Comments on: Piggybacking on Google http://www.dftproject.org/blog/2007/03/05/piggybacking-on-google/ Wed, 19 Nov 2008 03:58:54 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.1 By: Jesper Zedlitz http://www.dftproject.org/blog/2007/03/05/piggybacking-on-google/#comment-1438 Jesper Zedlitz Wed, 07 Mar 2007 07:12:59 +0000 http://www.dftproject.org/blog/2007/03/05/piggybacking-on-google/#comment-1438 Doesn't it produce a lot of unnecessary downloads if we retrieve a complete Gedcom file just to find one name? Another interesting possibility would be to download the Gedcom files into the Valhalla server. But that will probably cause copyright problems. Doesn’t it produce a lot of unnecessary downloads if we retrieve a complete Gedcom file just to find one name?
Another interesting possibility would be to download the Gedcom files into the Valhalla server. But that will probably cause copyright problems.

]]> By: crex http://www.dftproject.org/blog/2007/03/05/piggybacking-on-google/#comment-1439 crex Wed, 07 Mar 2007 08:32:20 +0000 http://www.dftproject.org/blog/2007/03/05/piggybacking-on-google/#comment-1439 Could it be possible to use GENDEX ... or TNG Network (http://tngnetwork.lythgoes.net/index.php) as it is called now? Perhaps just the GENDEX files could be used not to sponge on TNG. Could it be possible to use GENDEX … or TNG Network (http://tngnetwork.lythgoes.net/index.php) as it is called now? Perhaps just the GENDEX files could be used not to sponge on TNG.

]]> By: Hilton http://www.dftproject.org/blog/2007/03/05/piggybacking-on-google/#comment-1442 Hilton Wed, 07 Mar 2007 20:18:55 +0000 http://www.dftproject.org/blog/2007/03/05/piggybacking-on-google/#comment-1442 Jesper, you're totally right. Downloading entire GEDCOM files just for a name is indeed a waste, but on the other hand it's a simple measure that will work until something better (what you propose) is available. Once we have Valhalla, it'd be great to write a web crawler that feeds data into it. Or better yet, perhaps the folks at WeRelate.org would be interested in deploying Valhalla, or at least exposing their data in a DFT-friendly way. Jesper, you’re totally right. Downloading entire GEDCOM files just for a name is indeed a waste, but on the other hand it’s a simple measure that will work until something better (what you propose) is available. Once we have Valhalla, it’d be great to write a web crawler that feeds data into it. Or better yet, perhaps the folks at WeRelate.org would be interested in deploying Valhalla, or at least exposing their data in a DFT-friendly way.

]]> By: Hilton http://www.dftproject.org/blog/2007/03/05/piggybacking-on-google/#comment-1443 Hilton Wed, 07 Mar 2007 20:31:34 +0000 http://www.dftproject.org/blog/2007/03/05/piggybacking-on-google/#comment-1443 crex, that's a great idea as well! It would be pretty easy to use the TNG Network to find TNG websites. The trick though is getting the actual data out of the websites. I don't think TNG supports any web services (as PhpGedView does), and it takes a lot of effort to screen scrape. I do want Genesis to be able to access any genealogy service in the future though. Well, now would be nice, actually, but one step at a time. crex, that’s a great idea as well! It would be pretty easy to use the TNG Network to find TNG websites. The trick though is getting the actual data out of the websites. I don’t think TNG supports any web services (as PhpGedView does), and it takes a lot of effort to screen scrape. I do want Genesis to be able to access any genealogy service in the future though. Well, now would be nice, actually, but one step at a time.

