Places
The Places view includes an interactive map viewer which allows you to search for places mentioned in your family tree.
Places list
Places are displayed in groups by person, place, address, repository or author. The list can be filtered using the filter box above the list. Groups of places can be collapsed / displayed by clicking the group title.
Fig 1. Places grouped by description.
Searching for places
You can search for a place name or navigate to a pair of latitude and longitude coordinates by typing these into the search box. Click the search button to start the search. Multiple matches will be listed beneath the search box and single results will be immediately displayed on the map.
Fig 2. The search box.
To get the best results from a place name search start a query with the most specific detail e.g. the village or town and then become more general e.g. the county or country.
Search options can be accessed by pressing the
button. You can customise some parameters of the search.
Use the search area to limit the search to a particular country.
Fig 3. The search options.
Map viewer
The map viewer can be used to navigate to places or to search for places. If the place has coordinates the map viewer will automatically navigate to that place when it is selected from the places list.
Fig 4. The interactive map viewer.
Map controls
The map controls are simple to use. Pan the map using the mouse or touch. Zoom in or out using the mouse scroll wheel or the zoom in and out buttons.
Fig 5. The map controls.
Editing places
All instances of a place in the selected group are edited simultaneously using the edit place panel. There are also tools to geocode place names.
Fig 6. The edit place panel.
Resolving places and geocoding
To match a partial place name or geocode a place
name, click the
button in the place editor to search. Two types of result are shown:
local matches from your file and online matches from third party data
sources. Select the best match and click the
button to make the changes. You can also add missing coordinates
directly from a point on the current map. Right-click a place
and select "Select coordinates from map".
Places with resolved coordinates are shown with an
icon in the places list. These can be filtered by entering "resolved"
or "!resolved" (unresolved) as a filter query.
Deleting places
To delete a place, select it in the places list and press the "Delete" key or right-click to choose "Delete".
Place coordinates
Place coordinates are stored in a culture decimal degrees format. Coordinates can be entered in degrees/seconds/minutes format with N, E, S, and W suffixes and these will be converted to this format. To copy coordinates in another format, right-click a resolved place in the places list, select "Copy coordinates as" and choose one of the possible formats.
Fig 7. Copying coordinates.
Coordinates format
Place coordinates are stored in decimal degrees format. To copy coordinates in another format, right-click a resolved place in the places list, select "Copy coordinates as" and choose one of the possible formats.
Places Report
Use the Places Report tool to export place information for use in other mapping services. The tool creates a Keyhole Markup Language (*.kml or compressed *.kmz) file containing the places of all the events in your family tree along with coordinates and dates if these are known.
Fig 8. The Places Report tool.
Privacy
You can use privacy options to remove personal details of living people or people who have been marked as private within My Family Tree. Selecting the "Hide living people" option prevents export of all information about living people apart from their surname. Selecting the "Hide private information" option prevents export of any information marked as private.