Place and Address References

Post by **tatewise** » 06 Aug 2010 15:45

This thread discusses the Place and Address fields for Facts with the same location.
I know there are various Wish List entries on this topic, but I want to work with FH4 as it is now.
Instead of duplicating Address details in each Fact related to the same location, I want to create one set of data linked to each such Fact, but the trick is how to do it - so read on ... I would be interested in your comments.
(By the way, I use the Place field to record the formal District, County, Country of the Fact, such as the GRO District for Census & BMD records post-1837, or the Church Parish for records pre-1837.)

GEDCOM Fields
There are some GEDCOM location fields supported by FH4 in the Individual, Family, Repository, and Submitter records. These are mostly only accessible via the All tab and include:

Place
- Place Hierarchy
Address
- First Indexing Line
- Second Indexing Line
- City
- State
- Postal code
- Country
Phone Number
Email
Web Site

However, the Repository records Menu > Customize option allows all these Address sub-fields to be added to the Main tab along with Telephone, Email, and Website.
There appears to be no other easy way of making these sub-fields visible in Record Windows, Reports, or Diagrams, but they can be included in Queries.

Source Address Citations
For each Address location I plan to create a Source citation of Type Address Details.
I could enter all the location details in this record, but there are no suitable fields, unless I use Label entries in the Text From Source or Note fields.
Instead, I will link to a Repository record with the same Name as the Source record (see below).
However, I can link to all Multimedia records that mention the location, and set a Link to Detail frame wherever the location appears in the media file.

Linked Repository Records
I know that Repository records were not intended for this purpose, but when customized as above, they have many useful fields for defining the location details.
I can use the Postal Code field to pinpoint even ancient addresses, which helps locate them in online maps.
I can use the Web Site field to hold a URL that links directly to an online map of the address.
I may use Label entries in the Notes field to record details such as Grid Ref and Latitude/Longitude.

Reports and Websites
In Report and Website pages created by FH4 the Sources can Include Repository Information such as the Address field and Web Address field (called Web Site above).
In PDF, RTF, and HTML pages these Web Address entries are active hyperlinks that when clicked can open an online map of the address.

Feedback Please
What do you think ? Will it work ?
Should I write an FHUG Article about this technique ?
Comments please.

ID:4706

PeterR · Post by **PeterR** » 06 Aug 2010 16:48

Just a tiny quibble: the Event/Attribute fields for email and web are not in the GEDCOM 5.5 standard, but are validly formed extensions specific to FH.

In fact these and the various Address sub-fields can be used in diagrams, in columns in the records window, and in those reports which allow the addition of Main Section Items. For reports you merely need to click on Add... and then and then and then << Insert Data Ref.... In all three cases the Data Reference Assistant makes the process as easy as defining a column for a query.

Post by **tatewise** » 07 Aug 2010 00:53

Thank you for your comments Peter.

I did not intend to imply that the Email and Web Site fields were in the GEDCOM 5.5 standard, but simply supported by FH4.

I was aware that the sub-fields may be added to Reports and Diagrams as you describe. (I had overlooked the Record Columns option).
However, to display all the Address sub-fields for every Fact and anything else that may have an Address would be a daunting task.
It is further complicated by Fact types that may occur more than once per Record, such as Census and Residence.
I think that the resultant output would be very unreadable, and the customization would not be easy to set up.
I only claimed that there is no 'easy way' to make the sub-fields visible, not that it was impossible.

Have you any comments on the address Source citation and Repository technique I am proposing?

PeterR · Post by **PeterR** » 07 Aug 2010 15:30

I've tried a few reports with the option ticked to include Repository information with the Sources. I find that only the main Address field itself plus Phone Number, Email, and Web Site are shown. The six Address sub-fields (i.e. First Indexing Line, Second Indexing Line, City, State, Postal code, and Country) are not shown in the report. Of course any number of address lines, city, state/county, postcode, etc., can be entered on one or more separate lines within the multi-line Address field. I also find that the Web Address is only an active hyperlink when the report is saved as either PDF or HTML, not when saved as RTF.

It should also be noted that the GEDCOM 5.5 standard allows up to three Phone Numbers per >, and FH similarly allows up to three Email and three Web Site entries, but only the first of each is shown in the report.

Thus there are a few limitations to what can be done when using the Repository structure as you suggest.

Another possibility would be to use a Fact query, in which it would be relatively easy to show all of the Address fields and sub-fields. If the query results are saved as PDF, the Web Address would be an active hyperlink.

Post by **tatewise** » 08 Aug 2010 01:15

I agree that Reports only include a subset of the Repository Information but it is very EASY to switch on and is better than nothing.
It is possible to insert more than one Telephone number, Email address, or Website URL into the one field of each type that is included in a Report.

An important point is that ALL the fields are EASILY added to the Repository Record Properties Window by using the Customize option.
They are also EASILY added as columns to the Repository Records List Window by using the Configure Columns option.
No other Records (except Submitters) support this feature in an easily usable manner.
Even the 2nd & 3rd Telephone, Email & Website fields can be EASILY added by altering the suffix from 1 to 2 or 3 in the Data Reference.

