* Place Merging

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peterbel
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Place Merging

Post by peterbel »

I am tidying up my database which has lots of entries by several family members who have not necessarily placed the Address and Place information correctly, some even contain facts! This does confuse the excellent mapping feature a bit.
When I try to correct some entries which are the same place but entered slightly differently a warning box comes up to tell me that place exists and I should merge them.

My question is how do I merge them?

Thanks
Tracing the Devon Bellamy family along with their partners.
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tatewise
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Re: Place Merging

Post by tatewise »

Peter, there are two methods.

1) Use Tools > Work with Data > Places, select whichever Place names you want to merge and then click the Merge button. See the Help for more explanation. Effectively, you choose one of the selected Place records to replace the others, so any details or images associated with those others is lost.

2) On the Places tab of Records Window select two records and use Edit > Merge/Compare Records. This only works for pairs of records at a time, but allows more control over what details, images, notes, etc, to retain in the merged Place record.
Mike Tate ~ researching the Tate and Scott family history ~ tatewise ancestry
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peterbel
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Re: Place Merging

Post by peterbel »

Thanks Mike,
Version 1 seems a little drastic if information could be lost.
I have looked at version 2 but I am not certain which record to delete.
Perhaps this snapshot shows why I am confused. Should I concentrate on the record with a link and ignore the remainder?
Capture.JPG
Capture.JPG (146.29 KiB) Viewed 5680 times
Tracing the Devon Bellamy family along with their partners.
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Gowermick
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Re: Place Merging

Post by Gowermick »

You don’t need to keep the one with links to it.
Keep the one that is nearest to what you wish the final result to look like.

In the above examples, you have included part of the address in the placename Bradenham Manor.
In this example, I’d create a new one called Bradenham, Buckinghamshire, England, and then merge all the above with this new one. The one link will end up on this new place.
Mike Loney

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tatewise
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Re: Place Merging

Post by tatewise »

In this case, since only one Place Record is linked to anything, and all the unlinked ones have no useful extra data, then just delete the records with 0 Links. See how_to:delete_a_large_number_of_records|> Delete Any Number of Records for methods.

If after that you want to move Bradenham Manor and Postcode into the Address field then you can do that.
But I suspect you've included Address details in all your Place names to enhance Map Geocoding, etc.
However, I do advise you insert a column for Country in all your Place records.

If you were to use my method 2) then you are not deleting but Merging so you can include a combination of the two chosen records. If they both had Links then all those Links would merge. If they both had Media attached then all Media would be retained. You are able to choose which of the two Place name Texts to retain.
Mike Tate ~ researching the Tate and Scott family history ~ tatewise ancestry
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peterbel
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Re: Place Merging

Post by peterbel »

Thanks both I will investigate further tonight.
Is there a way of finding the individual's record that the Place and Address records come from?
I would like to see the context for them.
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Gowermick
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Re: Place Merging

Post by Gowermick »

In the map window, click on a place from the left hand list, to put a marker on the map, then click the marker and a drop-down box will list all facts associated with the place.
Sadly, addresses are not so easy, as same address (e.g. High Street) can be associated with many places.

Places and Addresses are two independent lists, and only come together in a fact, which is the only thing to tie them together.
Mike Loney

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tatewise
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Re: Place Merging

Post by tatewise »

There are other methods for Place records and also for Address fields.

See how_to:finding_where_records_are_used|> Finding where Records are used that covers Place Links among others.
e.g.
Open the Places tab in the Records Window, select the records to investigate and run Where Used Record Links Plugin.

The Tools > Work with Data > Places dialogue has a Where Used button for one Place at a time.

Similarly, the Tools > Work with Data > Addresses dialogue has a Where Used button for one Address at a time.

Also the Edit > Find dialogue allows Addresses or Places to be searched to find any text you choose, and Display Results in Results Window.

Is that enough options?
Mike Tate ~ researching the Tate and Scott family history ~ tatewise ancestry
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peterbel
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Re: Place Merging

Post by peterbel »

Thanks again, lots to work with!
I have now tidied up some of the data using a variety of your suggestions, seems a lot better now.
The difference between Address and Place had completely passed me by.
In my database the 'in' of Birth Marriage and Death fields have taken all available information, except what was obvious to person who recorded it. For example Counties and Countries.
Should it be comma delineated to get the address columns?
Is that what you were suggesting for adding Country, Mike?
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tatewise
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Re: Place Merging

Post by tatewise »

In how_to:key_features_for_newcomers|> Key Features for Newcomers there is a section on Places & Addresses that leads to glossary:places|> Places and Addresses which lists many Forum Posts on the topic.

You mention in fields for BMD facts that appear on the Main tab of the Property Box.
If you switch to the Facts tab then those same details appear in the Date & Place fields of each fact along with an Address field, etc.

It is good practice to have a standard column scheme for both Place and Address fields, where each comma separated column part has a designated meaning.
e.g. For the Place field Town, County, Country and similarly for Address field perhaps House, Street, Suburb, Postcode
You can change the number of columns in Tools > Work with Data.

Now the convention in the past has been to keep those Place and Address fields quite distinct.
But since FH V6 introduced Map Geocoding for Place records, some users have lumped Address & Place all into the Place name (leaving Address blank) so the Map plots are down to street level. The Forum Posts discuss some of the pros and cons.
Mike Tate ~ researching the Tate and Scott family history ~ tatewise ancestry
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peterbel
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Re: Place Merging

Post by peterbel »

Thanks again Mike. Clear and useful advice.
It always pays to read the instructions!
Tracing the Devon Bellamy family along with their partners.
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