Legacy Family Tree 8 Revealed - Migration Mapping
June 27, 2013
OK, I've revealed some of the smaller new features that are coming with the next version of Legacy later this year, now it's time to reveal one of my favorite new features. And although this new feature is not going to make the world stop spinning, for genealogists it just might.
Genealogists know how important it is to trace an ancestor's migration. For years, Legacy Family Tree users have been able to visualize migration patterns by looking at Legacy's Chronology View. The chronology shows the ancestor's movement year-by-year.
With Legacy version 8, you have a new method of visualizing the migration. Legacy 8's enhanced Mapping will now animate the ancestor's movement throughout time.
How cool is that?!?! You can pause and resume the animation at any time, or you can click on any location to just view it.
You can still hover over any balloon to see what happened there:
Or switch to Aerial mode:
Or 3D mode:
Or even Bird's eye mode:
It gets even better. Legacy 8 will now also map the Addresses that you have added. So if you have added cemeteries, hospitals, churches, or other places to Legacy's Address fields, those will now be included in the map.
So what do you think? A winner or a dud?
What are the other new features of Legacy 8?
Here are links to the articles I've previously written:
Legacy Family Tree 8 Revealed - Q/A, new Tagging options, and other surprises
When will Legacy 8 be released?
There's still more than one truthful answer to this:
- I'm not really sure, but probably before the end of the year, and hopefully way before then
- When it has been thoroughly tested by our development team and beta testers
But if you are considering downloading either the free or deluxe editions of Legacy, don't wait! Any purchases of Legacy 7.5 from May 8, 2013 forward will receive the new Legacy 8 at no charge. And as always, anyone who has purchased Legacy Deluxe previously will qualify for special discounted upgrade pricing. Get started today - you won't have to relearn everything when Legacy 8 is ready, but you'll get some really nice new features when it is.
Posted by Geoff Rasmussen in Legacy - New in 8, Legacy Tips | Permalink
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Comments (32)
I have been adding addresses I find on Census forms, draft registrations, etc. in the events section. Will this pick up these addresses so they can be mapped or will I need to add/move them to another section?
Posted by: Dale Fleener | June 27, 2013 at 12:22 PM
I'm not sure you should give us these peeks into Legacy 8 when we can't use them yet!! I love this new mapping feature & want it NOW!! Thanks Geoff for these great articles and "teasers"--I can hardly wait!!
Posted by: Darline Burke | June 27, 2013 at 12:23 PM
Dale - yes, it maps the locations of events and the event addresses too.
Posted by: Geoff Rasmussen | June 27, 2013 at 12:23 PM
Enhanced Mapping sounds wonderful - just what I've always wanted! I already have many dwellings and gravestones pinpointed to within a few yards, with exact map references taken from Google Earth. Will the new Mapping feature just accept them?
Posted by: Mary Young | June 27, 2013 at 04:02 PM
Mary - if you have recorded the locations in some kind of a location field or an address, it will accept and plot them.
Posted by: Geoff Rasmussen | June 27, 2013 at 04:03 PM
This is great! I just took a course from Google on Google Earth and Google Maps that is this exact thing, thinking I could build an auxiliary to my genealogy program. Now, I won't have to do that (unless, of course, I'm bored). Love it!!!
Posted by: PE Brennan | June 27, 2013 at 04:20 PM
How well will the new migration mapping tool work internationally? Is it only going to be good for North American locations or will it work on my British, European, Asian(Indian) and Australian locations?
Posted by: Sylvia Murphy | June 27, 2013 at 06:00 PM
Please realize that addresses on the census are NOT the same as they are today. Back then they would start at one end of the street and go around through town. If they ran into someone across the street, they caught them and then went back to the same old route. Houses didn't have numbers or at least not always the same as they are done now.
Posted by: Sweet16 | June 27, 2013 at 07:41 PM
Is this only for the USA or will it cover the entire world Like the Seychelles.
Posted by: Clive Barker | June 27, 2013 at 08:39 PM
Really great! Love it.
Perhaps, I am thinking, we may need more than one migration map - one from the old world to the antipodes but another will be needed to show movement in the new world. Otherwise there won't be any visible movement at either end of a long journey that goes out to Rio to catch the trade winds to Tasmania.
Posted by: PM Daly | June 28, 2013 at 04:51 AM
Clive - if Bing Maps can map it, then Legacy will map it also. Bing Maps is the tool that Legacy uses to map the places which is not restricted to North America.
Posted by: Geoff Rasmussen | June 28, 2013 at 09:02 AM
Sylvia - it is not limited to North America.
