StudentsOfDescent

Location, location, location...Earth

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.

PicTierra and Picasa

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...

"Plotting" or Mapping Cemetaries

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...

Out Of The Earth Comes Gedcom

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.

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....

Controlling a Tour

1: Make sure all the "Check Boxes" are checked for the Placemarks in the "Places" window; any box that is not checked will be skipped in the tour.

2. In the "Places" window on the left side of Google Earth (GE) Left click "once" on the little folder icon so it highlights the entire entry, like this; (it will appear grey).

3. To Start the Tour: Click on the "Play" button (the one on the left). The other one is the "Stop" button.

Managing "My Places" - Part 2

In Part 1,of this subject, I began talking about loading your project files. Here in Part 2, I will provide more detail.

In Part 1 I left off with discussing the "scratch pad" area and Temporary Places. I also mentioned that it would be okay to delete any items that currently showed up under "My Places". This is how that looks like now.; this is how it looked before.

What I intend to do next is move my project file directly under "My Places"; before I start to add anything to it. I would do this by "dragging" this .kmz file to the My Places folder. This is what it looks like now.

Managing "My Places" - Part 1

One of the most confusing things about Google Earth is the Saving of data, i.e., Folders, Placemarks, etc., let alone keeping it all organized.

These are tips on dealing with this challenge:

1. Looking at this Example of the "Places" window of Google Earth; you may notice the following:

• First the globe labeled "My Places"

Placemark Descriptions

Working With Placemark Descriptions:

My Example starts with a typical looking Placemark Description bubble. Notice how all the text is bundled together. My 2nd Example shows how it can look. In this Example (see my "Google Earth - Edit Placemark" dialog "before" example). Inside of the description you may notice several items enclosed in code, <html tags>, characters. These are the left and right arrow keys on your keyboard. The left arrow starts the Tag and the right arrow ends the Tag. What I am using is some very Basic HTML codes.

Getting Organized - Part 2

Below the Search window is a window called "Places". This is where all your Placemarks, Folders, etc.. are listed. If you start from the beginning by laying out the order you want your tour to go its much easier. But, if you didn't you might end up with it looking something like this.

Important: SAVE YOUR "Places" OFTEN. You never know with computers or software for that matter. There is nothing more frustrating than losing what you've done. Before you Save them make sure ALL the check boxes to the left of each item, placemark, etc, is checked first. Anything you don't have checked may not be saved. This check mark is really a "layer" that will be viewable in Google Earth or your tour; if its not checked you won't see it in the tour. It may not seem necessary, but I have learned to make sure that they are all checked.