biostudies-literatureWang YMinistry of Civil Affairs of the People's Republic of Chinae0217381https://www.ebi.ac.uk/biostudies/studies/S-EPMC6538164biostudies-literatureUnknown14(5)As part of the cultural landscape, administrative toponyms do not only reflect natural and sociocultural phenomena, but also help with related management and naming work. Historically, county-level administrative districts have been stable and basic administrative regions in China, playing a role in the country's management. We explore the spatio-temporal evolutionary characteristics of the county-level administrative toponyms cultural landscape in China's eastern plains areas. A Geographical Information System (GIS) analysis, Geo-Informatic Tupu, Kernel Density Estimation, and correlation coefficients were conducted. We constructed a GIS database of county-level administrative toponyms from the Sui dynasty onward using the Northeast China, North China, and Yangtze Plains as examples. We tPloS oneSpatial-temporal characteristics and causes of changes to the county-level administrative toponyms cultural landscape in the eastern plains of China.PMC6538164Y77L0200AJZhang TGe DLi DWang YZhang SFang LfalseSpatial-temporal characteristics and causes of changes to the county-level administrative toponyms cultural landscape in the eastern plains of China.As part of the cultural landscape, administrative toponyms do not only reflect natural and sociocultural phenomena, but also help with related management and naming work. Historically, county-level administrative districts have been stable and basic administrative regions in China, playing a role in the country's management. We explore the spatio-temporal evolutionary characteristics of the county-level administrative toponyms cultural landscape in China's eastern plains areas. A Geographical Information System (GIS) analysis, Geo-Informatic Tupu, Kernel Density Estimation, and correlation coefficients were conducted. We constructed a GIS database of county-level administrative toponyms from the Sui dynasty onward using the Northeast China, North China, and Yangtze Plains as examples. We t2019-01-01T00:00:00Z20192025-04-19T04:59:06.951Z2019-07-24T07:05:47ZS-EPMC65381643113659310.1371/journal.pone.0217381