UNITED NATIONS GROUP OF EXPERTS ON GEOGRAPHICAL NAMES

IInnffoorrmmaattiioonn BBuulllleettiinn

NUMBER 35 August 2008

Inside this issue:

ƒ Preface Impressum No. 35, August 2008 Message from the Chairperson 3 United Nations Group of Experts on Geo-

graphical Names Information Bulletin ƒ News from Headquarters (formerly Newsletter) (ISSN 1014-798) is Message from the Secretariat 6 published by United Nations Statistics Di- The UNGEGN Geographical Names Database 7 vision, Department of Economic and So- cial Affairs. ƒ From the Divisions East Central and South-East Europe Division 9 The designations employed and the presen- Dutch- and German-speaking Division 10 tation of the material in this publication do Norden Division 14 not imply the expression of any opinion Portuguese-speaking Division 15 whatsoever on the part of the Secretariat of Division francophone 16 the United Nations concerning the legal Asia South-West Division (other than Arabic) 17 status of any country, territory, city or area, Latin America Division 18 or of its authorities or concerning the de- Arabic Division 19 limitation of its frontiers or boundaries.

ƒ From the Working Groups Working Group on Exonyms 22 Working Group on Toponymic Terminology 24 Working Group on Evaluation and Implementation 25 Working Group on Publicity and Funding 26

ƒ From the Countries Indonesia 28

UNGEGN website: http://unstats.un.org/unsd/geoinfo

U N G E G N The Information Bulletin of the United should be sent to the follow- Nations Group of Experts on Geographi- ing address: nformation cal Names (formerly UNGEGN II Newsletter) is issued approximately Secretariat of the Group of Experts on twice a year by the Secretariat of the Geographical Names BBulletin Group. The Secretariat is established (UNGEGN) within the Statistics Division (UNSD), Room DC2-1644 (formerly NEWSLETTER) Department for Economic and So- United Nations cial Affairs (DESA), Secretariat of New York, NY 10017 the United Nations. It publishes USA contributions/reports from the Ex- perts of the Group, its Linguistic/ Tel: 212 963 0445 Fax: 212 963 4569 Geographical Divisions and its Working Groups. Contributions for E-mail: [email protected] the Information Bulletin can only be considered when they are made

available in digital form. They

The Bulletin is issued without formal editing.

Preface

Message from the Chairperson

Dear Colleagues 25th Session of UNGEGN, 2009

th International Year of Languages We are well on the way to the 25 Session of UNGEGN to be held at the United Nations fa- Did you know that 2008 has been declared by cilities in Nairobi, Kenya in May 2009. Fur- the United Nations as the International Year of ther information about the dates, the facilities, Languages? In this context you might be in- security, etc will be posted on the UNGEGN terested to read the UNESCO Courier, vol. 1, website. 2008, which can be accessed online on the UNESCO website, or more specifically at Please let us know if you have suggestions to http://portal.unesco.org/en/ev.php- be considered for: URL_ID=41344&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&UR • Special presentations L_SECTION=201.html. You will find interest- • Workshops ing articles on dealing with 1,650 languages in India, writing in Wolof, language of the Kal- ™ Poster display lawaya in the Bolivian Andes, the Ainu lan- A message to all African countries! At the guage in Japan, Kyrgyz as the national lan- UNGEGN Session in Nairobi, we would again guage of Kyrgyzstan ... and so on. like to have a poster exhibit. On this occasion, it is suggested that African countries should Meetings - the UNGEGN website have the opportunity to show their material ... any work on names in connection with map- You may have noticed on the UNGEGN web- ping or cultural heritage, for example: field site (unstats.un.org/unsd/geoinfo) that a new collection of names; names and maps; gazet- link has been made to Events in 2008 and teers and/or databases, etc. You will be con- 2009. When Division chairs or Working tacted about this, but please email Yacob Ze- Group convenors have supplied information, woldi ([email protected]) if you have particular this is included on the page of Events. It is ideas to offer at this time. most encouraging to see the various initiatives that are taking place in different parts of the ™ Some pointers for papers and presentations world to discuss questions related to geo- at UNGEGN in 2009. graphical names standardization and to follow • An Abstract should be included up the resolutions of past UN Conferences. In • The appropriate Agenda item should be identi- this issue of the Bulletin, you can find reports fied of some Working Groups and Divisions that • There is NO agenda item for Country reports. If have met recently, as well as information on necessary, such material must be included within forthcoming meetings. Division reports or related to other agenda items

- 3 - • In papers submitted, if possible draw attention o Examples of best practice to issues and resolution of these issues, rather than • Highlighting some terms from the just providing a report UNGEGN Glossary • In general, paper presentations will be allocated • Information on conferences of associated 5 minutes for summary or highlights organizations, for instance ICA, IGU, ICOS o Please send your information!! ™ Division reports • ...... Your suggestions??? • A template for activities and reporting of Divisions has been considered by the Working Would you contribute a short article for 2008 Group on Evaluation and Implementation, but or 2009? Topic: ...... ? the great variation between Divisions makes one realize that one solution does not fit all UNGEGN World Geonames Database cases. • Suggestions for reporting to UNGEGN: We are trying to gather the endonyms of cit- (1) Divisions and countries within them ies/towns over 100,000 for each country of the which are not very active. world. We need your help! So far we have Report could include the status quo in coun- received data from 46 countries (Australia, Aus- tries of the Division; “assets” of the Division; tria, Botswana, Brazil, Burkina Faso, Canada, needs of the countries of the Division; possible Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Esto- nia, Finland, France, Greece, Germany, Hungary, plans to move ahead. Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, (2) More active countries and divisions Lithuania, Madagascar, Malaysia, Netherlands, Report should concentrate on divisional pro- New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Republic of Korea, jects; common issues, plans and solutions; re- Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, sults of division meetings; possible assistance Sweden, Switzerland, Tajikistan, The former to less organized divisions/countries ... (Infor- Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Tunisia, Turkey, mation from individual countries could be in- Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, cluded as annexes to the report or presented in United States of America, Uzbekistan, Vietnam). relation to other agenda items.) If your country is not listed here, please ask Please help us to help you! those responsible for your geographical names to do the following: Publicity and communication! • Find the listing for your country on the UN

We encourage you to put a link to the Statistics Division website UNGEGN website (un- (http://unstats.un.org/unsd/demographic/sconce stats.un.org/unsd/geoinfo) on your own rns/densurb/urban.aspx) group/departmental websites. • Update the list of names to reflect cit- ies/towns with a population over 100,000 (ac- UNGEGN Bulletin tual population is not needed) • If you are using a non-Roman script, pre- What would you like to see in the UNGEGN pare the list of names in your own script and in Bulletin? the Romanized forms (noting the Romaniza- • Short articles on topics related to geo- tion system used) graphical names standardization • Add the coordinates of latitude and longi- • Part of the Bulletin dedicated to themes, for tude for each name, if at all possible. example • Email a Word or Excel file of this informa- o Place names changes tion to Yacob Zewoldi ([email protected]) and

