* Map Language

[Gowermick]

Is there a setting for Openstreet Maps, to force it to show place names in English?
I'm sure there aren't many FH users who can understand Arabic or Russian Cyrillic alphabet.

As it stands now, it is as useful as a chocolate teapot
I'm surprised this slipped through Beta testing!

[ColeValleyGirl]

1. I doubt very much anyone here was involved in beta testing Open Street Maps
2. OSM encourages the volunteers who keep its mapping up to date to use the local name/local language for places. As it's used for more than just genealogy, that makes sense. Very often there will be no English equivalent recorded.
3. As FH7 includes support for other languages, your chocolate teapot may be somebody else's precious samovar.

[tatewise]

It looks much the same as in FH V6, so I suspect it is not under FH control, but OpenStreetMap is free!

[paultt]

from an openstreetmap forum......
"
If you mean that you want the names on the map to appear in a different language then the answer is that you can't if you're using our tiles (which the OpenLayers OSM layer does) as we only render one set of tiles and the names are part of the tile images.

So you would need to render your own tiles, or find somebody that has rendered some in the language you want and is prepared to let you use them, and then configure OpenLayers to display them"

Not a CP or FH problem, but just the way OSM works.

[Gowermick]

The fact that Openstreet maps uses different languages on their tiles is irrelevant. CP did not have to go down the cheaper option route, especially as it means users have lost a function of FH, and paid for the priviledge
What is point of having a map feature that a lot of people can’t use. (This include arabic speakers who won’t be able to read our English names, or Russians who can only read Cyrillic). Makes a mockery of CP’s internationlization feature!

[ColeValleyGirl]

I for one don't want to pay more for FH because of the high licence cost for another mapping product (perhaps even a regular subscription on top of the purchase price as that's the way most geocoding engines charge). Not that it would make any difference... For example, Google Maps presents places in their local language as well -- as I suspect do other goecoding/mapping services because they're aimed at local people, not at you and me.

P.S. As Mike said, V6 only supported OSM so I'm not sure why you think you've paid to have anything removed.

[Gowermick]

P.S. As Mike said, V6 only supported OSM so I'm not sure why you think you've paid to have anything removed.

I suggest your memory is playing tricks with you. FH6 had a choice of two mapping engines, OSM was only one of them ( which I never used, preferring the alternative).

[ColeValleyGirl]

I suggest your memory is playing tricks with you

I'm not relying on my memory but on my trusty copy of FH6.

FH6 mapping options screenshot:

Screenshot 2021-01-20 132527.png (349.21 KiB) Viewed 5748 times

Which is the alternative you used?

[tatewise]

I still have FH V6 installed so not relying on memory either.
The alternative to OpenStreetMap is OSM Roads (another OpenStreetMap offering).
However, OSM Roads now shows only a blank display as I suspect the service has been withdrawn.
My Map Life Facts plugin suffered a similar problem with MapBox Streets no longer being free.

[Gowermick]

My apologies. I just knew there were two options for Maps, but didn't realise they were both from the OSM Stable.

[ColeValleyGirl]

You brought this up in an unrelated topic, but my response fits better here:

Just like the map problem. If the current map is wrong for the users (text in Arabic or Cyrillic), CP ought to do something about it. Don’t keep saying that is how OpenStreetMap works, if that is the case, then that map choice is not suitable, and they should choose another mapping source!

If you can find a free worldwide geocoding service that names everything in English (or another language of a users choice), recommend it to Calico Pie. Actually, if you can find one that's not free, recommend it and tell CP how much annual subscription you're happy to pay to use it. (Bear in mind that most services charge on a usage basis, and the free tier most of them offer wouldn't be enough sufficient for the aggregated use of all of FH's users.)

[Gowermick]

Helen,
That is not my job! I bought a product, sold on the basis it included a mapping feature.
If Calico Pie include maps that are not suitable, it is their responsibilty to find an alternative, as they are the ones promoting the mapping feature, not me!
If it means they have to put up the price of FH7, so be it, that’s what running a business is all about.
There is no point CP selling FH with maps included, if 1) the maps are not suitable 2) CP don’t make a profit!

