I had forgotten this had been added to the USGS GNIS website but ran across it today and thought I'd share.

If you are looking for a physical location to go along with a name, try the USGS Geographic Names Information System (GNIS) at:

http://geonames.usgs.gov/pls/gnispublic/f?p=154:1:2623136510934988

For example, I was looking up Chimney Mountain. (Other than the name, you can leave the other fields blank and let it search the entire database).

Feature name: Chimney Mountain
State: Oklahoma
County: Muskogee

I get back a couple of records...

Chimney Mountain 1091303 Summit Muskogee OK 354017N 0952714W 823 Southwest Muskogee - 18-DEC-1979
Chimney Mountain School (historical) 1804058 School Muskogee OK Unknown Unknown 531 Unknown - 28-JAN-1999

The first record has latitude and logitude so it can be pinpointed on a map. Click on the 'Feature Name' of the first record, i.e. Chimney Mountain, and it will take you to a new screen with bunch of technical stuff and to the right is a box titled 'Mapping Services'.

I almost always use the first one on the list, "GNIS in Google Map". It gives you a bunch of different views you choose by clicking the buttons in the upper right:

Map -- like a highway map
Satellite -- satellite color photo
Hybrid -- satellite photo with a highway map overlay
Topo -- USGS topographical maps of different scales based on how much you zoom in, down to 7.5 degree.
DOQ -- I don't know what DOQ stands for but these are black & white satellite or arial photos.
Terrain -- like a relief map

Ken