- 4 - myself ([email protected]). For less sion so that we may continue to make progress common characters please use Unicode, embed with the UNGEGN Database. the characters, or supply the font with the file. • If a voice file (.wav file) can be recorded I thank you all for your continued interest in for these city names, we would really like to geographical names standardization. I wish include it in the database. you success in the months ahead and look for- ward to meeting you again in 2009. Do you have questions? Please contact Yacob or myself! Helen Kerfoot UNGEGN Chair A plea to Division chairs ... could you please Ottawa, Canada help us by contacting countries in your Divi- [email protected]

- 5 -

News from Headquarters

Message from the Secretariat

Dear UNGEGN Experts,

The Secretariat would like to inform you - the 2007 Addendum of the Glossary of that the report of the Ninth United Nations Terms for the Standardization of Geo- Conference on the Standardization of Geo- graphical Names is now available in the graphical Names (UNCSGN) has been 6 UN official languages on the adopted by ECOSOC at its Substantive Ses- UNGEGN Website sion on 23 July 2008. An electronic copy of http://unstats.un.org/unsd/geoinfo/glossa Ninth UNCSGN which took place in New ry_add.htm. York, from 21 to 30 August 2007 - UNGEGN, in collaboration with UNSD, (E/CONF.98/136) is available in all the six has created a geo-referenced database to official languages of the United Nations at store the names of countries and major http://unstats.un.org/unsd/geoinfo/9thuncsg cities in different languages. In addition, nsessionreport.htm. The Report of the a web interface is in development to pre- United Nations Group of Experts on Geo- sent the geographical information on- graphical Names (UNGEGN) on the work of line utilizing the services of a Web Map its twenty-fourth session (E/2007/89) is also Server. Further detail on this is given in available at the section following this under the title http://unstats.un.org/unsd/geoinfo/24thunge “The UNGEGN Geographical Names gnsessionreport.htm. Database”. - the restructuring and updating of the As you may well know, the twenty-fifth ses- UNGEGN website is underway. sion of UNGEGN will be held in Nairobi, - more of the reports and technical docu- Kenya as recommended by the Ninth ments of the nine Conferences and the UNCSGN. The date for the session is 5 to 24 UNGEGN sessions held since 1967 12 May 2009. We will post, on the are now available in pdf format on the UNGEGN website, information on hotels, UNGEGN website. This work will con- transport and the like in due course. We will tinue with the aim to make the website a also inform you when Note Verbales are comprehensive source of documentation. sent to the Permanent Missions to UN in - News and Events on the Geographic In- New York so that you can follow up on ac- formation page of the UNSD website creditation. You can visit the United Nations announces and provides brief informa- Office at Nairobi (UNON) web site for in- tion on UNGEGN Division and Working formation on the conference service at Group meetings at http://www.unon.org/about.php. http://unstats.un.org/unsd/geoinfo/events .htm. The Secretariat has been active in support of the work of UNGEGN. Among the activities Besides the 25th session of UNGEGN, the carried out by the UNGEGN Secretariat are: Secretariat will be organizing the following

- 6 - two regional cartographic conferences in Finally, I would like to thank those who 2009: contributed to this Bulletin. The next Infor- mation Bulletin will be issued in early 2009 (i) The 9th United Nations Regional Carto- before the 25th session of UNGEGN. graphic Conference for the Americas in New York, 10-14 August 2009. Looking forward to meeting you all in Nairobi! (ii) The 18th United Nations Regional Carto- graphic Conference for Asia and the Pa- Yacob Zewoldi cific in Bangkok in October 2009. UNGEGN Secretariat United Nations Statistics Division I hope this information will help you to plan Email:[email protected] ahead your attendance in these meetings.

The UNGEGN Geographical Names Database

UNGEGN, in collaboration with UNSD, has Over 2300 country names for 195 countries created a geo-referenced database to store the and areas in the six official UN languages names of countries and major cities in differ- have been uploaded. ent languages. In addition, a web interface is in development to present the geographical After this first collection of country names, information on-line utilizing the services of a the focus for UNGEGN is now to collect Web Map Server. The names are linked to a names for major cities in their endonymic map offering information on the geographical form, then in the UN languages. Other lan- location, the language, spelling and pronuncia- guage variants will be added at a later stage. tion. As of now the expert group, through authori- ties in the countries, has collected city names The geographical names are provided by for 45 countries, 8 including sound (.wav) UNGEGN ensuring accurate and reliable data. files, of which about 550 names have already As of now, the expert group provided country been included in the database. (Please refer to names in the official language(s) of the coun- the Message of the Chairperson to provide try resulting in close to 200 endonyms for 106 your assistance.) UN member states. If applicable, country endonyms are available in Romanized form. The work on capital cities is currently in pro- gress. UNGEGN, through the Convenors of The database also holds country names in the the Working Groups on Country Names and six official languages from the United Nations on Romanization Systems, has already pro- Multilingual Terminology Database vided endonyms for capitals of about 150 (http://unterm.un.org), a multilingual termi- countries; those remaining are being verified. nology database which provides United Na- The United Nations Multilingual Terminology tions nomenclature and special terms. Database is also a key data source for capital city names.

- 7 - The application development will continue The application will soon be open for testing to meet the requirements of a growing col- the web interface and reviewing the geo- lection of geographical names. The current graphical names. For further information focus, however, is to store the information please contact Sibylle Marxgut at provided on city names, in database format [email protected]. so that it is archived in an organized way and therefore easily accessible.

- 8 - From the Divisions

East Central and South-East Europe Division

19th Session of the East Central and South-East Europe Division

Zagreb, 19-21 November 2008

The 19th Session of the East Central and 3. National standardization: South-East Europe Division of the United Na- - field collection and office treatment of tions Group of Experts on Geographical names Names (UNGEGN) is being organized by the - treatment of names in multilingual areas Croatian Geodetic Institute and State Geodetic - administrative structure of national Administration, 19-21 November 2008 in Za- names authorities greb. 4. Toponymic guidelines for map and other editors One of the main purposes of activities on the 5. Toponymic data files and gazeteers: UNGEGN Division level is realization of reso- - data collection procedures lutions from the UN Conferences. For No- - data elements required vember in Zagreb, we would like the problem - toponymic data transfer standards and of national standardization in connection with formats global and regional standardization processes - automated data processing systems to be the main theme of the meeting, as well as - national gazetteers development of database products and ser- - other publications vices. 6. Terminology in the standardization of geographical names This will be an opportunity to develop collabo- 7. Writing Systems (romanization, Text Encoding ration with colleagues from other countries and Requirements, Unicode Consortium) institutions, as far as our linguis- 8. Pronunciation of names tic/geographical UNGEGN Division is con- 9. Country names cerned. 10. Exonyms 11. Preparations for the representation of the More information – letter of invitation, general Division at the 24th Session of the program, agenda, registration form, and infor- UNGEGN (May, 2009) mation on logistics – can be accessed on the 12. Features beyond a single sovereignty UNGEGN website in the Schedule of Events 13. Toponymic websites for 2008 and 2009 (un- 14. Co-operation with neighbourhood stats.un.org/unsd/geoinfo/events.htm) countries and international organisations 15. Toponymic education Agenda 16. Implementation of resolutions and the aims and functions of UNGEGN 1. Opening of the session 17. Other information 2. Adoption of the agenda

