StudentsOfDescent

Map My Family Tree

2006-12-11T19:56:19-05:00

In all fairness to the makers of "Map My Family Tree", Progeny, I have tried to assess, without having purchased or used the product, whether or not it might be a good solution to integrating your family history with Google Earth.

I have re-visited Dick Eastman's post on the subject, specifically, some of the comments that indicated a negative light on this software. My first impression is that they do have a very dedicated support staff, and a sincere desire to resolve issues that are presented.

After reviewing ALL of the posts in their support forum, some common issues arise as well as a common satisfaction...

To be more specific about the issue(s). One of the most prominent one is that it does not support, yet, historical place names; if those places have disappeared or moved to where they are in present time. Meaning, the modern place may not be located where it was in the period that one's ancestor lived. Now, in defense, to have a modern place name database, their’s is 3.3 million places, is a monumental task. To be able to support historical place names would probably be an even larger task. The workaround seems to be adding custom locations, which it can do. I suppose I could deal with that.

The question remains, does $39.00, make it worth it, when my own family history program cost $5.00 less?

I also have seen a common issue with very large family history files, it has some problems shutting down the application; very slow. This appears to be isolated to some specific users PC's. However, I do see a very sincere effort to resolve the problem with those users.

All in all, it is a consideration to purchase it. What do you all think, after reading this post from their suport forum, from Tamara;

"I'm cautiously optimistic that MMFT may be the answer to what I've been wishing for for YEARS. However, $40 is the point at which I want to be sure the product does what I'm looking for. Is there a demo version available? Do you have a refund policy?"

Then the response from support, Peggy;

"Hello Tamara:

Sorry, we do not have a Demo version of the program. It is simply too large. The database contains 3.3 million place names, world wide. We compare the place names from your genealogy file to the places from the world and then let you know if the places are misplaced, misspelled, or incomplete, etc.

We also show you where your people are, dotted across the world, country or state maps. A click of the mouse will take you to the online map to compare them, too if you like.

You can also look up places in our gazetteer, or use our time scrolling feature and watch the dots appear or disappear as you scroll across in time.

Now, all that and yes, we want you to be satisfied. Our order desk does demand you state your reason for request for refund within 30 days and we will honour it.

[Over 10 days since last post. Closed 27 November 2006.]

This post has been edited by Loretta: Nov 27 2006, 06:54 AM Peggy LeBlanc, Product Specialist"

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I have to weigh the above on a scale of $39.00....

Family Tree Legends....where are you?

2006-12-05T18:07:47-05:00

I've been a long time, devoted, and happy user of Family Tree Legends (FTL) from Pearl Street Software. This post is not about what it can do, but about attempting to ansewer its future. The owner of this product, "Cliff Shaw", has perhaps moved its HQ to MD. This is what I found out at the Colorado's Sect. of States web site by doing a record search.

I also found out at Dick Eastman's site that it went up for sale last March. As far as I know it's still up for sale. I used to get automatic software updates almost monthly, haven't seen any since about then. Anyway, after some digging I found that Clif Shaw has formed another company, which is not a registered company in Colorado state...but shows its address of record their. His new venture is called "ProtectMyPhotos.com". Its almost needless to say that support for FTL has gone down hill, just go read some of the recent forum entries or Google it.

Its too bad, if I had the backing I would buy it in a snap, its the best I have ever used. Perhaps, if luck is with those that do use it, it will be purchased by someone. I wonder...how you might assess how much its worth? hmmmm....anyone?

Mapping Your Ancestors

2006-11-10T12:44:54-05:00

Has anyone seen this; MapYourAncestors.com? It has to be the makings of a possible alternative to what I want to see in Google Earth. It will import data from Ancestry.com or Family Search.org. Now the source of this data is somewhat hazy, but if I am not mistaken it will take all the Surnames you searched on and Place them on Google Maps. Well, this may be its biggest shortcoming as there is no way to filter out what you don't want at the beginning. They need an advance search to do this. What they really need to be able to do is to allow you to upload your own Gedcom file, like GeoGed.com lets you do (see my post on this).

Now, its not that I want to compete with Google Maps, as really Google Maps, and Google Earth are like apples and oranges. They may both be a fruit, but apples (Google Earth) are sweeter than oranges. :)

Anyway, there appears to be multiple efforts afoot to come up with a way to import a Gedcom file into Google Earth. At this point GeoGed.com seems to be on the leading edge of this effort. But, it won't be fully appreciated unless there is a strong consideration in implementing my suggestions. Moreover, I am confident that someone will do this adequately, and sooner rather than later.

