Out Of The Earth Comes Gedcom - Part 2

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!