28 September 2009

More Accuracy than there is at Ancestry Maps Beta




I will admit that the Maps (Beta) at Ancestry.com are neat, but I'm not always immediately impressed with the latest.





I am well aware of the importance of geography in genealogy.





I am also well aware of the importance of not assuming something is more accurate than it is.





The 1910 census for a relative indicates he was living in Lima, Adams County, Illinois. The census indicates only Lima Township...not the village of Lima which is where Ancestry.com's map "puts the dot."





The problem is that Lima township is not the smallest thing and it certainly encompasses more than the village of Lima. The "red" on the map shows the civil township of Lima with Adama County. There's a vague gray dot on the map which represents the village of Lima.

I just wish the maps beta was more accurate with regards to location and did not indicate a level of precision that is not there.

I haven't taken a look at maps for the Colonial era.

2 comments:

Rondina said...

Michael, I'm not finding the maps beta in Ancestry. I'd like to see what this does. How do I access it?

Bubba said...

To access the maps, you have to have an account at Ancestry.com and have uploaded a tree to the "my trees" section. I uploaded one myself, just so I could see how the maps worked. I was in a spot where the locations were displayed in one of the pages for an individual and the option came up.