Back to MapYourAncestors...if you look at this screen print (click here for larger view) of their sites home page...

I have made some annotations on the image to help you navigate around. To assist with my explanation I have assigned numbers to those annotations.

Item 1., shows you the Ancestry.com feature. Now, it may be that I stumbled upon some Alpha/Beta test of this product? But, it appears that they, Google Maps, are partnering with Ancestry.com? But....if you look at Item 5., it indicates that you can map with data from FamilySearch.org. So, I might be wrong here, but part of my point is to acknowledge the confusion of this site. To see FamilySearch.org, and perhaps Ancestry.com teaming up on a similar endeavour could prove to be very interesting, especially when your talking about Google.

The question becomes how in the heck do you register? I tried to register by clicking on the "Login" link, no help, then I went to the Contact link; this is just an email to GoogleMaps support. As a long shot I thought I'd go to the Blog link, again no help; with no comments on the few posts that are there, no way to register.

So, in all the confusion, and as I was looking around I clicked on the link for "Map Integration with Family Search.org"; actually the example one for Georg Washington. This will take you to a page that maps out Georg Washington's family history. Worth noting, is that Internet Explorer is reporting errors on the page, no kidding! :)

Anyway, it shows a Pedigree Chart, that is coming from Family Search.org, but nothing works, except the Download GEDCOM. Notice at the top of the page the words "To Map Your Family Tree Follow These 2 Easy Steps"; this might be worth investigating further...I may post about this soon.

To REGISTER!! Arghhh!!...found it!! It's hiding in the link that says "Search Over 3 Billion Ancestors on Map"...oops, that's not it either. Wait!! Aha!...what's this link that says Search MapYourAncestors"? This is it..."Register to Start", I have, and it seems pretty cool. But, I certainly would not want to start my family tree from scratch here. Importing a GEDCOM file!!, now that would be slick. Its still fun to play around with..but has much growth to do.

Location, location, location...Earth

2006-11-08T19:58:25-05:00

You've heard the saying in Real Estate; "Location...location..location". Well, since I posted about the GeoGed.com site, I'm bursting at the seems with alternatives. First, there is PhpGedView, which is an Open Source application. I found out about PhpGedView via my site statistics, which showed I had a visitor that originated from a SourceForge.net forum. Oddly, someone posted the TrackBack link for my GeoGed.com posting. It was odd in that its just a link, no comment or anything. This is what exposed me to PhpGedView. Basically, PhpGedView is or can be a collaborative, fully Internet/Web based Genealogy program that can be edited anywhere there is a Internet connection. There is supposed to be a way to display your ancestors in Google Maps with this; subject for a future post.

Anyway, while looking around in SourceForge I found a link for MapYourAncestors.com. This is one step closer to my goals with Google Earth, but, if you can find your way through to register at the correct spot, its pretty cool, and it auto generates a Pedigree chart that is linked to Google Maps; more on this in another future post. I tried it out, briefly; you can see its full capabilities here.

Then, I was thinking I need a Google Maps to Google Earth converter. This led me to a post on Google Earth Blog called "BatchGeoCode - Convert Addresses into Placemarks for Google Earth". Now before I decide to make a post that compares all these together, I have to look into them much deeper. Please be patient, as I may just do a post on each one separately, and then do a comparison chart. Furthermore, I may show how you can use one to help with what's lacking in another to really produce a great Family History presentation in Google Earth. By the way, if you don't have the latest version of Google Earth, get it! :)

PicTierra and Picasa

2006-11-03T23:14:00-05:00

This has to be the sweetest integration of any two outstanding programs on the Planet (Google Earth). To start, because I am always looking for a deeper meaning in things. I think I have figured out where Picasa got is name. If you don't know Picasa its basically software that helps you instantly find, edit and share all the pictures on your PC. I use it all the time to enhance photos and as a library of where they are on my computer. That being said here is what I came up with:

First of all "Pic" is an abbreviated way of say "picture". Whereas, "casa", in this case, probably was meant to be "house" or "Picture House". To stretch this a bit further, and have it lead into my post I could change it slightly by saying PicTierra (Pic Tierra= earth).

How does this apply to Genealogy and Google Earth...please allow me to elaborate...

One of the more difficult parts of Google Earth is adding an image to a Description (bubble). Basically, when you right click on a Placemark and choose Properties you see the part where you add/change the Title of the "bubble", its Placemark icon, and text within the description. Inside the text area to get an image to appear you have to put in some HTML code that points to where the picture is, which needs to be located on a Web server or something. Anyways, this is what it might look like>>

Now, with Picasa you can GeoTag your Family History pictures or match your photos to a specific location using Google Earth. Notice underneath the picture is a brief description. Inside Picasa you can add a caption to any picture.

