TGN is a thesaurus. TGN is not a geographic information system (GIS), although it may be linked to existing major, general-purpose, geographic databases and maps. While most records in TGN include coordinates, these coordinates are approximate and are intended for reference ("finding purposes") only (as is true of coordinates in most atlases and other resources, including NGA (formerly NIMA) databases). TGN is not comprehensive. TGN is intended to aid cataloging, research, and discovery of rich information about visual works and related topics. The focus of TGN is on historical places, although enough information about the modern world is included to give context to historical places and to allow documenation and discovery of visual works. TGN includes names and associated information about places.