially accepted names, instead of having to be determined by non-governmental or international map, atlas and gazetteer makers. 2 Scope, purpose, and application 2.1 Scope The explosive growth of GIS and internet based mapping applications and services at all levels of government and the private sector use multitudes of data sets that need geographical names to be utilized. The standard supports the primary mechanism for storage, management, display, and exchange of geographical names data for the AD-SDI stakeholders. The geographical names database shall contain the officially recognized name of each feature and defines the feature location by Municipality, District, and geographic coordinates. Other attributes include names or spellings other than the official name, feature designations, feature classification, and historical / cultural information. 2.2 Purpose Correctly spelled geographical names in English and Arabic are indispensable for transportation and navigation, tourism, telecommunication, postal services, health and risk management, safety and rescue services, translation services, for the purpose of popular education, or for use in the mass media. Additionally, geoportals and Location Based Services (LBS) do not only need bilingual geographical names as a means for access, but also for enhancing the attractiveness of their services in general. Cartographic map producers, atlas and dictionary publishers, museums, archives and libraries would also benefit from the provision of consistent and comprehensive bilingual geographical names data. Page 4 of 20

5 The implications of incorrect, inaccurate, or contradictory geographical names appearing in different internet applications are serious and potentially catastrophic with regard to national security, emergency preparedness and response, local and regional planning, cartographic applications, tourism, and all levels of communications. The purpose of this standard is to facilitate accurate and consistent representation of geographical names for the Emirate of Abu Dhabi and to promote efficient management and exchange of geographical names data among numerous FGDS data sets. 2.3 Application The Standard shall be used as the only authentic source of official names of Abu Dhabi place names in: all databases maintained by government entities all publications, printed maps, and online maps made by government, public, and private organizations all public places such as in street names, name boards, sign boards, area names, etc. all civic addresses AD-SDI shall provide geographical names information through web (gazetteer) services to support the internet based mapping applications and e-government services. More details of such applications are provided in Appendix A: Applications of Gazetteer Web Service. Page 5 of 20

6 3 Terms and definitions The following definitions and explanations of terms clarify the subject of the Standard: Term Definition acronym Word formed from the initial letter or letters of each of the successive or major parts of a composite term. Examples: UNGEGN for United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names. allonym Each of two or more toponyms employed in reference to a single topographic feature. Examples: Hull, Kingston upon Hull; Vesterhavet, Nordsee; Swansea, Abertawe; Johannesburg, Egoli. allophone A phone, one of two or more phonetic variants of a phoneme. Examples: allophones of the /t/ phoneme in English Tyne as distinct from American water; allophones of the /r/ phoneme in Spanish rio as against in Madrid. anthroponym Personal name. Examples: Alfred; Alī; Everest. choronym Toponym applied to a feature pertaining to a geographical area. conventional name The term for exonym in English usage. diacritic A sign, usually small, placed above, below or across a letter or group of letters in order to change the phonemic value of the original letter(s), or to denote stress or tone, or to distinguish between two words. Examples: German ä, ö, ü; š and č dialect Regionally or socially distinctive variety of a language, characterized and identified by a particular set of words, grammatical structures and pronunciation. The distinction between dialect and language is sometimes difficult to establish. See also diglossia; vernacular. diglossia A relatively stable linguistic situation in which two different varieties of a single language co-occur in a linguistic community, one (the high variety) usually being the more formal and prestigious; the other (the low ) variety being used in more informal settings, chiefly in conversation. Examples: Arabic al-fuş ha and al- ammīyah digraph Sequence of two letters that represent a single phoneme. Examples: for / /, sj in Dutch, ch in French, sh in English. In some languages, certain digraphs are listed separately in the alphabetic sequence, e.g. ll in Spanish, ch in Czech and Slovak. See also ligature. endonym Name of a geographical feature in an official or well-established language occurring in that area where the feature is located. Page 6 of 20