To add a Caption to a picture in Picasa you have to be viewing the picture in full size mode, not thumbnail view. At the bottom of the picture in Picasa, which would look like the next example>>

Where it shows the title that I added (herein), it will show the words "Make a caption!". All you do is click on this and type what you want to say. See the example "Geotag" that I created for this post.

To be honest with you, I don't know why I haven't shared with you, before now, how to add a picture to a Placemarks description? I suppose because its pretty complicated. Now, you have a very simple way to do this, more simple than I ever imagined, but always wished Google would do to make it easier. Obviously, they have, and it just amazes me that they are so creative and thoughtful on what 'we' would like to be able to do!

"Plotting" or Mapping Cemetaries

2006-10-25T18:27:02-04:00

A while back I read this post on GenealogyBlog.com about Goldbug's "SiteFinder online edition". If your not familiar with Goldbug's product line, its well worth the trip. Basically, they are the producers of Animap, and now have a free web-based version of The Gold Bug's SiteFinder U.S. place name database. This lets you search for towns, schools, courthouses, etc., and plot them onto Google Maps. The focus of this post is what it can do with Cemeteries and Google Earth...

First, a brief statement needs to be made about what Google Earth can do now automatically vs. the future. By default, Google Earth can show you location of Churches, Shopping areas, Hospitals and so on. With a recent update, that I just noticed on my Google Earth, I see the following changes:

Before the update you would see stuff like Churches, Schools and so on. They are now expanding the categories and breaking them out further. Anyway, if you select or check the box for Churches, today, you will see next to nothing. In some larger cities its a few at best. So, I assume Google Earth is in the process of getting these layers more populated?

What's the alternative; as I don't know when Google Earth will be considered complete on populating these new layers? The alternative is Goldbug's "Sitefinder online edition". Again, its Free for up to 200 hits (cemeteries) per county.

So, the next question is; how do I get the results from Goldbug's "Sitefinder" to Google Earth? Well, Sitefinder already provides you the results on Google Maps, which is data that is almost fully compatible with Google Earth.

Steps to import Sitefinder data into Google Earth:

When you start your query on Sitefinder, instead of choosing the results to be "Plot on Google Maps", choose "List the results in a table". On the results page highlight all the rows, except the Title row, and Copy/Paste this into a spreadsheet program like Excel or whatever. Then strip out or delete the unneeded column that has Cemetery in it. Save this file as a "comma-delimited" file or what's known as a .csv file. Start Google Earth and from the File menu choose Open and select your csv file.

The above will start a "Data Import Wizard" that wants you to select or "Specify Delimiter". Just accept the defaults as it is and hit "Next". In the next window you have to tell it to use the Latitude and Longitude fields. In the drop down boxes choose the top most Latitude coordinates (latitude always has a N or S in it) for the "Latitude field". Then the bottom one for the Longitude field (longitude will show a E or W in it). Then select "Next". The next window is to "Specify Field Types". They should be defaulted as "String", leave these as is and select "Finish". You will see a small window pop up that show the progress of the import and then it jumps Google Earth to that location/county.

That's it!

Now, I have already proved that Sitefinder is not entirely accurate with respect to mapping ALL cemeteries. But, as one of my visions for Google Earth and Genealogy was to map out cemeteries on a county by county basis. This vision was discouraged by the thought that it would be a monumental task, and would need lots of cooperation on the part of a lot of people. With Sitefinder, you are more than half way there, and now all that needs to be done is fill in the gaps of any missing cemetery locations.

Oh, on a more personal note, if we had the cemeteries programmed into our Gedcom files, making sure they are under the BURI tag. Then they will be mapped using GeoGed.com's free conversion program!

So, the vision has been re-born! Anyone out there want to jump on board with this project? Oh, I just had some more visions! Ouch! :) <posts to follow>

GeoGed.com Revisited

2006-10-23T20:04:05-04:00

Since, I wrote my last post on "Out Of The Earth Comes Gedcom" I received a response from GeoGed.com about this post. They mentioned that they are moving as quickly as possible to include US locations, which is great news!

Johann, of GeoGed.com, wants to collaborate about suggestions from my previous post/critique. This is also good news, and I am honored to be able to work with him on this. To make this collaboration as efficient as possible, I will solicit readers of my site in this effort. So, if anyone out there has any ideas or wishes, please post them here as comments, or you can email me, and I will still give you proper credit for them.

