Family Historian User Group

Hello:

I am a semi-retired web developer with 20 years of web development and SQL Server experience.

I import GED files to SQL Server, which I use for family genealogical websites.

In order to import a raw GED file into SQLServer, it first needs to be exported to a CSV (utf8) flat file using an app like GedScape.

Since GEDCOM files can be downloaded from Ancestry, FamilySearch, Reunion, Ancestral Quest, MyHeritage, My Family Tree, WikiTree and more, does a UUID stay with the file itself or is it randomly generated depending on which service it is downloaded from?

Let's use the GEDCOM from Ancestry.com, for instance.

There is an ID column using , e.g. "I402170514755" . If one downloaded a GEDCOM file from another service, would that ID stay with the same record?

Is it possible that the GedScape app is simply randomly generating an ID column?

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Thank You

Norman Breton

Welcome to the FHUG.

I believe the Unique UID is only unique within one product/service database.
There is no worldwide unique numbering scheme administered by some central authority such as FamilySearch.

To expand a little on Mike's comment, I believe that FamilySearch would like their FamilySearchID to be a truly global UUID that identifies one individual uniquely on all systems. IMO, that is totally impractical, and the UniqueID field used by FH and a number of other apps (and now built into GEDCOM 7) is a more realistic option for linking records as they are transferred between systems.

It is a pseudo-random character string generated within the application where the record is created, and the intention is that it stays with that record as it is copied. However, if the same individual is entered independently into different systems, they will have different UniqueID values. If these records are subsequently merged, the individual will have multiple UniqueID values.

It strains the definition of "unique", but is permitted within the specifications.

AFAIK, the Ancestry identifier you quoted is purely their reference, and has no significance elsewhere.

I agree with Mark1834 regarding the uniqueness (or lack there of) for two independent instances of a specific individual and later merged into the same instance in a third program.

I would place little value in the number and should play little importance in identifying same person.