7 Example: Al-Uqşur (not Luxor). eponym Name of a person or group of persons after or for whom a place is named. Examples: Iago (James) in Santiago; Everest in Mount Everest; Mūsa (Moses) in Wādī Mūsa. epotoponym A toponym that constitutes the basis or origin of a common noun. Examples: Jerez (for sherry); Olympía (for Olympiad); al-burtughāl, the Arabic name of Portugal (for Burtuqāl, also Burtuqān, i.e. an orange in Arabic). exonym Name used in a specific language for a geographical feature situated outside the area where that language is spoken, and differing in its form from the name used in an official or well-established language of that area where the geographical feature is located. Examples: Warsaw is the English exonym for Warszawa; Londres is French for London; Mailand is German for Milano. The officially romanized endonym Moskva for Москва is not an exonym, nor is the Pinyin form Beijing, while Peking is an exonym. The United Nations recommends minimizing the use of exonyms in international usage. gazetteer List of toponyms arranged in alphabetic or other sequential order, with an indication of their location and preferably including variant names, type of topographic feature and other defining or descriptive information. gazetteer, multilingual Gazetteer that, for a particular topographic feature, shows allonyms in different languages, not necessarily standardized. Examples: Athens (Athína); Moscou (Moskva). hodonym See odonym. homonym Each of two or more identical toponyms denoting different topographic features. Example: Monaco (Principauté de) and Monaco (di Baviera), the Italian exonym for München. hydronym Toponym applied to a hydrographic feature. ligature A graphic stylized combination of two letters, or a connecting line or stroke, indicating that successive sounds are to be pronounced as one. Examples: œ (derived from o + e); kh, pronounced as German ch in ach. odonym Proper noun of a traffic route feature. Examples: Via Appia (historical road); Airway Amber (air traffic route); M4 (motorway); Fleet Street; Piccadilly Circus; Darb al-hajj (pilgrims route). oronym Name applied to a feature of topographic elevation, such as a mountain or a hill. Examples: Matterhorn; Gaurīśankar; Fuji San; Sierra Madre. phone In phonetics, the smallest perceptible unit of sound in the stream of speech, usually symbolized by square brackets. A specific phoneme can be realized by different phones called allophones. Examples: [β] for the b sound in Spanish saber as against [b], the b sound in Page 7 of 20

8 Spanish Barcelona. phoneme The smallest unit of sound in the phonological structure of a language that changes meaning, usually symbolized by oblique slashes. Examples: /b/; /p/; / / (for English sh). In practice, a phoneme is realized by variants called allophones, usually symbolized by square brackets, such as [b] in Spanish Barcelona and [β] in saber for the /b/ phoneme, or [e], [ẽ], [ε] and [ε] for different realizations of the /e/ phoneme. phonetics The study and classification of sounds made in spoken language. The minimal phonetic unit is the phone. phonology The study of speech sounds and their functions in a specific language or in two or more languages considered together for comparative purposes. romanization key Table listing the characters of a non-roman script together with corresponding letters of a Roman alphabet, including diacritics as required. Examples: Roman šč for Russian Cyrillic щ; Roman ps for Greek Ψ. Special case of transliteration key. synonym Each of two or more words that have approximately the same meaning. toponym Proper noun applied to a topographic feature. Comprehensive term for geographical names and extraterrestrial names. Toponymy (a) The science that has as its object the study of toponyms in general and of geographical names in particular. (b) The totality of toponyms in a given region. 4 Symbols, abbreviated terms, and notations The following symbols, abbreviations, and notations are applicable to this document. Symbols, abbreviations, and notations applicable to multiple parts are listed in the Base Document. AD-GNC Abu Dhabi Geographic Names Committee AD-SDI DEM DOT EAD FGDS MSD Abu Dhabi Spatial Data Infrastructure Digital Elevation Model Department of Transport, Abu Dhabi Environment Agency Abu Dhabi Fundamental Geographic Data Set Military Survey Department, Abu Dhabi Page 8 of 20

