Legacy Mapping tip

Geoff Rasmussen

28 Sep 2010

In our first webinar, Mapping for Genealogists, there were more than 500 questions you submitted. For some reason, we couldn't answer them all….One of the questions came in from Frank, a long-time Legacy Family Tree user about Legacy's Mapping tools:

"Could a global functionality be added to the Master Location List allowing all of the GPS coordinates to be added at the touch of a button?"

Great question Frank. Frank's question has some big implications. First, your Master Location List is a list of all locations you have entered into your Legacy family file. If a location has been "geo-coded", when clicking on it in the list, its map will instantly be displayed (as long as the "Show Map" button is checked and you are connected to the Internet). See what it looks like below.

To access the Master Location List go to View > Master Lists > Location. If you have not previously geo-coded each location in the list, when you click on a location, Legacy will attempt to geo-code it for you. Frank asked if Legacy could automatically geo-code every location in the list without having to click on each one manually. Yes! Here's what you need to do:

Make sure that the "Show Map" option is turned on. Then click on the Geo-code button in the upper right.
Click on the second option: "Geo-code all un-resolved locations…"

At the end of the process there will probably be some locations with a question mark (?) in the "L" column (just to the right of the name of the location). This means that Legacy was unable to automatically geo-code that location. In these cases, click once on the location and you may be presented with a list of possible matches. Select the appropriate one and verify that the place is correctly plotted on the map.

Advanced tip: if, for some reason, the place on the map was not correctly plotted, just right-click on the map where the place should be, and Legacy will update the geo-code information. The map will then correctly be displayed in the future.

So, Frank, I hope this answers your question. We could probably do an hour webinar just on mapping….

Comments (11)

I’ve only just now had the opportunity to review the recorded version of this webinar … I can not believe that I’ve had Ani-Map for over six years and DID NOT KNOW that there was a map for Canada (esp Ontario). This piece of information alone was worth the time I took away from my office work today. Thank you so much!!!

Ulisses – no, this was a new feature introduced in Legacy 7.0.

IS that possible to geo-code the master location on legacy 6.0?
Thank you

Jack – you are correct, for Legacy’s Mapping to work correctly, IE7 needs to be installed. This doesn’t mean that you have to use it for anything else though. Continue using Firefox, etc., but if you want the mapping to be successful, you just need to install it. These system requirements are listed at http://www.legacyfamilytreestore.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=L7T&Show=TechSpecs

Michele, no the webinar has not been transcribed.

Is there a text document for this webinar?

After following the above instructions I got the message “The Virtual Earth map has not finished loading yet. Geo-code not available until the map is loaded”. Therefore I waited for some time & nothing (repeat nothing!) happened. I closed the Master Location List window, re-opened it & tried again: same result: nothing! Then I thought that rather than attempt to, as you describe above, “Geo-code all un-resolved locations…”; perhaps I should try a single location. Only then, in the middle of the map window, appeared the message ‘Mapping requires Internet Explorer version 7 or newer’. Apart from the fact that you do not explain that proviso in your above description; what about all the people in the world who do not use Internet Explorer as their browser?

You can Joyce.
Just highlight all the locations you want and then click Options – Show List.
I use my location list sorted right to left all the time.
It’s true that you can code your entire Location list automatically – however, given that we enter historic locations and it works on current locations, you need to check each one. I put a tick in the Ver[ified] column when I’ve checked it.
To check the entire list is an enormous job. I tend to go straight to mapping when entering a new location and then check the locations in that area before returning to my data entry.
Another tip: If the initial choice of Bing/Virtual Earth is way off the right place, Click the Geo Code button again and choose Do not auto geo-code the current location. Then, with the location list sorted right to left, choose a nearby location to relocate the map to the correct area. Return to the location you are wanting to map and right click on the right spot. If you don’t do this and find the spot by using the aid of a nearby location, you are frustrated with the map swinging off to the wrong location as soon as you return to it.

Is it any help to use the Master Locations list, sorted right to left, then you will have all those in, say, England, Lancashire, Warrington, … next to each other in the list? Clicking on each location will show the people connected with that location. It would be good if it were possible to highlight all the Warrington locations and get a full list of all the Warrington-connected people in one hit.

I, too, would like this Tony. Currently this is only available in Legacy’s add-on, Map My Family Tree.

What I’d like to do is to view ‘clusters’ of locations of groups of individuals. At present, I can only seem to view a single person.

J(
Jeannine (aka GenQueen)

14 years ago

I’ve only just now had the opportunity to review the recorded version of this webinar … I can not believe that I’ve had Ani-Map for over six years and DID NOT KNOW that there was a map for Canada (esp Ontario). This piece of information alone was worth the time I took away from my office work today. Thank you so much!!!
GR
Geoff Rasmussen

14 years ago

Ulisses – no, this was a new feature introduced in Legacy 7.0.
US
Ulisses Silva

14 years ago

IS that possible to geo-code the master location on legacy 6.0?
Thank you
GR
Geoff Rasmussen

14 years ago

Jack – you are correct, for Legacy’s Mapping to work correctly, IE7 needs to be installed. This doesn’t mean that you have to use it for anything else though. Continue using Firefox, etc., but if you want the mapping to be successful, you just need to install it. These system requirements are listed at http://www.legacyfamilytreestore.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=L7T&Show=TechSpecs
GR
Geoff Rasmussen

14 years ago

Michele, no the webinar has not been transcribed.
MC
Michele Call

14 years ago

Is there a text document for this webinar?
JB
Jack Bryceland

14 years ago

After following the above instructions I got the message “The Virtual Earth map has not finished loading yet. Geo-code not available until the map is loaded”. Therefore I waited for some time & nothing (repeat nothing!) happened. I closed the Master Location List window, re-opened it & tried again: same result: nothing! Then I thought that rather than attempt to, as you describe above, “Geo-code all un-resolved locations…”; perhaps I should try a single location. Only then, in the middle of the map window, appeared the message ‘Mapping requires Internet Explorer version 7 or newer’. Apart from the fact that you do not explain that proviso in your above description; what about all the people in the world who do not use Internet Explorer as their browser?
C
Cathy

14 years ago

You can Joyce.
Just highlight all the locations you want and then click Options – Show List.
I use my location list sorted right to left all the time.
It’s true that you can code your entire Location list automatically – however, given that we enter historic locations and it works on current locations, you need to check each one. I put a tick in the Ver[ified] column when I’ve checked it.
To check the entire list is an enormous job. I tend to go straight to mapping when entering a new location and then check the locations in that area before returning to my data entry.
Another tip: If the initial choice of Bing/Virtual Earth is way off the right place, Click the Geo Code button again and choose Do not auto geo-code the current location. Then, with the location list sorted right to left, choose a nearby location to relocate the map to the correct area. Return to the location you are wanting to map and right click on the right spot. If you don’t do this and find the spot by using the aid of a nearby location, you are frustrated with the map swinging off to the wrong location as soon as you return to it.
J
Joyce

14 years ago

Is it any help to use the Master Locations list, sorted right to left, then you will have all those in, say, England, Lancashire, Warrington, … next to each other in the list? Clicking on each location will show the people connected with that location. It would be good if it were possible to highlight all the Warrington locations and get a full list of all the Warrington-connected people in one hit.
GR
Geoff Rasmussen

14 years ago

I, too, would like this Tony. Currently this is only available in Legacy’s add-on, Map My Family Tree.
T
Tony

14 years ago

What I’d like to do is to view ‘clusters’ of locations of groups of individuals. At present, I can only seem to view a single person.