Getty Research InstituteThe Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names (TGN) is one of the four Getty Vocabularies maintained by the Getty Research Institute. It provides a structured resource of geographic names and associated information for places important to the study of art, architecture, and related disciplines, though its scope extends well beyond the cultural heritage domain.
Background
The TGN was initiated in 1987 as part of the Getty Vocabulary Program, alongside the Art & Architecture Thesaurus (AAT) and the Union List of Artist Names (ULAN). The program recognized the need for standardized, controlled vocabularies to support cataloging, retrieval, and research in the arts and humanities. Geographic names posed particular challenges due to the multiplicity of vernacular names, historical name changes, and the need to represent hierarchical administrative and physical relationships among places.
Purpose & Scope
The TGN contains over 2.2 million names for approximately 1.5 million places worldwide. Each record may include:
- Preferred and variant names (in multiple languages and scripts)
- Place types (e.g., inhabited place, nation, historical region, archaeological site)
- Coordinates (latitude and longitude)
- Hierarchical position within administrative and geographic structures
- Historical notes and source citations
The vocabulary covers administrative entities (nations, states, cities), physical features (mountains, rivers, seas), and historical or archaeological sites. It is particularly strong in places relevant to art and architectural history but is not limited to those contexts.
Structure & Data Model
The TGN is organized as a poly-hierarchical structure, where a single place may appear under multiple broader concepts. For example, a city might be a child of both a province and a historical region. Each place record carries a unique numeric identifier, a preferred name, and links to parent places, related places, and sources.
The vocabulary is modeled using Getty's own vocabulary ontology and is available as Linked Open Data, mapped to standard ontologies including SKOS and GVP (Getty Vocabulary Program) ontology.
Serializations & Technical Formats
The TGN is available as Linked Open Data via the Getty Vocabulary Program's SPARQL endpoint and LOD releases. Supported serializations include RDF/XML, N-Triples, and JSON-LD. The data is also available as relational table dumps and XML exports, though Getty has indicated that LOD releases are the preferred distribution format going forward. All data releases are provided under the Open Data Commons Attribution License (ODC-By) 1.0.
Governance & Maintenance
The TGN is maintained by the Getty Vocabulary Program, a division of the Getty Research Institute, which is part of the J. Paul Getty Trust based in Los Angeles, California. The vocabulary is continuously updated through contributions from Getty projects and partner institutions. An editorial team oversees additions and corrections according to published editorial guidelines. Contributing institutions follow standardized contribution protocols.
Notable Implementations
The TGN is widely used in museums, libraries, archives, and digital humanities projects for geographic indexing and retrieval. It is integrated into cataloging workflows at major cultural heritage institutions and is referenced by metadata standards such as CDWA (Categories for the Description of Works of Art) and CCO (Cataloging Cultural Objects). The TGN is also used as a geographic authority in linked data environments, with URIs that can be referenced from other datasets.
Related Standards
- Art & Architecture Thesaurus (AAT) -- another Getty Vocabulary, covering terminology for art and architecture concepts
- Union List of Artist Names (ULAN) -- Getty Vocabulary for artist names and biographical information
- Cultural Objects Name Authority (CONA) -- Getty Vocabulary for titles and names of cultural works