9 UPC Urban Planning Council Page 9 of 20

10 5 Methodology The standardized geographical names database in the context of AD-SDI serves the dual aspect of providing both the written name and its reference to a place, feature or area on the surface of the Earth. It does not apply specifically to names used in speech, although spoken usage influences the written word and the written word can influence names used orally. Geographical names normally originate in and are influenced by spoken language. This fact is important because the goal of standardization is to use names in writing rather than in speech. The Data Content Standard on geographical names shall be concerned with written forms of names including their script, spelling, word forms, writing marks and capitalization. 5.1 Defining a Geographical Name The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names (UNGEGN) defines a geographical name ( as a name applied to a feature on Earth. In general, a geographical name is the proper name (a specific word, combination of words, or expression) used consistently in language to refer to a particular place, feature or area having a recognizable identity on the surface of the Earth. Named features include: 1. Populated places (for example, cities, towns, villages) 2. Civil divisions (for example, municipalities, districts, communities) 3. Natural features (for example, streams, mountains, wadis, lakes, seas) 4. Constructed features (for example, dams, airports, highways) 5. Unbounded places or areas that have specific local (often religious) meaning (for example, grazing lands, fishing areas, sacred areas) A geographical name may also be referred to as a topographical name or toponym. 5.2 Names Conversion- Transcription and Transliteration In the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, geographical names have special significance in Arabic language in terms of social and cultural values and are intertwined with the social structure. A careful conversion of the geographical names in Arabic into English for use by the AD-SDI community is required. The written form of Arabic language uses a non-roman script whereas English uses the Roman script, also referred to as Latin script. Names conversion is the process of transferring names in Arabic language or script to English language / script. It attempts to represent the written forms of sounds of the Arabic script by those of English. For the geographical names database, names conversion is achieved chiefly through two distinct methods: Transcription: The conversion of sounds of one language into the closest corresponding written sound symbols of another (normally without any modifications to the writing of the receiver language) is called transcription. Transcription is the purely phonetic transformation of a name, in writing, from one language to another. Transliteration: However, it is usually impossible to adapt accurately the sound symbols of Arabic to English without adding special marks (diacritics) and / or letter Page 10 of 20

11 symbols to English. Conversion to English using such additional diacritics and / or letters is called transliteration. Transliteration aims to enable the reverse process of a full reconstruction of the original name in Arabic. Special marks and letter symbols, however, are generally meaningless to people who are unfamiliar with their intended sounds. For this reason, transcription is often adopted for more everyday situations, using only the letters and letter combinations of English alphabet, without attempting always to render exactly the original pronunciation. Using transliteration, different language editions of an Arabic map for languages that use Roman script (English, French, German, Spanish, Turkish, Zulu, etc.) can be produced in a single version. It would require only a translation of the legend of conventional signs into the various languages, as well as providing the Romanization key. 5.3 Romanization System for Arabic The Roman script has been adopted as a base for international use by the United Nations, and the Group of Experts strongly recommends the development of a single Romanization (that is to say, transliteration) system for each non-roman script. Several approaches are available to convert non-roman writing systems to the Roman alphabetic script. This is the situation regarding the conversion of Arabic script into English script. The wide variety of approaches has led to considerable difficulties in respect of communication. The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names Working Group on Romanization Systems has recommended single systems of Romanization, based on scientific principles, for each of the languages using non-roman scripts, including Arabic. The Working Group on Romanization Systems maintains a website that can be consulted for updates to this information. The web address is As per the report of the 25th Session of UNGEGN (Nairobi, 5 12 May 2009) UNGEGN Information Bulletin No 35 (August 2008) reported that the 4th Arab Conference on Geographical Names held in Beirut from 16 to 22 June 2008 confirmed the endorsement of a standard Romanization system for Arabic geographical names. More details are provided in Appendix B: Romanization System for Geographical Names Arabic. Page 11 of 20

12 6 Content Model The geographical names databases shall include information on the origin and meaning of geographical names, based on popular and / or scientific sources, along with the associated technical information. The entry for each place name shall include: the name in its formal form (entire full name) in Arabic the name in its short form (common or colloquial name) in Arabic the name in its formal form (entire full name) in English the name in its short form (common or colloquial name) in English In addition to the standardized names, the gazetteer shall include such information necessary for the proper location and identification of the named features. Specifically, the following items shall be included: The kind of feature to which the name applies; Precise description of the location and the extent, including a point position reference if possible, of each named feature; Provision for the parts of natural features to be additionally defined by reference to the whole and for the names of extended features to be defined as necessary by reference to their constituent parts; Such information on administrative or regional areas as is considered necessary and, if possible, reference to a map or chart within which the features lie; All officially standardized names for a feature, if there are more than one; and provision for cross-references to be made to names previously used for the same feature Page 12 of 20

