Popular Genealogy So ware Offerings and How to Switch Between Them Presented by Jim Bush January 12, 2017 [email protected] Introduc on
Genealogy research is a very popular endeavor throughout the USA and the world. With the advent of personal computers and the world wide web, genealogy research has become the second most popular hobby in the United States (gardening being the most popular).
Due to this popularity, many different computer programs (and now webpages) have been wri en to enable the presenta on of genealogical data in a logical and concise format as well as to aid in genealogical research. In the slides ahead, I will show some of the more popular Genealogical programs and websites.
Most Popular Genealogy So ware
There are many choices for Genealogy So ware. Googling “Genealogy So ware” will get you an extensive list. I have listed some of the more popular programs below: • Legacy Family Tree – The most popular program; Runs on Windows PCs only; Has a free starter version; Deluxe version costs $30 via download. • Family Historian – Runs on Windows PCs only; Free 30 day trial; $46.50 to download from site. • Family Tree Maker – Versions available for both Macs and Windows; $69.95 for either version, $30 to upgrade from older version; Apparently no longer comes with limited subscrip on to ancestry.com. • Reunion – Runs on Macs only; Has restricted “demo” mode; $99 for download or CD version; $49 to upgrade from older version. iPhone version available for $9.99, but interacts with Mac database on dropbox. Most Popular Genealogical Websites
• ancestry.com – Probably the most popular Genealogical website. Its features include: – Subscrip on based: $99, 6 month access, US based; $149, 6 month access Interna onal. Discounts available to AARP members. – Access to Birth, Marriage, Death and Census records. – Organize, preserve and share your family tree with others. – Upload photos and family stories to your family tree. – Does not work well with the Mac Safari browser. • familysearch.org – Sponsored and supported by the LDS church. Its features include: – Free site for everyone, not just LDS church members. – Access to Birth, Marriage, Death and Census records. – Organize, preserve and share your family tree with others. – Upload photos and family stories to your family tree. • findagrave.com – Features include: – Free site, owned and supported by ancestry.com. – Find burial informa on of family member and ancestors, including pictures of grave markers. – Find burial details of famous personages. – Your informa on and photos can be added to the findagrave.com records. Switching Between Genealogical So ware In general, the internal data format of these diverse Genealogical programs if essen ally incompa ble with each other. How then could we go from one program to another and perhaps one computer type to another and be able to retain the collected knowledge of our genealogical data?
The answer is for all of these different programs to support an interchange format in which genealogical data can be exported from one program and then imported into another. This genealogical interchange format is known as GEDCOM format. Most all Genealogical programs and websites support import and export of GEDCOM files. I will show how this works in the following slides. What is GEDCOM Format?
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: GEDCOM (an acronym standing for Genealogical Data Communica on) is an open de facto specifica on for exchanging genealogical data between different genealogy so ware. GEDCOM was developed by The Church of Jesus Christ of La er-day Saints (LDS Church) as an aid to genealogical research.
A GEDCOM file is plain text containing genealogical informa on about individuals and meta data linking these records together. Most genealogy so ware supports impor ng from and expor ng to GEDCOM format. However, some genealogy so ware incorporate the use of proprietary extensions to the format, which are not always recognized by other genealogy programs. While GEDCOM X and several other versions have been suggested as replacements, the current 1996 version (5.5) remains the industry standard. Family View From Reunion Genealogy So ware GEDCOM Export From Reunion Typical GEDCOM File Entry Import of Mac Reunion GEDCOM to PC Legacy Family Tree So ware Import of Mac Reunion GEDCOM to PC Legacy Family Tree So ware (Cont.) Import of Mac Reunion GEDCOM to PC Legacy Family Tree So ware (Cont.) Import of Mac Reunion GEDCOM to PC Legacy Family Tree So ware (Cont.) Import of Mac Reunion GEDCOM to PC Legacy Family Tree So ware (Cont.) Import of Mac Reunion GEDCOM to PC Legacy Family Tree So ware (Cont.) Legacy Family Tree GEDCOM Import Complete Genealogy Club Informa on
For those that may be interested in further pursuing a hobby in Genealogy, a Genealogy club exists in Summerset IV. It meets on the first Thursday of the month at 1PM in the poker room of the Summerset IV Pavilion. It is open to all Summerset residents. For more informa on, please contact the club coordinator, Rosemary Tonjes, [email protected].