Below are the columns returned by the GNRS, their definitions and constrained values, where applicable.
| Column name | Meaning | Values |
| id | Integer identifier assigned by the GNRS. Not the same as user_id (see below) | |
| poldiv_full | All three verbatim political divisions, concatenated with '@' as a delimiter. Can be used as a single-column text identifier for joining back to source database. | |
|
country_verbatim |
Country name, as submitted | |
| state_province_verbatim | Second-level political division, as submitted | |
| county_parish_verbatim | Third-level political division, as submitted | |
| country* | Matched country name | |
| state_province* | Matched state_province name | |
| county_parish* | Matched county_parish name | |
|
country_id |
GeoNames integer ID for the matched country | |
|
state_province_id |
GeoNames integer ID for the matchedstate_province | |
|
county_parish_id |
GeoNames integer ID for the matched county_parish | |
|
match_method_country |
Method used to match country | exact alternate name, exact ascii name, exact standard name, fuzzy alternate name, fuzzy standard name, iso_alpha3 code, iso code |
|
match_method_state_province |
Method used to match state_province | exact alternate name, exact ascii name, exact ascii short name, exact name, fuzzy alternate name, fuzzy ascii name, fuzzy ascii short name, fuzzy standard name, iso code |
|
match_method_county_parish |
Method used to match county_parish | |
|
match_score_country |
Match score for country (if fuzzy matching used) | 0 to 1 |
|
match_score_state_province |
Match score for state_province (if fuzzy matching used) | 0 to 1 |
|
match_score_county_parish |
Match score for county_parish (if fuzzy matching used) | 0 to 1 |
|
poldiv_submitted |
Level of political division submitted | country, state_province, county_parish |
|
poldiv_matched |
Level of political division matched | country, state_province, county_parish |
|
match_status |
Overall match status | full match, no match, partial match |
|
user_id |
Verbatim user-submitted identifier, if supplied |
* Matched names returned are the plain ASCII (non-accented) standard English version, as per GeoNames.