Map My Family Tree

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....