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Wikipedia's Five Pillars, which is a non-binding summary of some of the guidelines and policies of Wikipedia, presently states that "Wikipedia combines many features of general and specialized encyclopedias, almanacs, and gazetteers".
However, this should not be misunderstood as stating that Wikipedia IS a gazetteer. Wikipedia is very different from, for example, GNIS, or the National Land and Property Gazetteer, in that it does not simply include articles on every single place, populated or not, regardless of the notability of the location. Wikipedia policy specifically excludes that it should be a "indiscriminate collection of information", "dictionary", or a “directory”, which is what it would be if it simply included the kind of information that a classic gazetteer such GNIS does, since a gazetteer is ultimately a "geographical dictionary or directory used in conjunction with a map or atlas".
Articles about locations must pass the WP:GEOLAND notability guideline as a minimum requirement. Even where WP:GEOLAND is passed, such articles may still be merged or redirected for better accessibility and presentation of information. The mere existence of a geographical location does not mean that an article must be written about it if there is, in fact, nothing really to say about it that can be sourced to reliable sources.
Typically this becomes relevant in discussions at articles for deletion where one side wishes to keep an article on the grounds that "Wikipedia is a gazetteer" and where the references cited are a bare mention in a gazetteer, or in a similar source listing locations that does not distinguish between legally-recognised populated places and other places. Writers of articles about geographic locations that fail WP:GEOLAND, and about which it is not possible to write encyclopaedic articles, may instead contribute to Wikivoyage, GeoNames, or similar open-source gazetteer or gazetteer-like projects.