- 9 - 18. Adoption of the Report of the 19th Zeljko Hecimovic Session of the East, Central and South- Chairperson, UNGEGN East Central and East Europe Division of UNGEGN South-East Europe 19. Closing the session Email: [email protected]

Dutch- and German-speaking Division

Report on the 6th Workshop of the EuroGeoNames (EGN) Consortium & Refer- ence Group jointly with the Working Group on Toponymic Data Files and Gazet- teers of the UNGEGN

Freising, Germany, 3 June 2008

A fruitful joint meeting of some 50 colleagues The EGN workshop was particularly addressed affiliated to toponymy met in Freising near to the Reference Group participants who Munich, in Bavaria, Germany. The event should obtain a complete and comprehensive hosted by ESRI Germany was organized to understanding of the functionality of the EGN join the meeting of the UNGEGN Working web feature services (WFS) architecture and a Group on Toponymic Data Files and Gazet- better insight into the inner workings of the teers on 2nd June 2008 with the 6th EGN work- system. The main goal was to emphasize the shop on 3rd June 2008. steps which need to be done technically and organizationally by the Reference Group to Participants from 29 organizations attended the create an individual EGN Local Service (which workshop on 3rd June 2008. 14 (of 15) Refer- can be considered as a node in a cascading web ence Group members (the participating feature services’ architecture and which is NMCAs) and 9 EGN Consortium partners, 2 connected to one EGN Central Service). from potential Reference Group members (CH, During the workshop experiences were dis- UK), the convener of the UNGEGN Working cussed made by Reference Group members Group on Toponymic Data Files and Gazet- who had already started with the EGN Local teers and representatives of the INSPIRE The- Service development – amongst others, Slove- matic Working Group on Geographical Names nia, Latvia, the Netherlands, Austria and Ger- and of the European Commission. many – focusing an individual "work plan" for each NMCA, because some NMCAs will de- velop their own EGN Local Service, others would like to be assisted by the EGN Consor- tium.

Generally the audience assessed how the EGN infrastructure and services fits to other projects and initiatives. They reproduced how the EGN can be used in concrete use cases and under-

Participants of the 6th EuroGeoNames Workshop, Freising, Germany stood the added value of it. Particularly the dif- ferences, advantages and unique selling points between the EGN concept and other initiatives

- 10 - (i.e. geonames.org) were pointed out, i.e. the 19112 standard and it is compliant with the official character and completeness of the EGN INSPIRE requirements. infrastructure and services vs. fast and easy-to- implement web services. The most relevant technical issues for imple- menting the EGN infrastructure and services Additionally the audience gained a good un- were discussed and possible solutions pre- derstanding about the work of the INSPIRE sented. Thematic Working Group on geographical names and about the development of the re- All presentations discussed as well as the min- spective implementing rules. utes of the workshop will be uploaded to the EGN website: The main outcome of the workshop is that the http://www.eurogeonames.com/. EGN infrastructure and services has a very good position within INSPIRE to provide the Pier-Giorgio Zaccheddu whole service architecture for a real service Co-ordinator Project EuroGeoNames needed for Europe. The EGN data model Co-convener of the UNGEGN Working Group (which can be considered as a gazetteer pro- on Toponymic Data Files and Gazetteers file) supports the major concept of the ISO email: [email protected]

Report of the Symposium “GeoNames 2008”: Geographical names as part of the cultural heritage

Vienna, 19-21 May 2008

The Symposium was organized by the Dutch- tries were presented. It was fine to see espe- and German-speaking Division (DGSD), lo- cially the eastern part of Europe so well repre- cally represented by the Austrian Board on sented. The event was especially honoured by Geographical Names (AKO). Due to the sup- the presence and very active participation of port of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, its Helen KERFOOT, UNGEGN chair and of Ferjan Institute of Urban and Regional Research and ORMELING, UNGEGN vice-chair. Hans its Institute of Lexicography of Austrian Dia- MARTE, chair of the Austrian UNESCO Com- lects and Names it was possible to hold the mission, as well as Heinz FASSMANN and symposium in the Academy’s convenient fa- Ingeborg GEYER, the directors of the two cilities, to use the Academy’s scientific ex- Academy institutes, also kindly welcomed the change programmes with other academies for participants. inviting some participants and to keep sympo- sium as well as excursion and social pro- The theme of the symposium, names as part of grammes free of charge. the cultural heritage, had been a major topic at the 9th UN Conference on the Standardization It was a great pleasure for the organizers to of Geographical Names in New York, August welcome such a large number of participants: 2007. It was the goal of this symposium to 83 experts from 24 countries and 4 continents elaborate on this, to step forward in defining had registered regularly; including additional the research theme, its sub-themes and research guests overall participation may well have fields more precisely and to encourage further reached a hundred; 31 papers from 21 coun-

- 11 - research. Important questions to be answered Sweden (L. NILSSON, St. NYSTRÖM, A. were certainly: TORENSJÖ), Bulgaria (M. VLAHOVA- ANGELOVA), Cyprus (M.N. CHRISTADOULOU), • Why are geographical names an important FYROM (E. JAČEVA-ULČAR) and Austria (H. part of the cultural heritage? BERGMANN). Already in these presentations place names of linguistic minorities played a • Which kinds of names have a special need prominent role. The importance of their pres- for protection? ervation was further stressed by papers on Australia (W.H. WATT, his paper was pre- • What are the dangers to which geographi- sented in his absence), the Netherlands (F. cal names are exposed? ORMELING), Norway (L.M. ASLAKSEN) and Finland (K. VUOLAB-LOHI), both referring es- The two days of paper presentations were pecially to Sami names, Latvia (Z. CEKULA), structured into the sub-themes and sessions Hungary (B. POKOLY, G. MIKESY) and Roma- nia (R. CREŢAN). The paper of H.R. MÖSCHING (1) Safeguarding geographical names as part of hinted at the importance, but also at the diffi- the cultural heritage by national standardiza- culties of preserving dialect names by the ex- tion; ample of Switzerland.

(2) Geographical names as keys to cultural and The aspect of names as keys to cultural and settlement history; settlement history, very important in the overall context, was addressed by papers on (3) Geographical names in minority and in- different historical and linguistic layers of digenous languages and dialects; mountain and pasture names in parts of the Austrian province Tyrol (G. RAMPL), on Byz- (4) Place names as a means of politics; antine names at the Greek peninsula of Chalkidiki (P. SOUSTAL) and on Byzantine and (5) Geographical names as ingredients of Old Slavonic names in the Macedonian space-related identity and Strumica Valley (M. POPOVIĆ).