Next, I will list, and illustrate my ideas, as I mentioned I would do in my last post...

This may get pretty technical at times, but its better to do this here in order to stir any inspiration 'out there' or feedback or whatever.

Lets start with a brief overview of a Gedcom file, and some basics about how it might be applied to Google Earth. The below is an excerpt from my Gedcom file showing my Grandfather and Grandmother on my mother's side:

0 @I7@ INDI
1 NAME Robert Edward /HUFFINE/
2 GIVN Robert Edward
2 SURN HUFFINE
1 SEX M
1 _UID 5D65A016919E134EAAD73E38EEA20BAB45C7
1 BIRT [birth]
2 DATE 4 SEP 1899
2 PLAC Van Wert Co., Van Wert, Ohio
1 DEAT [death]
2 DATE 8 SEP 1969
2 PLAC Riverside Co., Perris, CA
1 IDNO 6
1 SSN
2 PLAC
1 CHR
1 NOTE @N2@
1 FAMC @F9@
1 FAMS @F5251341@
1 FAMS @F5251099@
0 @I8@ INDI
1 NAME Dora J. /FRANCE/
2 GIVN Dora J.
2 SURN FRANCE
1 SEX F
1 _UID 0F5649CC1C37AE4889BDA860E8DD8EBD21A8
1 BIRT
2 DATE 13 JAN 1902
2 PLAC Prowers Co., Granada, Colorado
1 DEAT
2 DATE ABT 1939
2 PLAC Ft Wayne, Allen Co. Indiana
1 CONF
2 PLAC 1900 Census, Roll 21, E.D. 191(T-1035)
1 NOTE @N3@
1 FAMC @FK164@
1 FAMS @F5251341@

Notice all the PLAC entries above. Now, Google Earth, especially if your using the latest version, will support searches with just a city and state. For my interests, this is not accurate enough. Below are potential entries that could of been included above. I'm realizing, now, some shortcomings in my Gedcom file, or perhaps the software I am using to track my Family History. (I will report back on this subject another time).

Anyway, here is what's missing that would further support integration with mapping programs like Google Earth:

n AD DR <1234 Your Street>
+1 CONT <ADDRESS_LINE>
+1 ADE1 <ADDRESS_LINE1>
+1 ADE2 <ADDRESS_LINE2>
+1 CITY <Your City>
+1 SATE <Your State>
+1 POST <Your zip code>
+1 CTR <Your Country>
n PHONE <PHONE_NUMBER>

So, my point is, look at what's possible with your Gedcom file to import to any type of automated Gedcom to Mapping programs. Well, since GeoGed.com is the ONLY one on this planet, you might be able to realize how leading edge this is for Genealogists. Furthermore, this program must be able to go in and extract not only the Address entries, but extract the DATE of the event, type of event (BIRT, DEAT, MAR), The NAME associated with each event/place, and of course the PLACE (location) of the event.

The question still remains; what basic information should be included in this type of program? Well, I'm all for simplicity, and presentation as my number one approach to this subject.

In Part 2, of this post, I will reveal more on presentation>>> <See Part 2>

GeoGed.com Revisited - Part 2

2006-10-23T12:52:00-04:00

To continue on with the my last related post...

Presentation of an imported Gedcom file in Google Earth.

I have to say what GeoGed.com has done with the colored circles is really good looking. What might also be good is to create a blue one for Paternal lines and a Pink for Maternal lines, with an option to choose another color(s) for non-direct lines.

Description Title: National ID #, Persons Name

Description "Bubble":

Summary of items to include in an import of a Gedcom file to Google Earth:

Extract event(s) NAME, DATE, PLAC
Alternatively, able to read AD DR lines and those associated with it, such as Address, City, State, etc...
Recolor Placemark in Google Earth to Blue for Paternal ancestors and Pink for Maternal.
In the Placemark title include the National ID # and NAME.

That's all I can think of for now. Anyone else have any ideas?

Out Of The Earth Comes Gedcom

2006-10-19T07:26:14-04:00

Part I

Its here! Well almost here... I just got an email from a Johann Robette at GeoGed.com . Its apparently a new startup site that has come up with a way to convert GEDCOM files to work with Google Earth! Their initial launch is FREE! From his site it says;

GeoGed.com, genealogical cartography

"Created by a passionated genealogist and programmer, GeoGed is a free service enabling you to create precised and detailed maps of your own genealogy."