[ColeValleyGirl]

But the maps are suitable...they show places named in the language of the people that live there. I'm afraid I can't understand why you'd expect otherwise.

[Gowermick]

FH7 is written in English by an English company, so naturally, in my naivety , I expected the maps it uses out of the box, to also be suitable for English speaking people!

[ColeValleyGirl]

https://pluginstore.family-historian.co ... uage-packs demonstrates that it isn't written solely for English speaking people.

I don't think we'll see eye to eye on this, so I'll bow out of the discussion.

[Dbgermany]

I find the Map Window to be an extremely useful function within Family Historian and use it not only for the UK but also to trace people in Ukraine in the 19th century. The latter, of course involves place names in Cyrillic, which brings me to the original question of this thread „Is there a setting for OpenStreetMaps, to force it to show place names in English? Force no, show yes. The solution has already been quoted above by “paultt” it involves choosing the appropriate Map Layer
For a region such as Ukraine, opening the Map Window by clicking on “Map places for selected individuals” shows the local versions of the place names i.e. written in Cyrillic: no alternative Map Layers are offered. Choosing the Web version “View in OpenStreetMap (Web)” offers six Map Layers two of which show place names in Cyrillic and Latin scripts simultaneously e.g. Map Layer: Cycle Map. The Cycle Map layer works equally well with Arabic, Chinese and various south east Asian scripts

The fly in the ointment, unless there is something that I have overlooked, is that the Map Markers are not displayed on the Web version. So the question to Calico Pie is: can a choice of Map Layer be made accessible within Family Historian? Or alternatively could the Cycle Map Layer be substituted as the Standard Layer within Family Hisorian? I think for most of us with genealogical interests, details of twenty-first century infrastructure are not as relevant as the topographical and geographical features of the region.

ColeValleyGirl wrote to Gowermick:

“As FH7 includes support for other languages, your chocolate teapot may be somebody else's precious samovar.”

Spot on. The possibility to generate reports in German was a deciding factor for my decision to upgrade to FH7. Verdict: works very well and is flexible enough for me to make my own changes where I choose.

By the way: the German OpenStreetMap website

https://www.openstreetmap.de/karte.html

also has a Map Layer, deutscher Stil (German style), which shows local and Latin scripts simultaneously (worldwide).

[ColeValleyGirl]

Dbgermany, that sounds like an excellent suggestion for the Wish List -- would you care to raise it?

[E Wilcock]

This may not be relevant but I had previously struggled with maps on fh. Now it looks good.
I do need local names for places because local passports, censuses and certificates use local names. This thread encouraged me to click on my last edited person and to see at once in German the street and dwelling position in Dresden where she was living in 1939.

[GeneSniper]

This may be a silly question but what is the point of this question? Surely you can use the might of the Googly folks or the Softers to convert to English and pick up you Lat/Long there as well, kind of two clicks away.

[Gowermick]

This may be a silly question but what is the point of this question? Surely you can use the might of the Googly folks or the Softers to convert to English and pick up you Lat/Long there as well, kind of two clicks away.

It is not two clicks away as you suggest! You've got to open google, type in the name you're after, find it on the map with enough detail, (Lat & Long) so you can place a marker on the FH7 map in the correct place, not simple and certainly more than just two clicks

I can accept place names being written in the local language, but draw the line when they're written in a Foreigh alphabet as well.
I can hold my own when it comes to Cyrillic (I've eaten at many a Pectopah ), but draw the line at Arabic or chinese!

[sleepingwolf]

It only takes two clicks if you first click on the cog icon at the top right of the map then click on either View in Google Maps or View in Bing Maps. This will open the relevant map in your web browser at roughly the same zoom level which makes it easy to pick up the co-ordinates you need.

[GeneSniper]

My point exactly Sleepingwolf, if you have the point on FH maps, as you said 2 clicks to Bing maps and you have the English spelling you can then pick the exact spot you want, right click on it and get the coordinates (even a handy link to copy it, so that you can paste that exact spot back into FH).