"Singhals" <singhals@erols.com> wrote in message news:3C42E6FC.723752EB@erols.com... > Actually, no, it isn't. GEDCOM was proposed for that reason, but > for reasons of economic clout, the development was largely at the > instance of the LDS church *because* it was an easy way for LDS > members to get the necessary parts of their data (name, date, > place) out of the genealogy program and into the Temple system. > And, for that to work properly, the format of the places has to > go small to large (otherwise the IGI shows Chev* instead of > Maryl). Non-LDS genealogists began using it to move data from > this program to that, with the results we've discussed here > before -- to wit, strange things happen to normal people. In the interest of historical accuracy, what we now know as GEDCOM was developed by the LDS church as an internal tool to assist in transferring data from personal computers to its main frame computer. Later, the specification were made public so other developers could incorporate them as a method of transferring data. In the beginning, the GEDCOM utilities were "approved" by LDS, but this approval did not mean that the program accurately implemented the specification, merely that the output of a program's GEDCOM utility was approved as a vehicle for submitting data to the LDS's Ancestral File. As for the entering of place names, I have noted that (at least in the old days when manuals were printed! <G>), each program gave considerable detail on how these should be entered. Anyone who followed directions shouldn't have had any trouble and, by golly, I think if you wanted "USA" understood, you could allow for that in your data entry without worrying about what happened when you exported information. (And, even if there isn't such a provision in every program, there are workarounds to get there.) Regards, Richard

Richard A. Pence wrote: > > "Singhals" <singhals@erols.com> wrote in message > news:3C42E6FC.723752EB@erols.com... > > Actually, no, it isn't. GEDCOM was proposed for that reason, but > > for reasons of economic clout, the development was largely at the > > instance of the LDS church *because* it was an easy way for LDS > > members to get the necessary parts of their data (name, date, > > place) out of the genealogy program and into the Temple system. > > And, for that to work properly, the format of the places has to > > go small to large (otherwise the IGI shows Chev* instead of > > Maryl). Non-LDS genealogists began using it to move data from > > this program to that, with the results we've discussed here > > before -- to wit, strange things happen to normal people. > > In the interest of historical accuracy, what we now know as GEDCOM was > developed by the LDS church as an internal tool to assist in transferring > data from personal computers to its main frame computer. Later, the > specification were made public so other developers could incorporate them as > a method of transferring data. In the beginning, the GEDCOM utilities were > "approved" by LDS, but this approval did not mean that the program > accurately implemented the specification, merely that the output of a > program's GEDCOM utility was approved as a vehicle for submitting data to > the LDS's Ancestral File. > > As for the entering of place names, I have noted that (at least in the old > days when manuals were printed! <G>), each program gave considerable detail > on how these should be entered. Anyone who followed directions shouldn't > have had any trouble and, by golly, I think if you wanted "USA" understood, > you could allow for that in your data entry without worrying about what > happened when you exported information. (And, even if there isn't such a > provision in every program, there are workarounds to get there.) > > Regards, > Richard Somehow, I thought that's what I said, but Richard's proven me wrong before, so ... Thank you for the clarification. (G) [And just to muddy waters (remember him?) a little more -- in PAF 2.x there was a keystroke that allowed you to see a summary of the individual, name of spouse, names of parents *AND* the first 6 lines of the NOTES. In PAF 3 and up, that's not available (or if it is, no one knows where to find it). So, on several of my more difficult to trace families, I have inserted "/Kerns" or "/SeaHunt" for the placenames. This avoids my having to make so many clicks and obscure the part I'm checking to open the NOTES to check it. It makes a lot more work for me when I printout to share, because I have to edit that, but it makes MY working life easier. Point, such as it is, being, what you do in your working files is no one's business but yours UNTIL you start publishing to the web or to paper, or even in a GED when the prevailing standard should be identified and met.] Cheryl