(6) Techniques of recording and handling Since place name changes indicate on the one names in danger or getting out of use. hand the symbolic power of place names and constitute on the other a challenge to preserva- Emphasizing the recent rise in recognition of tion efforts, five papers were also devoted to cultural aspects of toponymy, Helen KERFOOT this sub-theme. They were introduced by an referred in her opening speech to UNGEGN attempt to classify place names changes (R. activities and UNCSGN resolutions relevant in STANI-FERTL) and exemplified by situations in the context of geographical names and heri- Ukraine (P. HRYTSENKO, R. SOSSA, N. SY- tage. VAK), Uzbekistan (B. MAKHSUDOV), Hungary (A. DUTKÓ) and at the Slovenian/Croatian Is- The role of national names standardization trian coast (D. KLADNIK, P. PIPAN). in safeguarding the cultural heritage was spe- cifically highlighted by the examples of South The role of geographical names as ingredi- Africa (M. T. KUBHEKA), Germany (J. SIEV- ents of space-related identity was highlighted ERS), Ireland (D. MAC GIOLLA EASPAIG), Lat- in a more abstract and general manner from the via (V. STRAUTNIECE), Finland (S. PAIKKALA), geographical (P. JORDAN) as well as from the

- 12 - linguistic (B. HELLELAND) points of view and need protection, since they are very often not regionally exemplified by examples from standardized and not systematically docu- Croatia (D. BROZOVIĆ-RONČEVIĆ). mented. When documenting them, it is impor- tant to refer them as well as other variant The presentation of an interactive web applica- names to the standardized endonym. tion for the spelling of geographical names as an educational tool for students (E. SIMONNÈ- • Dangers to which geographical names DOMBÒVÁRI, G. B. SIMON) offered also an out- are exposed are partly provoked by the strong look to up-to-date techniques of recording symbolic power of place names. Place names and handling place names. are frequently interpreted as a claim for domi- nance over a certain region or country. The As a preliminary conclusion without any claim dominant force in a society wants to have the to be complete or balanced the following may definition power over geographical names. be stated: Changes in dominance (at all spatial scales, from the country down to the settlement level; • Place names are an important part of also, e,g., from the political to the economic the cultural heritage. sphere) may result in renaming. Other dangers o Traditional geographical names are emerge from inadequate legislation to protect partly very old, have been shaped in a cer- names, the loss of knowledge of particular tain linguistic, political, social and eco- names, the changing way of life from rural to nomic situation and have partly been trans- urban, the loss of oral traditions due to a lack ferred to succeeding languages. They are of recording, globalization and influence of therefore a key to settlement and cultural other cultures as well as indiscriminate renam- history. They tell a lot about the character ing and perpetuation of incorrect/incorrectly and the essence of a place, earlier eco- spelled versions of names. nomic and linguistic situations. They form an inter-related system of names in a cer- The paper presenters were offered to publish tain region, a “place names landscape”, de- their papers in proceedings. They are to appear scribing historical, but very often still ex- within the book series “Wiener Schriften zur isting situations. Geographie und Kartographie” at the Univer- th o Place names support space-related sity of Vienna by the 25 UNGEGN Session in identity building. Mentioning or memoriz- May 2009 at the latest. ing the name of a familiar place lets the whole set of imaginations of a certain place The symposium was rounded up by two social arise, expresses or confirms the emotional events: by an evening invitation to a Viennese relation of a person to a place. Geographi- wine restaurant at Cobenzl by the Town Hall cal names are therefore an important ele- of Vienna and the Institute of Lexicography of ment of feeling at home, not the least for Austrian Dialects and Names. It conveyed a linguistic minorities. certain insight into Viennese dining and drink- ing culture. Harald TROCH, member of the Vi- • Special protection is needed for names in enna City Council, and Isolde HAUSNER, Insti- minority languages, names in other receding tute of Lexicography of Austrian Dialects and languages and also in dialects, the latter being Names, welcomed the participants on behalf of subject to a significant erosion process due to the two host institutions. A bus excursion titled the power of nation-wide media and trends to- “Multicultural variety around a lake” led 46 wards cultural globalization. Also exonyms participants to Lake Neusiedl at the border be-

- 13 - tween Austria and Hungary. Croatian minority situations in the Austrian province of Bur- genland like in Oslip/Uzlop and German and Croatian minority situations in the Hungarian border region like in Fertőrákos/Kroisbach and Sopron/Ödenburg were in the thematic focus of this day trip guided by Peter JORDAN and Koloman BRENNER.

A small part of the excursion participants facing a serious naming problem in Fertőd, Hungary (Photo by Primož PIPAN)

Peter JORDAN Chair, Dutch- and German-speaking Division (DGSD) Email: [email protected]

The excursion in the Croatian Catholic church of Oslip/Uzlop in Bur- genland, Austria (Photo by Helen KERFOOT)

Norden Division

Division meeting, Copenhagen, 8 - 9 October 2008

The next Norden Division Meeting is to take Additionally, we plan to present the latest GIS place in Copenhagen 8-9 October at the Na- and Internet developments and projects of tional Survey and Cadastre, Rentemestervej 8, relevance to the Norden Division area. 2400 Copenhagen NW. The agenda is in the process of being finalised, but suggested dis- As an appetizer to the Norden Division meet- cussion topics are: ing a half-day symposium is also being planned, the topic of which will be linguistic - The content of the 25th UNGEGN-Session minorities and their rights to use their own Norden Division Report. place-names. The date of this symposium is set - EuroGeoNames and INSPIRE. for October 7th. - Place-Name Laws. - Place-Name on electronic maps. Peder Gammeltoft - Linguistic minorities and place-name Chairman of the Norden Division usage. Email: [email protected]

- 14 - Portuguese-speaking Division

Report from Brazil

Portuguese Speaking Countries advance in standardization

Brazilian experts are determined to advance in the support for the programs led by the the work started by them, together with experts working groups of UNGEGN, the creation of a from Mozambique and Angola, directed program of publications in Portuguese to towards the strengthening of standardization support research and standardization of and of the ties linking the three countries who geographical names in these countries, and the succeeded in creating the Portuguese Language compilation of lists of country names and Division of UNGEGN in the last session held exonyms used in each Portuguese speaking in New York in 2007. “We regret so much the country, possibly leading towards a dictionary loss of Luís Abrahamo, of Mozambique, who of exonyms and traditional names. was our guest in Rio de Janeiro in 2006 and spoke about UNGEGN in the Brazilian The creation of the Portuguese-speaking Conference of Geography and Cartography. Division during the last session of UNGEGN Now, we have to take good care of the very in New York represents a great step forward to precious heritage left by him, and advance in the standardization of Toponymy in all eight the common efforts towards the countries where the language is official, as it is standardization of geographical names in all the case with Brazil, Mozambique and Angola. Portuguese speaking countries”, said Moema These countries – and Cape Verde sent Augusto, vice-chair of the recently created representatives (government officials) to division and Brazilian representative. participate in the last session of UNGEGN in 2007 and in the ten-day course held by Many actions are planned by the Portuguese UNGEGN in Maputo in 2006, when the three Speaking Division for 2008-2009, including a countries made the first moves towards this possible UNGEGN course later this year in goal. Following the approval of a new treaty Angola. In Brazil, it is already under way the among them, the Portuguese language research directed towards the edition of the countries will shortly adopt new language rules first Portuguese language glossary of terms for (for writing) and the recently created division the standardization of geographical names and must be able to help on the implementation of for research on Toponymy (see abstract of the the new standards regarding geographical project below). Other planned actions include names.