13 7 Data Dictionary This section defines attributes or elements that are common for geographic names data development. Table 1: Recommended Attributes for Geographic Names Data Name NamedPlace names geometry type localtype relatedspatialobject LifespanVersion GeographicalName spelling language nativeness Definition One NamedPlace, representing any real world entity referred to by one or several proper nouns, described by the following attributes. Each NamedPlace is associated with one or several geographical names, i.e. proper nouns applied to the spatial object, modeled with the data type GeographicalName. The different geographical names of one given spatial object may be for example the names in different languages or in different forms (e.g. complete name and short name). Each GeographicalName may have one or several spellings, i.e. proper ways of writing it, in Arabic and English scripts, modeled with the data type SpellingOfName. One or several name(s), referring to the NamedPlace. One geometry, describing a reference point, the footprint, or a bounding box of the NamedPlace. One or several type(s), characterizing the kind of entity represented by the NamedPlace, chosen from a harmonized and high-level list of values. One or several localtype(s), which is a characterization of the kind of feature represented by the NamedPlace, as defined by the data provider. From zero to several relatedspatialobject(s), which are the identifiers of spatial objects representing the same entity than the NamedPlace but appearing in other FGDS themes. One beginlifespanversion and zero or one endlifespanversion, representing when this version of the spatial object was inserted / changed / deleted / superseded in the spatial data set. One GeographicalName, representing a proper noun of the NamedPlace, is described by the following attributes: One or several spelling(s), representing proper ways of writing the GeographicalName. One language, representing the language of the GeographicalName. One nativeness (values endonym or exonym ), enabling to acknowledge if the name is the one that is/was used in the area where the feature is situated at the Page 13 of 20

14 instant when the name is/was in use. namestatus sourceofname pronunciation grammaticalgender grammaticalnumber SpellingOfName text script transliterationscheme PronunciationOfName proncunciationipa proncunciationsoundlink One namestatus (values official, standardised, historical or other ), enabling to discern which credit should be given to the GeographicalName with respect to its standardization and/or its topicality. One sourceofname, representing the (original) data source from which the geographical name is taken from (e.g. gazetteer, geographical names data set). One pronunciation, representing the proper, correct or standard pronunciation of the GeographicalName expressed by means of text in the International Phonetic Alphabet, or with a link to an audio file, or both. Zero or one grammaticalgender (values masculine, feminine, neuter or common ). Zero or one grammaticalnumber (values singular', 'plural', or 'dual'). One SpellingOfName, representing the proper way of writing a GeographicalName, is described by the following attributes: One text (non voidable), which is the textual spelling itself. One script, representing the script in which the Spelling is rendered. Zero or one transliterationscheme defining the method used for the conversion of the spelling from one script to another. One PronunciationOfName, representing the proper way of writing a GeographicalName, is described by at least one of the following attributes: Zero or one proncunciationipa, for expressing the pronunciation in the International Phonetic Alphabet Zero or one proncunciationsoundlink, for expressing the pronunciation as a link to a sound file. namedplacetypevalue adminunit, building, hydrography, landcover, landform, populatedplace, protectedsite, transportnetwork, other Subtype NameStatusValue Subtype NativenessValue Subtype See Table 2 for a list of NamedPlaceTypeValue subtypes. The status of a geographical name, i.e. the information enabling to discern which credit should be given to the name with respect to its standardization and/or its topicality. NOTE The precise definition of the values 'Official', 'Standardized', 'Historical' and 'Other' shall be decided by the Geographic Names Committee. See Table 3 for a list of NameStatusValue subtypes. The nativeness of a geographical name. See Table 4 for a list of NativenessValue subtypes. Page 14 of 20

