U.S. General Services Administration
Geographic Locator Codes (GLCs) Overview
Announcement: GLC files on the site are updated by the 15th day of each month.
A geographic location code (GLC) is an alphanumeric code that Federal agencies use to identify geographic locations. Use of these codes facilitates the interchange of data between Federal agencies, state, and local groups.
The Real Property Policy Division within the U.S. General Services Administration's (GSA) Office of Government-wide Policy assigns and maintains GLC city codes for populated places and military geographic features. State codes (2 digits) and County codes(3 digits) are pre-determined by the U.S. Census Bureau and can be found here. Just 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), and state and county codes from the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS), which is maintained by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS).
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 these codes for duty station location codes and other activities related to processing personnel actions. OPM's Duty Station Locator System can be found here.
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 GNIS. The GNIS 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.
For the convenience of other Federal agencies, GSA maintains downloadable spreadsheets of GLCs for U.S., U.S territory, and foreign country locations that can be found at the links on the left of this page.
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.
Requests to GSA for New Codes for Cities and Towns
A federal entity may request a new GLC for any populated place or military geographic feature that is in a foreign country or in the United States or its Territories. This includes duty station locations to be used for personnel reporting. Requests should be made by sending an email to realpropertypolicy@gsa.gov.
The shortcut to this page is www.gsa.gov/glc.