BJ, You've hit the nail on the head. The PNA is a helpful tool in standardizing format and it doesn't matter whether a location is resolved by the PNA or not. The important thing is that the documentation captures the location information at the time of the event. The documentation of historical locations becomes more useful when related to the present. Indicating in the documentation that Gold Coast, West Africa is now Ghana is an example. Jim ------------------------------------------------ Date: Fri, 27 Mar 2015 21:18:21 -0600 From: BJ <oldtrails@gmx.com> Subject: Re: [FTM-TECH] Resolving place names (from the thread Program crashes when resolving place names) To: ftm-tech@rootsweb.com Message-ID: <55161D7D.7080100@gmx.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=windows-1252; format=flowed I'm continually confused with this obsession of resolving the place name. The PNA is a tool to help researchers enter the Place name in a uniform format but it only a tool. Its use not required or mandated. So why do these contrivances just to remove the flag. For a historical place whose name has been changed or no longer exists, why not simply enter the name as documented and then ignore the flag. You can ignore it in one of two ways: just pretend it isn't there (my preference) or click the ignore option telling FTM to discontinue displaying the unresolved flag (indicator). I'm sorry but it just seems like a lot of effort for no real purpose. BJ

I have listened for a good long while on this topic. When I converted from FTM 16 to FTM 2012, I had a very large list of place names, many of which were not recognized. I was able to rid my database of about 50% by using the PNA. I do it differently than most, but I am happy with it. The BIG thing the several hundred hours of work did for me was eliminate spelling errors and items placed in location when I feel they belong. I had multiple entries which meant the same place and many where a misspelling crept in. The net result is that my list of places is now completely recognized. Thus, as I work on the database, if I make a misteak - spelling intentional - then it is easy enough for the PNA to point it out to me before I post to Ancestry. That is how I work it. John Okerson Lakeland, TN