This guideline is a specific exception to WP:Notability.

Based on recent consensus demonstrated at numerous AfD discussions, every geographic location or entity that has a name and a verified location is suitable for inclusion as a topic of an article in Wikipedia.

Geographic locations are not inherently notable. Geographic locations are not offered any special consideration for notability, and, since atlases and censuses are comprehensive listings that do not constitute a direct and detailed examination of a location, they are specifically deprecated as a source of notability for a geographic location.

Because Wikipedia prides itself on its inclusiveness and expansiveness over traditional paper encyclopedias, it can have an article on any populated place, no matter how small. However, since users turn to Wikipedia for its higher quality of information than they can find on other internet sites, all articles on populated places must meet a high standard of WP:Verifiability.

Specifically, an article must have;

1. a name that is either confirmed by the government of the place or by a reliable secondary source,
2. a cited population estimate or range, such as a census report, and
3. coordinates that can be confirmed to point unambiguously to the place.

In practice, this means that an article cannot be sourced only by GEOnet Names Server or the commercial websites that themselves only use unimproved GNS data.

• Wikipedia:Notability (geographical features), a draft proposal
• Wikipedia:Geographic imbalance
• WP:LOCAL