Archive for the ‘GIS/Mapping’ Category.
9th February 2007, 01:46 pm
Here’s a list of historical atlas sites that I find quite useful for genealogy:
The first three are indispensable for genealogists using maps and atlases for research. The last three have helped me immensely in my own research. If you’ve never used maps for genealogy before, take a look around just for fun. You may just discover something interesting.
26th December 2006, 01:45 pm
I’m not going to do a full review of MapYourAncestors.com because there’s already a good one at StudentsOfDescent. I just wanted to point out that finding out how to register on this site is completely mystifying. In fact, I couldn’t figure it out until I read the post at StudentsOfDescent!
Anyway, I’ve been thinking about writing a program to link GEDCOM files and Google Earth and MapYourAncestors seems like a step in the right direction, but it’s a bit confusing and feature-poor.
So, I’ll make it easy for you. You can register here. You’re welcome. 
25th December 2006, 11:51 am
Cemeteries are invaluable repositories of genealogical information. GIS is an extremely useful tool in genealogy. What happens when we combine the two?
Check out the St. Michael’s Cemetery Project, one of a number of projects that maps out cemeteries using GIS. Go to the map, zoom around and use the information tool to get low-down on who’s buried where. Imagine if every cemetery had this type of tool! Wishful thinking…
I haven’t really looked to see if there’s a list of cemeteries with GIS, but if I can’t find one then I’ll scour the net looking for everything I can find an provide a list. This is extremely useful and people need to be able to find such tools.
4th December 2006, 06:35 am
One of the great things about Geographic Information Systems (GIS) is the ability to find the location of something you’ve found in an old atlas and then find out all sorts of information on it — if you’re lucky enough to be doing research in a county where GIS is available. GIS can be insanely valuable for genealogists and I will probably spend a lot of time posting about it and tools such as Google Earth. Here’s a little technique I use to find what I’m looking for by recognizing road patterns.
This research takes us to the Northwest corner of East Huntingdon township in Westmoreland County, PA. There was a Post Office there named McKean’s Old Stand shown in the 1867 atlas of Westmoreland. Evidence has been mounting that my family came from Westmoreland to Mercer County in the very late 18th century, so this is an interesting find. McKean’s Old Stand is also mentioned in some Westmoreland history books, but there’s not much information. Let’s see how GIS can help us find out more about this place.
First, we want to identify some patterns in the roads near McKean’s Old Stand. Luckily there’s a nice triangularish pattern directly south. I’ve highlighted this as well as some of the roads leading out of the area in the image on the left. Now, let’s go to the Westmoreland County GIS site.
I won’t go through all the details of how to use the site here. Maybe in the future I’ll give an overview of GIS with some tips on using most county sites (they usually all have the same types of tools.) So, we’re given an overview of the entire county. First we should turn off the Tax Parcels layer. That layer will show us every parcel of land when we zoom in and this will clutter up our image. We’ll get back to that layer a bit later.
We want to zoom into the Northwest corner of East Huntingdon. This is an easy one, really. The pattern should become apparent instantly. Now we know the approximate location of McKean’s Old Stand. But what good is this for genealogy? Well, turn the Tax Parcels layer back on, select the information tool and now you can find out who currently owns the nearby parcels. This will allow you to trace the history of the area as far back as records will allow by going through the chain of title. It’s a pain in the butt, but it can reveal lots of good information.
Maybe some day I’ll get down to Westmoreland County and finally figure it all out. Maybe…
1st December 2006, 09:25 am
For anyone who doesn’t already know, Yahoo! Maps beta has 1m/pixel resolution satellite imagery for the entire continental United States. While Google Earth/Maps has much better imagery in some places, Yahoo! Maps beta offers consistent quality all around. This is especially helpful in rural areas.
To see the difference, check out the images to the left. They are of the old McKean farm in Mercer County, PA which my gggg-grandfather settled in the early 1800s.
Obviously, the Yahoo! Maps beta offers a much cleaner image. The Google image is practically useless. I have even been able to find little, hidden cemeteries using the Yahoo! Maps images. Hopefully Google will soon give us consistent, quality images of the entire U.S. rather than the strange patchwork that is currently available.