I agree that RTF Reports appear not to have active Hyperlinks, but simply enter a space character just after the end of the URL and it turns into a Hyperlink.
There are also Macros available that will bulk convert each text URL into a Hyperlink.

The crux of my proposal is that all the details of one Address location are held in one Source & Repository linked pair, which is cited by each & every Fact associated with that Address location.
All the fields can be EASILY made visible and many of them can be EASILY included in Reports and Websites.
Also they can be more easily interrogated with Queries than if the Address sub-fields are used by each & every Fact entry.

Post by **tatewise** » 14 Sep 2010 15:28

I have used the technique outlined above for a while now, so here are some example FH Windows to illustrate its features.

Individual Properties Box with Residence Fact linked to Source Citation:

Any Individual Facts or Family Facts referencing same Address will cite the same Source.

Source Properties Box Multimedia tab links to Media with address evidence:

Source Properties Box Main tab with Address Details and link to Repository:

Repository Properties Box Main tab Customized to show extra address fields:

A 2nd & 3rd Telephone number and Email address can also be shown.
The Website address for Google Maps http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?q=S11+9EQ shows a map & street view of address.
The Grid Reference or Latitude & Longitude can be entered into a website such as UK Grid Reference Finder @ http://www.ukgr.dreamhosters.com to pinpoint the address.

Repository Records Window with Configured Columns to show extra address fields:

Note that each Repository Record is only linked to one Source Record.

PDF Summary Report with Citation active Hyperlink to Google Maps via Postcode:

Custom Query Result Set showing Fact Address fields are consistent:

If any of the above is not clear then please post a reply.

ireneblackburn · Post by **ireneblackburn** » 14 Sep 2010 18:21

I am intrigued by your use of the Repository records, are you going to write something for the wiki to walk us through the set up

ireneblackburn · Post by **ireneblackburn** » 14 Sep 2010 19:50

I have managed to edit the repository,but where are you putting the owner(as shown in the query results)

Irene

Post by **tatewise** » 14 Sep 2010 20:17

ireneb, have you read my initial posting on 06/08/10 at 15:45:45 GMT?
There it briefly explains the setup.

The My Address List Unfiltered custom Query is a Fact Query with the following Columns:

Heading Expression Sort
Place %FACT.PLAC% A
Address %FACT.ADDR% A
Owner =FactOwner(%FACT%,1,MALES_FIRST) A
Date %FACT.DATE% A

The Rows tab excludes any Fact where %FACT.PLAC% or %FACT.ADDR% is null.

The Fact Owner is the Individual or Family that contains the Fact.
Any Fact that has an Address should cite a Source Record of type Address Details that references the Repository Record with the Customized extra address fields.
See the example FH windows above and follow the links in blue.

If there is enough interest I would be happy to submit a Wiki or Article or something.

ireneblackburn · Post by **ireneblackburn** » 14 Sep 2010 22:25

Thanks for the quick response. Since I already had some repository records I have used the Custom ID to say either address or repository (so I can find them!)

It seems to be working well.

Post by **tatewise** » 14 Sep 2010 22:56

I had the same situation, with some existing 'genuine' Repository Records.

What worked for me was to enclose the Name in string quotes ( ' ) for every such 'genuine' Repository Record.
e.g. 'Sheffield Archives'
I chose this approach to avoid any unnecessary data entry in the 'address' Repository Records, which will quickly outnumber the 'genuine' ones.

Then if you sort on the Name column in the Repository Records Window all the 'genuine' Repository Records appear together at the top above the 'addresses', because ' sorts before any alpha-numeric character.
Also they don't look out of place in Report Citation lists.

Sorry I forgot to mention this earlier.

PeterR · Post by **PeterR** » 14 Sep 2010 23:07

Owner =FactOwner(%FACT%,1,MALES_FIRST) A
...
The Fact Owner is the Individual or Family that contains the Fact.

In Fact Queries, rather than =FactOwner(%FACT%,1,MALES_FIRST), I generally prefer to use =GetRecord(%FACT%) since it provides both names for a Family Fact.

Post by **tatewise** » 11 Jan 2011 10:42

I have now started using FH Internet > Create a Website incorporating the Google Maps Hyperlinks outlined above.
The Report Template should Include Repository Information for at least Address and Web Address fields.

Unfortunately, some Web Address Hyperlinks are malformed with an extra dot(.) by FH, and don't open in a new tab, so I batch edit the HTML files twice using PSPad as follows:
[pre]
PSPad > Search > Search/Replace in Files
Text to Find: .'>http:
Replace With: ' target='_blank'>http:
Selected Directory: ...PublicWebsite
File Masks: ind*.html

PSPad > Search > Search/Replace in Files
Text to Find: '>www.
Replace With: ' target='_blank'>www.
Selected Directory: ...PublicWebsite
File Masks: ind*.html
[/pre]
To see the results please visit my website at:
http://www.tatewise.co.uk/ancestry/fhindex.html
and click on the http://maps.google.co.uk/maps... hyperlinks in the Sources sections.

Family Historian User Group