Posted by: Geoff Rasmussen | June 28, 2013 at 09:08 AM
I hate to sound as though I'm beating a dead horse (maybe I am) but the area I have been storing addresses in the EVENTS section is in the Notes area. I have put several in there today and if there is a betterplace I'd like to know so I can start doing so NOW in preperation for the upgrade.
Posted by: Dale Fleener | June 30, 2013 at 07:24 PM
Dale - addresses, if in a Note field, will not plot on a map. In the event, click on the Address button. Addresses added to the Address fields will be plotted.
Posted by: Geoff Rasmussen | July 01, 2013 at 08:57 AM
This is a great addition and I look forward to it. I have found mapping so helpful and it is one of my favourite features.
One thing I would like to do is compare the migration routes of different people in the same family.
Thanks for the update. I look forward also to the next one, and to the debut of the new edition.
Posted by: Ann Corner | July 01, 2013 at 12:12 PM
This sounds great. I agree with Darline - put those programmers on double shifts!
Geoff, I have event locations mostly in the "Place" field (in the events entry box). Will the mapping pick up those locations?
Suggestion: Time for a webinar (and some printed guidance) to help us get our databases ready for Version 8, especially in regard to places - where recorded, consistency, accuracy, etc. Then we will be ready!
Posted by: Kristin | July 01, 2013 at 12:16 PM
Kristin - yes, mapping will pick up addresses/locations in the Place fields.
Posted by: Geoff Rasmussen | July 01, 2013 at 12:40 PM
Are you using the terms "address" and "location" interchangeably? I see a place for locations in events, but not for addresses.
Posted by: Judi Page | July 01, 2013 at 12:44 PM
Judi - no, clicking on the Address icon in the event opens the Event's Address screen.
Posted by: Geoff Rasmussen | July 01, 2013 at 12:46 PM
Yikes! I never even noticed that. It's way cool. Thanks so much for pointing it out, Geoff. So much to learn....
Posted by: Judi Page | July 01, 2013 at 12:56 PM
That's a nice one, really. Can this work with multiple trees to visualize potential patterns or links in locations?
Posted by: Ingo ter Meulen | July 02, 2013 at 01:07 AM
This sounds fantastic. But many places in the past is not valid today and does not show up on the map. Is it possible to "geotag" places in order to have GPS coordinates for places that doesn't exist on the maps? BTW, I live in Sweden and Bing Maps has still really low resolution on their "Bird's eye" maps here. We prefer to use Google Maps in Sweden. Maybe their could be an opition in Legacy to choose map services?
Posted by: Ulf Widen | July 02, 2013 at 01:33 AM
Will legacy 8 be available for android
I like having a full mobile app and will transfer my records as soon as it is. Ancestry has too many in fixed bugs diane
Posted by: diane | July 02, 2013 at 03:51 AM
Diane - the mobile app for Legacy is called Families. You can learn more about the mobile apps at http://www.legacyfamilytreestore.com/SearchResults.asp?Cat=29
Posted by: Geoff Rasmussen | July 02, 2013 at 09:20 AM
Ulf - yes, you can geotag any location and have it correctly plot on the map.
Posted by: Geoff Rasmussen | July 02, 2013 at 09:21 AM
Ingo - no, but an interesting idea.
Posted by: Geoff Rasmussen | July 02, 2013 at 09:22 AM
I am going to love it already. Wonderful.
Posted by: Laminda Roberts | July 02, 2013 at 11:38 AM
I would love to see the markers (red ballons) have a number in them to indicate the order of the markers. The other thing that I would like to see is a line connecting the markers.
Will you be able to print the maps showing the markers, etc.?
Lastly I would love to see you open up Legacy some and allow us to write our own queries or have an API to access the data, or a SDK (Software Developers Kit), etc.
Thanks
Posted by: Dave Venus | July 03, 2013 at 09:10 AM
Dave - I like your ideas too. Yes, the maps can be printed. You can currently open Legacy in Access to write your own queries.
Posted by: Geoff Rasmussen | July 03, 2013 at 10:21 AM
The one new feature that makes Legacy 8 already worthwhile for me is the addition of shared events. This looks like fun, though!
Posted by: Taco Goulooze | July 03, 2013 at 12:29 PM
I currently have 7.5 De Luxe. Will I get a notice telling me when and how much to pay?
Posted by: Shirley Kidd | July 04, 2013 at 01:15 AM
Shirley - yes, we'll send you an email when Legacy 8 is ready with all the details.
Posted by: Geoff Rasmussen | July 08, 2013 at 03:29 PM