Infusing Genealogy with Dynamic Thematic Representation and Spatiotemporal Control

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01-07-2016 06:10 PM

Infusing Genealogy with Dynamic Thematic Representation and Spatiotemporal Control

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this presentation is to demonstrate how thematic mapping and GIS technology can enhance genealogical research for family history records regarding birth and death events in the United States of America from the 17th to the 21st century, using a variety of online resources from FamilySearch.org, the Newberry Library, and Google. Many genealogists have not had significant exposure to GIS and web GIS. The research to be presented focuses on the potential to infuse dynamic web GIS technology with online family history resources in a single application. To this end, an electronic, dynamic, and interactive map has been designed that illustrates a more complete picture of family history with regard to data quality, cartography, and history than existing web resources provide. As a proof of concept for the potential to integrate web GIS and genealogy four electronic maps were developed on behalf of four ancestral lineage records. The maps were embedded in Google Earth’s user interface (before the deprecation of the Google Earth API), and distributed to users. The GIS application map is a conglomerate of several hundred maps that can be manipulated in different ways. The maps are animated and controlled with inputs making them dynamic and interactive. My research indicates potential opportunities for future developments in the online web-enabled environment for genealogy and beyond. With the current 3-dimensional platform global user interface transitioning to Esri’s ArcGIS Earth, new opportunities for development will be explored, including the potential to host a more universally relevant family mapping application or integrating dynamic genealogical web-mapping resources into a single web enabled package. 

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