"Up to now, it only deals with some European countries (UK, BE, LU, NL, DE, ES, IT, FR). It has just finish being beta-tested and is in phase of communication." [per Johann]

I have done some testing of this, using a US based GEDCOM file, and provide you an inside look on how it works for this purpose. I will also provide a critique along the way. Please realize this is JUST an initial launch, and I hope it will soon fully support US based Gedcom files.

To begin with you need to go to www.GeoGed.com and click on the British flag in the upper right corner to translate the site to British English, otherwise its French. Then notice the "Subscribe" button on the navigation bar (next to "Home"). Click on this and create an account. After you have created an account login to the site.

Then you will see some verbiage about "How does it work?". There is a link in this paragraph called "cartography module", click on this. You will then see the following>>

Click on the Browse button and select "your" Gedcom file on your computer. Please note, based upon my initial testing of this a large Gedcom file may be a problem. I waited about 20 minutes for a Gedcom file that was about 450Kb in size, and it still was processing it, so I abandoned that. This is no longer an issue {edit 10/24/06 - ghodges)

If your Family History program has an option to Export a portion of your Gedcom then I would suggest, at this time, to only include just one Paternal and or Maternal lines or maybe only 3 generations. In my test this generated about a 4kb Gedcom file, which went really quick on GeoGed.com. In my example it derived 10 different place-names.

Then select "United States" from the "Default Country" list.

After that select the "Validate" button. Your screen will change and you will see the following>>

After its complete it will show something like this>>

Notice, to the left, it found a place name entry from my Gedcom file for "South Bend, Indiana". At first the "Zip-code" box will be blank. This is where, currently, it has some drawbacks, but as I have noted this software does not fully support US locations. I hope to see this soon.

Anyway, the easiest way to deal with this is go to "Google Search" and type in the following, "zip code South Bend, Indiana" in a separate Browser window. You should see in the results, somewhere, a zip code that you can copy/paste into this field on GeoGed.com. You can come back to the Search window again and just replace the City/State in the search field. This all may seem tedious, but when you see the results, in Google Earth, you will be very impressed, as I will show you later on in this post.

After you have "pasted" in the zip code select "Search" you will see something like this>>

Next it will automatically insert the proper City. You will need to do this with the entire list that is generated from the import of your Gedcom file.

After identifying the 10 different place-names, in my example, you then need to select the "Validate" button. Another good feature throughout this process is you can use the "Back" button to make any desired adjustments. After selecting "Validate" you will see the following...

Out Of The Earth Comes Gedcom - Part 2

2006-10-17T11:59:00-04:00

As I was saying in the first article on this; After selecting "Validate" you will see something like the following...

If any of the results have a Red X next to them you can go "Back" and fix it. Otherwise you can ignore it and continue on, it will still generate a Google Earth KML file....

Next you will see a screen where it will let you "Customize" the results. Here is where I wish it would derive not just the Place-names, but also include the Ancestors name. Maybe in the future, this will be included?

On a side note, I have previously consulted with a programmer about the desired end result of a program of this nature. We talked about how the KML file might be structured, and how it lays out in the "Places" window of Google Earth. As well as how the Placemarks might appear on Google Earth (more on this in a future post).

Anyway..Customize...

Notice the words "Display the place name". By selecting Yes it will add the Place name inside the Description bubble of your Google Earth KML file. This is a good feature, I think. Now the next question is "Gradient color". This is really great in that when its all done and your looking at it inside Google Earth it displays a rather cool looking circle for that location, the more times that this location is in your Gedcom file, the larger the circle is. <see below>

This reminds me, I wish GeoGed.com would also extract the name(s) associated with that location. Furthermore, it would be really great if it included which generation it is in relation to you. Perhaps this is a future consideration for GeoGed.com?

When you've set the above options then click on Validate, this will create your KML file. You will see a screen like this>>

When its done you will see this>>

Now you can click on the Download, it will open Google Earth automatically and there ya go!!

In closing, this concept, and the amount of information inside of a Gedcom file is astounding.

Hats are off to GeoGed.com for doing it; its been a long time coming and something I've hoped for for a long time.

Future wishes; what might be best to include inside a description bubble? Here is what is included with GeoGed.com>>

New York, in this case is the Placemarks Title, it has the date of the event and says its a birth. All we need now is the name of the person that is part of this event. I think it would do better as part of the Title and description.

Let me know what you all think and be sure to tell GeoGed.com how much you appreciate what they have done so far....with wishes for future releases of it. Remember this is FREE, you can't ask for much better than that!