UNGEGN - Report on the work of the Divisions of the United Nations Group of Experts - Report of the Netherlands - item 5a - 2019 session
Jasper Hogerwerf
The report describes the developments, actions and achievements in the Netherlands on geographical names standardization since the convening of the Eleventh United Nations Conference on the Standardization of Geographical Names. The Netherlands is one of the few countries in Europe that does not yet have a national names authority. It also does not have any formal or informal rules or procedures for geographical names standardization agreed between the governmental agencies involved in the registration of geographical names, of which the municipalities and several national governmental agencies are the most important. The delegation of the Netherlands to the United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names has therefore taken the initiative to propose the creation of a national names commission to establish a national standard for geographical names. That process is currently under way. Other developments of importance are: • Progress in the Kadaster project to update toponymic data in the Key Register of Topography (Basisregistratie Topografie) with the help of local historical societies • Revision and publication of the toponymic data file ‘TOPnamen’, containing the names present on all topographic maps of the Basisregistratie Topografie with scales ranging from 1:25,000 to 1:1,000,000 • Reorganization of the commission on exonyms of the Dutch Language Union (Nederlandse Taalunie), as part of its new Commission on Foreign Names • Organization of and participation in activities of the United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names, such as the regional training programme in toponymy, including marine toponymy, held in Manila in March 2018 and the scientific symposium and joint Division and Working Group meetings organized by the Group of Experts in Brussels in October 2018.
Event: UNGEGN - 1st Session of the United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names - New York
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