7 replies to this topic

[Dennis McClendon]

Yikes! I have to do a world map this afternoon with all countries named.

Any pointers to some source on the web that would have US-approved official short names for countries? Myanmar vs. Burma, short version of Montenegro, Viet Nam vs. Vietnam, what to label Taiwan, that sort of thing. (I guess the most recent CIA maps at Perry-Castañeda Library would be a good start.)

[Jean-Louis]

Yikes! I have to do a world map this afternoon with all countries named.

I,ve done world maps. Even with an official guide you will find there are a lot of disputed names, Falklands vs Malvinas, etc. that will require subjective choices. but if it has to be done in an afternoon, I dont think it will require any more precision than what is commonly found in any current and reputable Atlas.

[Charles]

Wikipedia is always a good place to start..

[Hans van der Maarel]

Wikipedia is always a good place to start..

I've used Wikipedia for exactly this type of research when working on the globe maps. Sometimes it's plain confusing... Do you know what the difference is between an "overseas country", a "departmental collectivity" and a "territorial collectivity"? What about the Cook Islands, which are technically independent, but New Zealand is handling their foreing policy for them.

[MapMedia]

I would consult the NatGeo atlas, among others, and the UN site. Sounds like you don't want to individually label them all, so you might start with a accurate shapefile (VM0 or ESRI) then cross-check the attributes list with whatever final reference you choose, make mods, then plot.

[Holograph]

Have you looked at the CIA World Factbook? Don't know if that has what you need, but it is about as official (within the U.S.) as you might find in one place.

For instance the entry for Montenegro gives:
conventional long form: Republic of Montenegro
conventional short form: Montenegro
local long form: Republika Crna Gora
local short form: Crna Gora
former: People's Republic of Montenegro, Socialist Republic of Montenegro

[CHART]

Maybe this could be of help.

FALKLAND ISLANDS (ISLAS MALVINAS)

http://earth-info.ng...ntry_files.html

[Dennis McClendon]

Thanks to all.

The CIA world map is easily found at
http://www.lib.utexa...ld_pol_2006.pdf

The Department of State's official listing of countries is at
http://www.state.gov...nr/rls/4250.htm

A United Nations map, with a handsome stylized design, is found at
http://www.un.org/De...her/world00.pdf