1977:

Contents of the first proposal for national toponymic guidelines by Austria

• Languages

• Names authorities and names standardization

• Source material

• Glossary of generic terms, appellatives, adjectives and other words necessary for the understanding of maps

• Abbreviations used on official maps

• Methods of differentiating toponyms from other texts on national maps

History of Toponymic Guidelines

• In 1979, Austria submitted Toponymic guidelines to the UNGEGN.

• At their 5th Conference on the Standardization of Geographical Names (Montreal 1987), in resolution V-14 the UN recommended that this initiative be followed by all member states.

• By 1989, more than 25 countries had published their own Guidelines.

See the website of UN resolutions (English (pdf)

 

UN res. IV-4 Publ. of toponymic guidelines

Guidelines should contain information on:

• Legal status of toponyms in multilingual Countries

• Alphabets of the language(s)

• Spelling rules for toponyms

• Aids to pronunciation of toponyms

• Linguistic substrata recognisable, if it benefits cartography

• Relationship language vs dialects

• Areal distribution of dialects

• Names authorities

• Source material

• Glossary of words needed for understanding maps

• Abbreviations in official maps

• Administrative division