Geographic Locator Codes (GLCs) Overview

A geographic location code (GLC) is an alphanumeric code that Federal agencies use to identify geographic locations. Use of these codes facilitates the interchange and standardization of data between Federal agencies and state and local groups. There are multiple uses for GLCs. Federal agencies use GLCs to report the location of real property assets in the Federal Real Property Profile Management System. The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) also uses GLCs to assign duty station location codes and other activities related to processing personnel actions. See OPM’s Duty Station Locator for more information.

For the convenience of other Federal agencies, the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) maintains the downloadable spreadsheets of GLCs for U.S., U.S territory, and foreign country locations found at the links on the left. The Real Property Policy Division within GSA’s Office of Government-wide Policy creates and maintains GLC city codes for populated places and military geographic features. Requests for the creation of a new GLC solely for the purpose of real property reporting should be emailed to realpropertypolicy@gsa.gov.

Agencies requiring a new GLC for the creation of a duty station code must request authorization from OPM by sending an email to DataElementRequest@opm.gov, as they are the single point of contact for approving all new duty stations. If approved, OPM will coordinate with GSA to create new city codes, as required. State codes (2 digits) and county codes (3 digits) are pre-determined by the U.S. Census Bureau. Scroll down to the “Find Codes” section and click on “County and County Equivalents” or “State and State Equivalents.” GLC country codes come from the GeoNet Names Server (GNS) registry, which is maintained by the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA).

In fiscal year (FY) 2014, GSA standardized GLCs by adopting the use of country codes from the GNS registry, and state and county codes from the US Census. The Geographic Names Information System (GNIS), maintained by the US Geological Survey (USGS), is the official repository of domestic geographic names data; the official vehicle for geographic names used by all departments of the Federal Government; and the source for applying geographic names to Federal electronic and printed products of all types. GSA’s GLCs can now be found in GNIS.

GNIS and GNS Databases

Use the links below to access city, state, county, and country GLCs in the databases maintained by USGS and NGA.

The city, state, and county link will take users to the GNIS database that contains information about geographic features in the United States and its Territories, including names, historic and descriptive information, locations, topographic map, and geographic coordinates. Users can access the information through search queries or file downloads.

The country link will take users to the GNS database that contains information about geographic features in foreign countries, including the official spellings of foreign place names, cartography, and geospatial intelligence. Users can access the information through search queries and web map services with graphical search capability.

• City, state, and county
• Country