Abstract of the Project “Terminology and Toponymy” IBGE-USP (Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics – University of São Paulo) Date: From March 2008 to March 2009 Researchers: Ana M. G. Bustamante (IBGE) and Maria Vicentina P. A. Dick (USP)

“Terminology and Toponymy” is a project Ethnolinguistics, Cartography, and Geo- aimed to create a Portuguese language glossary sciences. All the terms are presented with pro- of more than two hundred terms used in areas posed definitions in Portuguese and the equiva- dealing with toponyms, such as Linguistics, lent terms in three languages (Spanish, Eng-

- 15 - lish, French). A minimum of 150 terms will be versidade de São Paulo (USP). The glossary selected and translated from the multilingual can use results of the technical cooperation Glossary of Terms for the Standardization of among Mozambique, Angola and Brazil, now Geographical Names, edited by the Working active in the Portuguese Language Division of Group on Toponymic Terminology of the UNGEGN, proposed by them and approved in United Nations Group of Experts on Geo- the Ninth United Nations Conference on the graphical Names (UNGEGN). Standardization of Geographical Names.

Other glossary terms will be collected in the Moema José de Carvalho Augusto vocabulary used by the Brazilian Institute of Coordinator in Brazil; Vice-chair, Portuguese- Geography and Statistics (IBGE) and in the speaking Division research and classes conducted by Dr. Maria Email: [email protected] Vicentina de Paula do Amaral Dick at the Uni-

Division francophone

La division francophone s’active notamment à titre d’exemple, en lien avec les experts es- dans deux domaines qui intéressent les experts pagnols et avec les experts basques des deux non francophones. pays, un inventaire, des mesures de sauvegarde et un programme d’éducation et de sensibilisa- 1. Le patrimoine culturel immatériel tion sur le patrimoine toponymique de langue À la IXe Conférence sur la normalisation des basque. noms géographiques, en août 2007 à New York, la représentante de l’UNESCO a recon- 2. La formation nu que les toponymes, comme la langue, rele- Deux experts de la division francophone parti- vaient bien des « traditions et expressions ora- ciperont comme formateurs à un atelier sur la les » au sens de la convention du 17 octobre gestion des noms géographiques organisé par 2003 pour la sauvegarde du patrimoine culturel l’Institut géographique du Burkina du 4 au 8 immatériel. Cependant, la décision appartien- août 2008 à Ouagadougou. Cet atelier se situe dra au Comité institué par cette convention, qui dans la continuité d’un cycle destiné aux topo- semble privilégier, au moins nymistes africains, principalement francopho- dans un premier temps, d’autres domaines du nes, après Tunis (Tunisie) en 2007 et proba- patrimoine mentionnés à l’article 2. Il impor- blement avant Nairobi (Kenya) en 2009 et Co- terait donc que les experts des pays actuel- nakry (Guinée) en 2010. lement membres de ce Comité1 sensibilisent leurs représentants à ce sujet. Pierre Jaillard Pour sa part, la Commission nationale de topo- Chef e la division francophone nymie de France, chargée par le GENUNG de Mél : [email protected] faciliter les relations avec l’UNESCO, prépare

1 Bélarus, République centrafricaine, Chypre, Républi- que de Corée, Croatie, Cuba, Émirats arabes unis, Esto- nie, Gabon, Hongrie, Inde, Italie, Jordanie, Kenya, Mali, Mexique, Niger, Oman, Paraguay, Pérou, Turquie, Ré- publique bolivarienne du Venezuela, Viet Nam, Zim- babwe.

- 16 - Asia South-West Division (other than Arabic)

Report of the 8th Regional Meeting on the Standardization of Geographical Names for Asia South-West Division (other than Arabic)

Tehran, 13-14 May 2008

During the 9th United Nations Conference on • Coordination for establishment of the Standardization of Geographical Names in Division web site New York (2007) a meeting was held between delegations from Iran, Cyprus, Pakistan and • Progress assessment according to Turkey. In that meeting, representatives agreed UNGEGN Resolutions to hold the 8th meeting of Asia South West

Division (other than Arabic) in Tehran. Prepa- ration for the 8th meeting started in January • Discussion on difficulties in Geographi- 2008 and invitations were sent to the respec- cal Name Standardization tive embassies of member countries. In February 2008 a meeting with representa- During this two day meeting, two workshops tives from the embassies of member countries were presented by NCC concerning the Ira- was held at the National Cartographic Center nian Geographical Names Database, and Geo- of Iran in Tehran. The main objective was co- graphical Names in Iranian Census by the Sta- ordination with responsible authorities of tistical Center of Iran. Participants also visited member countries through their embassies. NCC and the Document Archive of the Minis- ICSGN prepared and sent the agenda for the try of Foreign Affairs. 8th meeting of the Asia South West Division to After holding a number of sessions and discus- responsible authorities of member countries sions, the members ratified a resolution and through their embassies in Tehran. agreed on the following items, which are summarized below: The 8th Meeting of the South East Division (other than Arabic) began on May 13, 2008. • More frequent meetings of the division The main objectives of the meeting were: • Experience and knowledge exchange • Reporting national activities of member concerning geographical names activities countries • Establishment of six working groups for • Workshops on different aspects of stan- the division dardization of geographical names • Establishment of six working groups for • Visits to organizations dealing with the division geographical names • Publishing a seasonal electronic news • Establishing communication channels letters between geographical names authorities of member countries

- 17 - • Holding the Ninth Regional Meeting on the Standardization of Geographical Names in Tehran in May 2010

• Election of Dr. Yahya Djamour, Direc- tor of NCC as Chairman of the Asia South- West Division

At the end of the meeting the member coun- tries expressed their gratitude to ICSGN of the I.R. of Iran and especially the National Carto- graphic Center of Iran (NCC) for their hospi- tality and the effective way in which they con- ducted the meeting. Yahya Djamour Head of Iranian Committee for Standardization of Geographical Names and Chairman of the Asia South-West Division (other than Arabic) Email: [email protected]

Latin America Division

Report from Brazil

Brazil is an active participant in the Latin Another PAIGH funded project allowed Brazil America Division and has achieved some to receive the visit of the Chair of the Latin important goals with other countries, such as America Division and representative of Mexico and Uruguay, in the common aim of INEGI-Mexico, Susana Rodrígues Ramos, for creating the Latin American Network for a meeting in which the next steps were Geographical Names. A common project discussed, and for the authorities meeting of approved by the Pan-American Institute of PAIGH, held in Itu, São Paulo, where the Geography and History (PAIGH) for 2007 results of the first phase of the PAIGH project made it possible to support Uruguay in sending were presented by the project coordinator and a representative for the Ninth UNCSGN. UNGEGN expert Moema Augusto (IBGE, There the officials agreed on the need of Brazil). cooperation for network building and the use of the same modelling as the Brazilian Moema José de Carvalho Augusto Geographical Names Database to store Coordinator in Brazil Uruguayan toponymy as well, starting with the Email: [email protected] regions where there are common boundaries.

