The book includes a cross-referenced listing of some 23,000 towns (plus alternate names), with the contemporary spelling being primary, associated country (according to contemporary borders), orientation and distance in kilometers from the country's capital city, and map coordinates. The main list is followed by an additional listing organized according to a phonetic index based on the Daitch-Mokotoff Soundex System. A second, revised edition (2002), expanded with additional entries and alternate names, provides updated spellings reflecting current geopolitical naming conventions.