[Ldsoss] Alternate way of searching genealogy...

[Jay Askren]

For this application, as was stated, it's probably not vital to know
the exact latitude, longitude, since distance in pages in the census
should be good enough.  Because of the way the census is taken, two
families on the same page or on consecutive pages and in the same
township are close together.  However, I thought I would share
something I found the other day that I plan to use in a genealogy app
I'm working on.  I found open source data so one can make their own
geocoder:

http://www.geonames.org
http://www.geonames.org/export/

There are other open source Geocoders out there, but they tend to be
based on the U.S. Census data, which means they only work for U.S.
addresses.  I have found one other free data source that has the place
names and latitude, longitude for the entire world, but it isn't
nearly as clean and complete as this one.

Jay



On 8/20/07, Thomas Haws <tom.haws at gmail.com> wrote:
> I'm a civil engineer.
>
> What we often call GPS is officially "geographic coordinates" or "latitude
> and longitude".  GPS is more correctly the satellite system that allows
> real-time, map-free positioning.  GIS (geographic information system) is a
> database that has coordinates on everything.
>
> Two ways to get the geographic coordinates (lat and lon) for an event are:
>
> 1.  Manually determine where the event fits on a modern map or aerial photo
> (Google Maps) and pick off the coordinates.
>
> 2.  Lookup the location identifiers (zip code, address, point of interest)
> in a geo-coded database, or GIS.
>
> Latitude and longitude are by definition stable across time with 0 degrees
> longitude running through Greenwich, England.
>
> The difference between the two canonical precise datums, NAD27 and NAD83/WGS
> 84 is insignificant for genealogy work.
>
> BOTTOM LINE:
> I don't know if old systems like the censuses and old town names have been
> geocoded by date into GISes.  But putting latitude and longitude into
> genealogical event data would be a wise move.
>
> Tom
>
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