* Map location mistake

[E Wilcock]

I have twice made a trial import of a TMG 9 Project into FH 6.

Today I purchased FH 6.0.4 and am using Windows 7 Home edition.

I have owned FH for many years but am a pretty ignorant user. I find it particularly hard to understand when one is supposed to use an add in. Please treat this as a question from a total beginner.

My husband's family are from Ossett Yorkshire. It is near Wakefield in Yorkshire and the name is printed on the map which opens in FH 6. Its co-ordinates on Wikipedia are 53.68 N and 01.58 W.

But in FH the red mark for Ossett is not by its name on the map. Instead it is up near Rippon and marked 54°0'0"N, 1°30'0"W.

I wonder whether the multiple place fields used in TMG are interfering with the mapping in FH? Or whether I am simply not understanding how to use the software?

Or is one intended to use the add in for mapping places?
Thank you

[jimlad68]

E, there have been a few discussions on the accuracy of Places and geolocations etc, I suggest you check them out. These 2 spring to mind but there are many others:

Best format of PLACe and ADDRess for Map Geocoding (11937)
Rearrange Address and Place Parts Plugin (12330)

Also the FH knowledge base here http://www.fhug.org.uk/wiki/doku.php?id=glossary:places

[tatewise]

Please update your Profile via User Control Panel at top of this web page and set your Family Historian version to V6.

The mapping tool within FH is still evolving and not as advanced as Google Maps, but its licence fees are lower, and thus FH remains affordable. It will no doubt improve in coming years.

If mapping is important then there are ways to supplement FH places with latitude & longitude values, or use the Map Life Facts plugin.

The main distinctions between FH itself and Plugins are that FH is professionally produced by Calico Pie and Plugins are written by FH users, and Plugins allow specific features to be added without a new release of FH.

[LornaCraig]

The quickest way to adjust the location of a marker which is only slightly 'off' the true location is to enable Marker Dragging. (Click the icon at the right hand end of the Map window toolbar). You can then manually drag the marker to its correct location on the map. Alternatively, as you know the exact co-ordinates of the place in question, enter these in the Property Box for the Place Record.

If you search the Help files for 'The Map Window' and then scroll down to the section headed GEOCODING you will find these techniques explained.

The Help files also contain a section on 'Map Window Legend' which explains the difference between tentative and non-tentative geocoding. It is advisable to use Tools>Preferences>Map Window to select Block Refresh for Non-tentative Geocodes so that once you have set a location to your satisfaction it cannot be accidentally changed again by auto-geocoding.

[tatewise]

The new geocoder in FH V6.2.5 now correctly maps Ossett, Yorkshire.

[Gowermick]

Following on from Lorna's answer, should the geocoding be so far out that the marker is off the screen, you can drag the actual name from the list instead, and place that accurately on the map.