- 18 - Arabic Division

Report of the Fourth Arab Conference on Geographical Names (4th ACGN)

The 4th Arab Conference on Geographical 4. ESCWA. Names (ACGN) was held in Beirut from 16 to 22 June 2008. The Conference was well at- 5. Vice – chairmen: UNGEGN. tended. The report of the Conference and the Romanization System that was adopted by the 6. Special delegate of the secretary general of 3rd ACGN and endorsed by the 4th ACGN is the Arab League. found at http://unstats.un.org/unsd/geoinfo/pdf/Contrib 7. Special delegates of a number of Lebanese ution-Div-Arabic-RomanizationSystem.pdf governmental bureaus and administrations.

A. Conference Objectives: C. Results:

1. Discussion of the difficulties encountered Fourteen recommendations and resolutions in applying the Arabic System of Romaniza- tion issued by the resolution II/8. emanated from the conference unanimously. Here they are: 2. Boosting the inter-Arab cooperation in the fields of: 1. Declaring the conference convened legally. a. Standardization of Arab Geographical 2. Standard Romanization System of Arab Names. Geographical names: b. Building a unified Gazetteer of Geographi- a. Confirming the endorsement of this system cal Names. and recommending its application by all Arab countries and international organizations. The c. Preserving Arab Geographical Names as a system and its Romanization rules can be cultural heritage. found at http://unstats.un.org/unsd/geoinfo/pdf/Contrib d. Making training sessions and exchanging ution-Div-Arabic-RomanizationSystem.pdf. expertise. b. Correcting the typos of the last version is- rd B. Participation: sued in Beirut 2007 by the 3 ACGN.

1. Eleven Arabic countries participated to the c. Sending a copy of the system to the general conference: Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, secretariat of the Arab League and asking this Qatar, UEA, Tunisia, Sudan, Algeria, Kuwait, secretariat to adopt it in the Economical Egypt, and Iraq. and Social Council of the Arab League, in or- der to be communicated to the general secre- 2. Arab League. tariat of the United Nations in response to the resolution No. VII/4 issued by the Seventh 3. Universities: USEK, Lebanese University. Conference of the UN Group of Experts on Geographical Names (UNGEGN) in New

- 19 - York 1998.

3. Improvement of the working groups performance: a. Modifying the working groups table as follows:

Work group Chair Vice chair Secretary

Terminology used in Standardi- Tunis Jordan Morocco zation of Geographical Names

Exonyms to Arab Language Lebanon Algeria Qatar

Gazetteers of Geographical UAE Syria Sudan Names

Romanization Systems KSA Palestine Jordan

Pronunciation of Geographical Jordan Morocco Tunis Names

Training and Education Kuwait Egypt Mauritania

Media and Finance Oman Libya Bahrain

b. Urging all Arab countries to name their 6. Building gazetteers of geographic names: representatives in these working groups. a. Collecting geographical names and building gaz- c. Asking all working groups to prepare pro- etteers of major cities with population greater than cedures for their communications, meetings 100 thousand. and work methods. b. Sending these gazetteers to the Division secre- d. Making training sessions in coordination tariat to be studied in the relevant work groups. between the training and education working group of the Arab Division and the training c. Establishing a unified Arab gazetteer at a group of the UNGEGN during the debut of later stage. 2009. 7. Arab Division website (www.adegn.org): 4. Recommending to all Arab countries to establish permanent national bodies for the a. Thanking the Directorate of Geographic Affairs in unification of geographical names. Lebanon for building the website.

5. Confirming the membership of all Arab b. Asking all Arab countries to provide the countries in the Arabic Division and providing Division secretariat with relevant material to the secretariat of this Division with the contact be published on the website. list of the related organizations in their countries.

- 20 - c. Asking Arab experts to prepare their re- d. Speaker: Mr. Mohammad Al-Rashed search and studies to be published on the web- (KSA). site. e. Rapporteur: Mr. Ibrahim Al-Jaber (Jordan). d. Working on the continuous development of the website. 11. Holding the 5th ACGN in Beirut during the first half of year 2010. 8. The founding conference of the Arab Car- tographic Association (ACA). 12. Asking all Arab countries to participate in the 25th session of UNGEGN in Kenya, May a. Asking the founding committee to write to 2009. all Arab countries to participate to the ACA. 13. Expressing the feelings of gratitude to the b. Postponing the founding conference till Republic of Lebanon, the Lebanese President, year 2009 and asking the Lebanese govern- the Lebanese government, the Lebanese Minis- ment to host it. ter of Defense, the General Secretariat of the Arab League, the personal representative of the 9. Disseminating the results of the 4th ACGN: Secretary General of the Arab League, the Vice–chair of UNGEGN, the Lebanese Army a. Publishing all the material and lectures on Command and the Directorate of Geographic the Division website. Affairs. b. Disseminating these materials to all Arab 14. Appreciation and thanks to the president countries and to the Arab League. of the conference and the organizing commit- tee. 10. Electing a new administrative committee of the Division as follows: Brigadier General Maroun Khraish President of the 4th ACGN Conference a. Chair: Brigadier General Maroun Khraish Chair of the Administrative Committee of ADEGN (Lebanon). Email: [email protected] b. Vice-chair: Dr. Sayf Al-Qayedi (UAE). Ibrahim Al-Jaber Secretary of ADEGN c. Vice-chair: Dr. Ibrahim Atoui (Algeria).