15 GrammaticalNumberValue Subtype GrammaticalGenderValue Subtype The grammatical number of a geographical name. See Table 5 for a list of GrammaticalNumberValue subtypes. The grammatical gender of a geographical name. See Table 6 for a list of GrammaticalGenderValue subtypes. Table 2: Subtype for NamedPlaceTypeValue Name administrativeunit building hydrography landcover landform Definition Units of administration, dividing areas where Emirates have and/or exercise jurisdictional rights, for local, regional and Emirate governance, separated by administrative boundaries. EXAMPLES Emirate; Administrative unit within an Emirate such as region, municipality, district, community. Geographical location of buildings. This definition of building should be taken from the theme Buildings. EXAMPLES Public buildings such as theatre, museum, library; Industrial facility; Religious buildings such as mosque, church, temple; Recreational buildings such as stadium; Historical and ancient Hydrographic elements, including marine areas and all other water bodies and items related to them, including river basins and sub-basins. This includes named places in seas and oceans. EXAMPLES Marine areas and parts of them such as sea, gulf, sea strait, sea channel, sea bay; Inland water areas such as lake, reservoir, pond, lake strait, lake bay; Watercourses such as river, stream, waterfall, canal; Other hydrographic features such as wadi, geyser, spring, fountain, well. Physical and biological cover of the earth's surface including artificial surfaces, agricultural areas, forests, (semi-)natural areas, wetlands, water bodies. EXAMPLES Forest; Low vegetation areas such as thicket; Wetlands such as marsh, swamp, bog; Agricultural areas such as arable land, cultivated field, pasture; Other terrain cover features such as desert, badland, lava field, remarkable tree. Geomorphologic terrain feature. Page 15 of 20

16 EXAMPLES Land elevations such as mountain range, mountain, mountainside, fell, highland, hill, ridge, peak; Land depressions such as plain, valley, pass, gorge; Island, rocky islet, archipelago; Coastal land formations such as peninsula, headland, cape, delta, beach, cliff; Other landforms such as cave, devil's churn, stone. populatedplace protectedsite transportnetwork other A place inhabited by people. EXAMPLES City, town, town district, village; Hamlet, isolated house. Area designated or managed within a framework of international, Community and Emirates' legislation to achieve specific conservation objectives. EXAMPLES National park, nature reserve. Road, rail, air and water transport networks and related infrastructure. Includes links between different networks. EXAMPLES Air transport structures and facilities such as airport, heliport; Water transport structures and facilities such as harbor, dock, pier, ferry line; Rail transport structures and facilities such as railway station, railway bridge, railway tunnel; Road transport structures and facilities such as bus station, highway, road, street, road bridge, road tunnel. A spatial object not included in the other types of the code list. Table 3: Subtype for NameStatusValue Name historical official other standardized Definition Historical name not in current use. Name in current use and officially approved or established by legislation. Current, but not official, nor approved name. Definition: Name in current use and accepted or recommended by Geographic Names Committee function and/or power of decision in matters of toponymy. Page 16 of 20

17 Table 4: Subtype for NativenessValue Name endonym exonym Definition Name for a geographical feature in an official or well-established language occurring in that area where the feature is situated. Definition: Name used in a specific language for a geographical feature situated outside the area where that language is widely spoken, and differing in form from the respective endonym(s) in the area where the geographical feature is situated. Table 5: Subtype for GrammaticalNumberValue Name dual plural singular Definition Dual grammatical number. Definition: Plural grammatical number. EXAMPLES Alps (English), Pays-Bas (French), Waddeneilanden (Dutch), Cárpatos (Spanish). Singular grammatical number. EXAMPLES Danube (English), Lac du Bourget (French), Praha (Czech), Nederland (Dutch). Table 6: Subtype for GrammaticalGenderValue Name masculine neuter common feminine Definition Definition: Masculine grammatical gender. EXAMPLES Sena (Spanish), Schwarzwald (German). Neuter grammatical gender. EXAMPLES Zwarte Woud (Dutch), Rheinland (German). 'Common' grammatical gender (the merging of 'masculine' and 'feminine'). Definition: Feminine grammatical gender. EXAMPLES Seine (French), Forêt Noire (French). Page 17 of 20

18 8 References 1. Glossary of Terms for the Standardization of Geographical Names, United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names, United Nations, Pages 268, Manual for the National Standardization of Geographical Names, United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names, United Nations, Pages 179, Technical Reference Manual for the Standardization of Geographical Names, United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names, United Nations, Pages 206, Report on the Current Status of United Nations Romanization Systems for Geographical Names, Version 3.0, March Gazetteer of Australia 2008, Product User Guide, Geoscience Australia, June 2008 Page 18 of 20

