I recently has an opportunity to interview Nick Francis of Ancestral Atlas, a brand-new site that adds geographical information to your genealogy data. The service is unique and I think it is fascinating. I have become a fan of Ancestral Atlas service in the few weeks that it has been live.
During the interview in late February, Nick promised that GEDCOM import capability would be added "real soon now." As he predicted, GEDCOM upload has been added and is now available for all Ancestral Atlas users.
Mapping and sharing your family history is now even easier with the new GEDCOM upload facility. You can first use your favorite genealogy program to export your database in GEDCOM format. You then go to http://www.ancestralatlas.com and upload your GEDCOM data, confirm your locations, and you’re done.
Registration for Ancestral Atlas is available free of charge but the company does charge for some of the more advanced features. In fact, the service will even pay you money if you have entered information that is of value to others. I'd suggest that you first experiment with the free services until you become familiar with the service.
Ancestral Atlas supports locations anywhere in the world.
You can learn more about Ancestral Atlas at http://www.rootstelevision.com/players/player_conferences3.php?bctid=17062983001&bclid=14621417001 or click on the image below.
Dick:
I watched your interview about ten minutes ago and then went to the site. It indicated that you can now upload GEDCOM files. I haven't tried it yet; but I take their word it is in place. I assume your interview with them was in the last few days; thus, they have moved quickly to do what they said they would. I think the site sounds very intriguing and I plan to check it out further. Thanks for bringing it to our attention. I look forward to seeing you at the Southern California Jamboree in about a month.
Posted by: Delbert Ritchhart | May 12, 2009 at 11:02 AM
---> I assume your interview with them was in the last few days...
Actually, we videotaped that on February 28 or March 1. We were both at the Who Do You Think You Are? LIVE! event in London.
- Dick Eastman
(now in Raleigh, North Carolina)
Posted by: Dick Eastman | May 12, 2009 at 03:44 PM
This would be very helpful, too, for a community reconstruction for a particular year or short span of years. The greater number of participants, the more complete the picture. I like it.
Happy Dae·
http://ShoeStringGenealogy.com
Posted by: Dae Powell | May 13, 2009 at 12:34 AM
There is currently a file size limit of 10mb on uploads, however if you email them they can help you with larger files.
Posted by: Tim Ryeland | May 13, 2009 at 09:15 AM
I see Tim's note (above) saying that they have a 10mb limit to uploads! I tried to upload my GED COM file and have no idea whether they got it or not. I also did a life time subscription and can login, but can't get into any of the names/places etc. that I sent by GEDCOM. Tim says to email them and they will help with larger files. I can't find an email address for them. Can someone help me with that?
Marilyn
Posted by: Marilyn Peters | May 16, 2009 at 07:44 PM
I traveled to Raleigh just to see the exhibit hall and Ancestral Atlas was the one thing that made my trip worthwhile.
I have great hopes for this program and will try to be patient as all the extras are added in.
One of my most important requirements is the ability to zoom in to a city location (my families are almost all NYC ones) and place pins at specific address locations. I'm happy to say that you can do that with Ancestral Atlas. I'm looking forward to using this service.
Posted by: Terry Dewhurst | May 18, 2009 at 06:07 AM
Marilyn, I clicked the "Contact" link to get their email. However even with the offer to help with the larger file they have yet to reply to my week old message with how they will help me.
I'll follow up with them again as I really want to try and use this site.
Posted by: Tim Ryeland | May 19, 2009 at 09:18 AM
Tim, we just want to put the record straight and let people know that we've been in regular correspondence with you since your "week old message", initially to fully understand what the issue was, and then to suggest alternative courses of action.
Your requirement to upload a 16Mb GEDCOM file can be accommodated by us if you send it to us directly by email. However, we've advised you against uploading so much data at this time since we are soon (in a few weeks time) to be releasing a better upload tool that will be able to handle the latitude and longitude information your family tree software (Legacy) has recorded and exported to the GEDCOM file. (We currently support version 5.5 of GEDCOM which does not officially support latitude and longitude records).
Posted by: Ancestral Atlas Support | May 26, 2009 at 06:43 AM