- 21 - From the Working Groups

Working Group on Exonyms

1st Circular, Call for papers

UN/ICA Week of Geographical Names in Timişoara

Timişoara (Romania), 9-13 September 2008

A joint meeting of English will be the usual working language, • the UNGEGN Working Group on Ex- but French is also very welcome and special onyms translation arrangements will be provided. • and the Commission on National and Re- gional Atlases (CNRA) of the International Programme outline Cartographic Association (ICA) will bring together experts on geographical Tuesday, 9th September, through Wednes- names and cartographers to discuss the topic day, 10th September 2008 of geographical names and their different modes of use in a comprehensive way. The 8th Meeting of the UNGEGN Working Group week will be organized in the form of two sub- on Exonyms on the topic “Guidelines for the sequent meetings accessible not only for the Use of Exonyms” members of the respective subgroup, but for all other participants interested. A common excur- Workshop devoted to the drafting of guide- sion to the city of Timişoara and to villages in lines for the use of exonyms in various its surroundings with various cultural back- communicative situations and in various grounds will round up the event. media. Following the discussions at the 6th WG Meeting in Prague and the 7th Meeting Timişoara is the centre of the Romanian Banat in New York the first day will be devoted and a multicultural city. It is easily accessible to the presentation of guideline proposals by air from several major European airports. or compact ideas in this respect, while the The joint meeting will take place in the Adam- second day will be reserved to discuss Mueller-Guttenbrunn-House, the German these proposals and to actively elaborate cultural centre located at the fringe of the guidelines. downtown. Accommodation can be provided by hotels nearby. Potential presenters are invited (1) to an- nounce their paper by 15 August 2008 and The week is open for all persons interested (2) to make their paper available to other (irrespective of UNGEGN divisions and work- WG members by 31 August 2008 in order ing groups as well as ICA commissions). to enable discussion on a sound basis, both by addressing [email protected]

- 22 - Thursday, 11th September 2008 A 2nd circular will be disseminated to regis- tered participants in August 2008. Walking excursion to the city of Timişoara and bus excursion to villages in its surround- Remus Creţan, Marin Alniţei, Şerban ings with various cultural backgrounds. Price Dragomirescu, Peter Jordan including lunch approx. € 40.-. on behalf of the organizers: Friday, 12th September, through Saturday, 13th September 2008 UNGEGN Working Group on Exonyms ICA Commission on National and Regional Meeting of the ICA Commission on National Atlases and Regional Atlases (CNRA) on the topic West University of Timişoara “Geographical Names in National and Re- Romanian Academy of Sciences, Institute of gional Atlases” Geography Adam-Mueller-Guttenbrunn-House The first day will see paper presentations and discussions on the rendering of geo- Registration form graphical names in various kinds (scien- tific/popular, conventional/digital, with an Please, return to [email protected] or send international/national audience etc.) of na- by fax to +43 (1) 51581/3533 by 15 August 2008. tional, regional, city and thematic atlases. The second day, the group of authors and Name……………………………………… editors engaged in the elaboration of a “cook book” for atlas editors will meet to Affiliation…………………………………. co-ordinate its work. The group looks for- ward to receive inputs to the chapter “Use Country…………………………………… of geographical names in national, re- gional, city and thematic atlases” from E-mail…………………………………… UNGEGN experts. Should you wish to present a paper, please give notice to I will participate in the UN/ICA Week on Geo- [email protected] by 15 August graphical Names in Timişoara 2008 at the latest indicating the paper title. □ 9-10 September 2008 (8th Meeting, UNGEGN Working Group on Exonyms) All participants are kindly requested to an- 11 September 2008 (Excursion) nounce their participation and to register for □ the excursion by 15 August 2008 (see form □ 12-13 September 2008 (Meeting, ICA Com- sheet enclosed). mission on National and Regional Atlases)

The organizers are not able to cover any travel Please, reserve a room at a discount rate and close and accommodation expenses. to the venue □ single bed room You are, of course, free to make your own travel arrangements. But having indicated □ double bed room your wishes by 15 August 2008 (see form sheet enclosed), we will be able to offer you from ………….. (day of arrival) to ……………. (day of departure) discount rates for hotels near to the venue and to reserve a room for you. I would prefer to be accommodated in (see attach- ment 2)

- 23 - If rooms in the category indicated are not available, Hotel Intercontinental (4 stars) □ please reserve a room in a □ Hotel Continental (4 stars) □ higher □ Hotel Timişoara (some rooms 3 stars, some □ lower category rooms 4 stars), app. € 65-70,- □ Hotel Boavista (4 stars) Peter Jordan Convenor, Working Group on Exonyms □ Hotel Central (2 stars) [email protected] □ Hotel Cina (2 stars)

Working Group on Toponymic Terminology

The Working Group on Toponymic Terminol- The Working Group met again in Vienna, Aus- ogy met during the Ninth United Nations Con- tria, on May 22, 2008, in connection with the ference on the Standardization of Geographical symposium GeoNames 2008, arranged by the Names (9th UNCSGN) in New York, August Dutch and German Speaking Division of 27, 2007. The meeting was attended by 21 ex- UNGEGN. This meeting was chaired by Staf- perts from 19 countries. The Convenor for the fan Nyström (Sweden) and attended by 12 ex- last eighteen years, Mr. Naftali Kadmon (Is- perts from eight different countries. On the rael), announced that after having initiated the agenda was Working Group in 1989 and chaired it for al- most two decades, he wished to step down a) possible additions to the Glossary (“settle- from the convenorship. Mr. Staffan Nyström ment name”, “field name” and “urban name” (Sweden) had accepted to take over convenor- were terms discussed among others); ship of the Working Group, which was ac- knowledged by the experts present. Mr. Kad- b) the numbering of the entries in the Glossary mon will continue to serve as editor of the and in the Addendum (technical and practical “Glossary of Terms for the Standardization of ways of making the Glossary even more useful Geographical Names” (printed in 2002). and more easy to revise and expand in the fu- ture were discussed); and The Glossary is also published on the UNGEGN website in all the six UN languages c) ways to cooperate with the Terminology (pdf-format). An Addendum with the results Group of ICOS (the International Council of from the work carried out by the Working Onomastic Sciences) were discussed. To start Group since 2002 was published on this web- with the Terminology Groups of UNGEGN site in November, 2007. Part I of the Adden- and ICOS will hold a joint meeting in Toronto, dum contains eleven entries in the 2002 Glos- Canada, during the ICOS Congress in August sary, whose definitions have been amended, 2008. from “address” to “underground toponym”. Part II contains eleven additional entries with Staffan Nyström definitions, not included in the 2002 Glossary, Convenor from “authorized name” to “transboundary Working Group on Toponymic Terminology name”. Email: [email protected]

- 24 - Working Group on Evaluation and Implementation

Summary Report on Joint Meeting with Working Group on Publicity and Fund- ing held in San Francisco, U.S.A., 21-23 April 2008

