Project Topoged

Topoged Project Roadmap

m0smith@gmail.com (Matt Smith) — Tue, 31 Oct 2006 12:58:00 +0000

Topoged is a long-term on-going project.

Topoged Infrastructure

Database - Complete
Gedcom Importer - Complete
Security
Plugins

Topoged User Interface

3D Pedigree
Individual
Family
GenealogyJ Integration

Topoged Data Searching

Peer to Peer Data Sharing
Automated Web Searching

Topoged Data Input

Form Based Data Input
Firefox Plugins
Automated Import from Web Sites (familysearch, rootsweb)

GenealogyJ Integration

m0smith@gmail.com (Matt Smith) — Mon, 06 Nov 2006 14:38:00 +0000

Since we are using the GenealogyJ GEDCOM importer, might as well integrate the rest of the project so we can have all the cool views. This will require examining the source code of the GenealogyJ project and determine how to map the Topoged Database to the data format expected by GenealogyJ

GEDCOM Importer

m0smith@gmail.com (Matt Smith) — Mon, 06 Nov 2006 14:31:00 +0000

The gedcom importer has been provided by the GenealogyJ project. Thanks.

Topoged Database

m0smith@gmail.com (Matt Smith) — Tue, 31 Oct 2006 14:17:00 +0000

The Topoged database schema is based on The GENTECH Genealogical Data Model. The first iteration is an exact implementation of the data model. It may need to be expanded or modified to support performance. For example, a Family may need to be defined.

Other pieces that are missing are Place Authority and Name Authority. These will be added on later as well.

This is now in place and working thanks to the mapping files in geneapro

Genealogy 2.0 - topoged and data visualization

m0smith@gmail.com (Matt Smith) — Tue, 29 Aug 2006 13:38:00 +0000

Expanded 3d image
Originally uploaded by m0smith.

Consider a topographical map. If you have one, go get it. I'll wait....... If you don't have one, check out http://www.topozone.com/

Consider the amount of information contained in that small amount of space. Not only does it tell you how far two place are from each other, but how steep the terrain is at any given point. You can also distinigish water, roads, etc.

Now look at your family history. Try a family group sheet. Not too much information. Maybe a pedigree chart. Still rather limited. I have over 10,000 people in the family history. That is not bragging, I didn't do all that work. But I need a way to adress all that data at once.

Why not combine the huge amount data that is represented by genealogy with the ability of a topographical map to represent a lot of data in a small area? A topographical map can be thought of as mapping 4 dimensions ( latitude, logitude, altitude, terrain ) into a 2 dimensional representation (a piece of paper or a computer screen). Using the same techniques, a computer could take 4 aspects of genealogy and map them to a 2 dimensional image.

The types of information that could be used from family hsitory are:
* Name - surname most likely
* Birth Date
* Marriage Date
* Death Date
* Relationship to a given person
* Number of childre
* Birth country
* Longitude and latitude of an event
* Date of any event

Those are just a few examples. The computer could then prompt the user for which four of all these type of information to use and then generate an image using mapping techniques.

topoged 2

m0smith@gmail.com (Matt Smith) — Tue, 22 Nov 2005 05:36:18 +0000

topoged 2
Originally uploaded by m0smith.

Topoged-0.1 Released

m0smith@gmail.com (Matt Smith) — Fri, 18 Nov 2005 02:02:00 +0000

TOPOGED - Creating a graphic image of a GEDCOM file.

It doesn't handle vey big files.
Requies:
Tcl
gnuplot
awk
bash

Put the tar file into a directory named topoged and execute the following to install it

tar zxvf topoged.tgz
chmod +x bin/*

To run it in a file nme gedfile.ged use:

bin/topoged < gedfile.ged

The name of the output file is topoged.png and it can be viewed with a
standard viewer like xview on linux.

xview topoged.png

If you want, upload the result to flickr.com and give it the tag topoged.

Plot of a GEDCOM file

m0smith@gmail.com (Matt Smith) — Tue, 15 Nov 2005 05:15:35 +0000

Plot of a GEDCOM file
Originally uploaded by m0smith.

We have the worlds first plot of a gedcom file. It is not very interesting, but it is a start.

3D Data Plots

m0smith@gmail.com (Matt Smith) — Sun, 13 Nov 2005 22:13:40 +0000

3D Data Plots

A tools that will do 3D plots in various ways.

Added phpgedview

m0smith@gmail.com (Matt Smith) — Thu, 26 Aug 2004 13:19:17 +0000

The open source project phpGedView has been integrated into the test site: http://www.topoged.com. This is a fantastic addition. Now a user can upload a gedcom and several charts. In addition, it is possible to add new people and, most importantly, to keep a research log.

With all this in place I can now focus on getting a phpNuke module that will show a 3 dimensional transform of the data in the gedcom.

RSS Feed for Topoged

m0smith@gmail.com (Matt Smith) — Fri, 28 May 2004 20:15:35 +0000

The RSS feed for topoged prototype will include news posting and other updates.

Topoged Prototype Site

m0smith@gmail.com (Matt Smith) — Fri, 28 May 2004 14:03:23 +0000

Topoged Prototype Site is up and running. It is running PHP Nuke and all the initial development on Topoged will be incorporated as PHP-Nuke add-ons.

What is topoged?

m0smith@gmail.com (Matt Smith) — Tue, 25 May 2004 21:34:31 +0000

Topoged is an open-source project to produce a world-class genealogy program that goes beyond current programs. Some of the ideas that will be incorporated are:

The ability to view your family tree graphically. Instead of viewing just a few people, the enire family tree will be converted to a map similar in concept to a topographical map for viewing terrain.
Accurately reflecting the source document. For example, a person may have several names over the course of a lifetime. Women get married and take on their spouse's name, for example. Rather than picking a single name for this person, all the names will be kept and one will be chosen as the display name.
Linking of the software to other instances via technologies like P2P, USENET, and whatever else makes sense.
Having a research journal that will help plan research as well as keep track of completed research. It will be able to answer questions like "I am going to the Family History Library, what do I need to look for"? or "Where would be a good place to look for more information on this person"?