19 Service AD-SDI Data Content Standards, Geographic Names Data, Version 1.0 Appendix A: Applications of Gazetteer Web The web service shall be the only authentic source of official names of Abu Dhabi place names to be used by all government, public, and private organizations: in all publications, printed maps, and online maps in all databases maintained by government entities in all public places (street names, name boards, sign boards, area names,...) in all civic addresses (is it Salam St, Salaam St., Al Salaam St.?) Today, almost all government departments' databases contain various types of place names in both Arabic and English. These include area names, street names, establishment names, etc. with no uniform names or spellings. The gazetteer web service can be used to enhance existing e-government services and other applications as suggested below: All Government entities that use place names shall use the gazetteer. For example, Department of Economic Development for granting trade licenses, Municipalities for granting building permits, Various NOC (No Objection certificate) providers in their site plan maps All place names that appear in the maps produced by various government entities (MSD, Municipalities, ADWEA, Etisalat, EIDA,...) shall be generated by accessing the gazetteer. This applies to, for example: printed maps (by govt. departments, private companies that produce tourist maps), Online maps created by GIS (AD-SDI Portal, other entities Portal), etc. Gazetteer can be linked to other information types stored in a GIS database to provide metadata to GIS users geo-code places to provide information to government organizations to provide information to businesses to provide information to residents to provide information to tourists All e-gov Services that provides online form filling capability, such as while applying for Visa, Residence Permit, Emirates ID card, Driver's license, Utility connections (Electricity, Water, Telephone, ), etc. can make use of the gazetteer service. For example, in an online application, if a user specifies the name Electra street while filling an address field, the application can make use of the gazetteer service, which will recognize it as a variant name and will replace it with the official name Zayed the First St in the form. Gazetteer can be linked to other information stored in a GIS database Page 19 of 20

20 Appendix B: Romanization System for Geographical Names Arabic This is an excerpt from Technical Reference Manual for the Standardization of Geographical Names (Ref: 3). The United Nations Conference on the Standardization of Geographical Names, convened every five years, provides a forum to encourage national and international geographical names standardization and promote the international dissemination of nationally standardized geographical names information. The United Nations recommended Romanization system was approved in 1972 (resolution II/8), based on the system adopted by Arabic experts at the conference held at Beirut in 1971 with the practical amendments carried out and agreed upon by the representatives of the Arabic-speaking countries at their conference. The table was published in volume II of the conference report 1. In the UN resolution it was specifically pointed out that the system was recommended for the Romanization of the geographical names within those Arabic-speaking countries where this system is officially acknowledged. It cannot be definitely ascertained which of the Arabic-speaking countries have adopted this system officially. Judging by the use of names in international cartographic products which rely mostly on national sources it appears that the UN system is more or less current in Iraq, Kuwait, the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, Saudi Arabia 2, United Arab Emirates and Yemen, there and in some other countries the system is often used without diacritical marks. For the geographical names of the Syrian Arab Republic the international maps favor the UN system while the local usage seems to prefer a French-oriented Romanization. Also in Egypt and Sudan there exist local Romanization schemes or practices side by side with the UN system. The geographical names of Algeria, Djibuti, Mauritania, Morocco and Tunisia are generally rendered in the traditional manner which conforms to the principles of the French orthography. Resolution 7 of the Seventh UN Conference on the Standardization of Geographical Names (1998) recommended that the League of Arab States should, through its specialized structures, continue its efforts to organize a conference with a view to considering the difficulties encountered in applying the amended Beirut system of 1972 for the Romanization of Arabic script, and submit, as soon as possible, a solution to the United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names. At the Eighth UN Conference on the Standardization of Geographical Names (2002), the Arabic Division of the UN Group of Experts announced that it had finalized proposed modifications to the UN recommended Romanization system. These proposals would be submitted to the League of Arab States for approval. Arabic is written from right to left. The Arabic script usually omits vowel points and diacritical marks from writing which makes it difficult to obtain uniform results in the Romanization of Arabic. It is essential to identify correctly the words which appear in any particular name and to know the standard Arabic-script spelling including proper pointing. One must also take into account dialectal and idiosyncratic deviations. The Romanization is generally reversible though there are some ambiguous letter sequences (dh, kh, sh, th) which may also point to combinations of Arabic characters in addition to the respective single characters. 1 Second United Nations Conference on the Standardization of Geographical Names. London, May Vol. II, Technical papers, p E.g.: Geographical Names Translation in GDMS (Saudi Arabia). Eighth United Nations Conference on the Standardization of Geographical Names, Berlin, 27 August-5 September Document E/CONF.94/INF.77 Page 20 of 20