The Working Group on Evaluation and Im- conducting further surveys on this topic, it plementation had a joint meeting with the would be more useful to develop a more user- Working Group on Publicity and Funding at friendly web-structured access to resolutions Sheraton Fisherman’s Wharf Hotel, San Fran- by subject and by key word. Discussion was cisco, California, in April 2008. Participants also extended on how to make the work of Di- were Conveners of the Working Groups, Ki- visions more effective, and on how to activate Suk Lee and David Munro, UNGEGN Chair, the Task Team for Africa. For the latter topic, Helen Kerfoot, Vice Chair, Brahim Atoui, an emphasis was placed on the importance of Botolv Helleland, Rapporteur of the Working the UNGEGN special session at the 31st IGC to Group, Sungjae Choo, Professor of Kyung-Hee be held in Tunis, August 2008. University, and Yeon-Taek Ryu, Professor of Chungbuk National University, Korea. Stefan Looking ahead to the 25th session of UNGEGN Schweinfest and Yacob Zewoldi from the UN in 2009, date and venue was tentatively con- Statistics Division participated through a tele- firmed: 5-12 May at the UN facility in Nairobi, conference for a part of the meeting. Mr. Kenya. For a more systemized and diversified Hung-Muk Cho and Mr. Young-Jun Ahn from operation of the meeting, many ideas were National Geographic Information Institute of suggested to organize special presentations, the Republic of Korea participated as observ- displays, especially African, and workshops. ers. Topics could encompass from related works of UN organizations, e.g. UNEP or UNESCO, The meeting was generally intended to review issue areas, e.g. Darfur or Bantu, databases, to the current working conditions and procedures large company, e.g. ESRI or Google. of UNGEGN and make suggestions for the improvement of its tasks. First of all, through a The meeting was enriched by a visit to the review of evaluation questionnaire forms re- Google Headquarter in Silicon Valley on the ceived at the 9th Conference, some suggestions morning of 23 April. Through a two-hour ori- made by delegates for a more efficient man- entation, presentation and discussion, a better agement of the meeting have been noted, in- understanding was shared on how geographical cluding drawing more attention to issues and names were treated in both the UN and busi- resolution of these issues rather than presenting ness sides. country reports or general information, making full use of Division meetings and reports, and The next meeting of the Working Group will using more digitalized methods of communica- be held in Nairobi, May 2009. More complete tion, e.g. powerpoint presentations or wireless minutes of the Working Group meeting are internet. available, on request, from the Convener.

Discussion was made on assessing the extent Ki-Suk Lee of implementation and effectiveness of the 195 Convener,Working Group on Evaluation and resolutions adopted at the past nine Confer- Implementation ences. A consensus was reached that, before Email: [email protected]

- 25 - Working Group on Publicity and Funding

The Working Group on Publicity and Funding in August 2008, were discussed and it was held a joint meeting with the Working Group suggested that experts be invited to provide the on Evaluation and Implementation in San Convenor or the UN Secretariat with informa- Francisco, 21-23 April 2008. Amongst those tion on future conferences. present were the Chair and Vice-Chair (Brahim Atoui) of UNGEGN and observers from the The Working Groups discussed in some detail National Geographic Institute of the Republic the format of a proposed media kit designed to of Korea. Stefan Schweinfest and Yacob Ze- assist delegates in responding to media queries. woldi of the UN Statistics Division in New Information explaining issues related to geo- York also took part in discussions via a tele- graphical names and providing key examples phone link. will be produced on individual sheets to be contained within a folder. The intention is to Actions completed since the 9th UN Confer- produce a well illustrated set of documents that ence in 2007 can be individualized if necessary. The follow- The UN Secretariat noted that the Report of the ing topics were agreed as the backbone of the Ninth UN Conference on the Standardization press kit: aims of the kit, the role of geo- of Geographical Names had been edited, trans- graphical names, geographical names in a lated and circulated and an UNGEGN Informa- changing world, geographical names in a mul- tion Bulletin had been distributed in December tilingual and multi-scriptual world, geographi- 2007. The UNGEGN website has also been cal names in a digital world, why do we need updated with additional reports and documents geographical names standardization?, the role as well as new events for 2008 and 2009. The of UNGEGN in promoting geographical Working Groups considered the possibility of names, UN Resolutions, other bodies dealing making further training materials available on with geographical names, quotable quotes, ref- the website. A link from the Statistics Division erences, and frequently asked questions and home page to the UNGEGN website now ex- answers. The convenor, who is currently pre- ists and experts are encouraged to create links paring a first draft, would welcome good ex- to the UNGEGN site on their own organisa- amples for inclusion in the media kit which tion’s website. will hopefully be published in 2009.

Publicity Funding The Working Groups discussed ways in which The Working Groups discussed ways in which the UNGEGN Information Bulletin might be additional funding might be obtained to sup- used to feature short contributions on topics port UNGEGN sessions and training activities related to geographical names standardization in addition to the funding that is likely to be such as best practice, name changes, etc. Ex- made available by the Statistics Division for perts are invited to submit material for publica- the participation of trainee students and pre- tion or suggest topics to be included in future senters. The funding that might be made avail- issues. The promotion of the work of able for 2008 training courses in Vienna, Ro- UNGEGN through conferences such as those mania and Africa was also an important topic held by the International Cartographic Asso- for discussion and consideration was given to ciation and the International Geographical Un- obtaining support for possible future interna- ion, which holds its next Congress in Tunisia tional training courses.

- 26 - The next meeting of the Working Group on David Munro Publicity and Funding will be held in 2009 Convenor during the 25th Session of UNGEGN. Working Group on Publicity and Funding [email protected]

- 27 -

From the Countries

Indonesia

Since the President’s Regulation (Perpres) The activities of this body officially started No112/2006 about the National Team for in 2008 and it has been compiling its Work- Geographical Names Standardization was ing Program for 2008. The priority activities published on 29 December 2006, Indonesia are: has had a geographical names authority. Although this body is still using “national a) compiling principles, policies and proce- team”, a name like a national team of foot- dures of geographical names standardiza- ball, I am sure in the near future this body tion; will grow as a reliable geographical names authority. This body is led by the Minister b) verification if island names; of Home Affairs, and Head of BAKOSUR- TANAL as the First Secretary position, with c) validation of geographical names; the Director-General of Public Government as the second Secretary. The Head of BA- d) collecting generic terms and their abbre- KOSURTANAL also has the function of viations, also exonyms; Chair of the Implementation Team, and in implementing its task six working groups e) gazetteers, provincially based, will be have been established, inter alia: published; and a) Working Group of Guidelines; f) a training module is being compiled to support toponymic training courses for local b) Working Group of Maritime and Island government apparatus. Names; There is one event which will be noted in c) Working Group of Undersea Water; Indonesian history – that is the launching of a text book on Indonesian Toponymy d) Working Group of Inland Toponyms; and (Toponimi Indonesia) written by Prof. Jacub Rais. This book was launched in concur- e) Working Group of Data Files and Gazet- rence with Prof. Jacub Rais’ 80th birthday on teers, and 8 June 2008, and is the first toponymy text book in “Bahasa Indonesia”. f) Working Group of Training Modules.

- 28 -

In conjunction with the 40th Anniversary of BAKOSURTANAL in 2009, BAKOSUR- TANAL will host a meeting of the UNGEGN Asia South-East and Pacific South-West Division (ASEPSW Division) together with the 13th South East Asia Sur- vey Congress (SEASC), 2-6 August 2009. Also a Toponymy International Symposium is being prepared.

Widodo Edy Santoso Toponymic Researcher National Coordination Agency for Surveys and Mapping (BAKOSURTANAL) Indonesia Email: [email protected]

- 29 -