]]> By: crex http://www.dftproject.org/blog/2007/03/05/piggybacking-on-google/#comment-1444 crex Wed, 07 Mar 2007 22:20:23 +0000 http://www.dftproject.org/blog/2007/03/05/piggybacking-on-google/#comment-1444 The GENDEX idea was invented by Gene Stark and it had it's own search engine on gendex.com (site dead since 2004). TNG has adapted that idea. Several genealogy programs can generate GENDEX files. Google for "gendex filetype:txt" and you'll see how the files looks like. There aren't that many to be found now, but if it could be used in Genesis more users might want to generate these index files. I guess it would be primaily for accessing static web pages. No relations is recorded in GENDEX unfortunately. At one time the GENDEX genealogy search engine indexed "more than 22,000 online databases of genealogical information on 60 million people." Perhaps someone will write the GENDEX 2 file format that also includes relations :) The GENDEX idea was invented by Gene Stark and it had it’s own search engine on gendex.com (site dead since 2004). TNG has adapted that idea. Several genealogy programs can generate GENDEX files. Google for “gendex filetype:txt” and you’ll see how the files looks like. There aren’t that many to be found now, but if it could be used in Genesis more users might want to generate these index files. I guess it would be primaily for accessing static web pages. No relations is recorded in GENDEX unfortunately. At one time the GENDEX genealogy search engine indexed “more than 22,000 online databases of genealogical information on 60 million people.” Perhaps someone will write the GENDEX 2 file format that also includes relations :)

]]> By: John Finlay http://www.dftproject.org/blog/2007/03/05/piggybacking-on-google/#comment-1568 John Finlay Fri, 16 Mar 2007 16:54:25 +0000 http://www.dftproject.org/blog/2007/03/05/piggybacking-on-google/#comment-1568 Hi Hilton, It was good to meet you at the FHT conference. Keep up the great work!! Something else that you can do with Google is ask it to give you a bigger list of phpgedview websites. This is what hackers have done in the past to try and look for exploits. For example enter the following search query into google: individual.php phpgedview version 4 You will have to filter out some noise, but it could give you more sites to search. --John Hi Hilton,

It was good to meet you at the FHT conference. Keep up the great work!!

Something else that you can do with Google is ask it to give you a bigger list of phpgedview websites. This is what hackers have done in the past to try and look for exploits.

For example enter the following search query into google:
individual.php phpgedview version 4

You will have to filter out some noise, but it could give you more sites to search.

–John

]]> By: Hilton http://www.dftproject.org/blog/2007/03/05/piggybacking-on-google/#comment-1570 Hilton Fri, 16 Mar 2007 20:11:42 +0000 http://www.dftproject.org/blog/2007/03/05/piggybacking-on-google/#comment-1570 Thanks John. It was good to meet you and your students as well! Thanks for the great tip as well. I was surprised to learn that there are over 10,000 PGV websites out there. I guess I'd just assumed that the 1,000 or so listed in the public registry were nearly all of them. I'd really like to be able to access the rest of them as well. Thanks John. It was good to meet you and your students as well!

Thanks for the great tip as well. I was surprised to learn that there are over 10,000 PGV websites out there. I guess I’d just assumed that the 1,000 or so listed in the public registry were nearly all of them. I’d really like to be able to access the rest of them as well.

]]> By: Michael Beuss http://www.dftproject.org/blog/2007/03/05/piggybacking-on-google/#comment-9511 Michael Beuss Wed, 07 Nov 2007 10:15:56 +0000 http://www.dftproject.org/blog/2007/03/05/piggybacking-on-google/#comment-9511 Hi Hilten, the idea of GENDEX is to make all private genealogical web pages searchable in one index. A GENDEX Server does not generate own, redundant web pages, it just points to the original. It gets the simple information from a GEDCOM file which is placed somewhere on the users web space. The link to it has to be published to the GENDEX server, which reads it from time to time to update its data base. Additional to TNG an other GENDEX server grows: http://www.familytreeseeker.com . It looks more professional and contains twice as much records as TNG ( http://tngnetwork.lythgoes.net ). See also GENDEX FAQ: http://www.familytreeseeker.com/faq.php?l=en&p=14 This is not my page, but I use it to find people who have the same ancestors. I would recommend everyone to provide his GENDEX file. Regards, Michael Beuss Hi Hilten,

the idea of GENDEX is to make all private genealogical web pages searchable in one index.
A GENDEX Server does not generate own, redundant web pages, it just points to the original. It gets the simple information from a GEDCOM file which is placed somewhere on the users web space. The link to it has to be published to the GENDEX server, which reads it from time to time to update its data base.

Additional to TNG an other GENDEX server grows: http://www.familytreeseeker.com .
It looks more professional and contains twice as much records as TNG ( http://tngnetwork.lythgoes.net ).

See also GENDEX FAQ: http://www.familytreeseeker.com/faq.php?l=en&p=14
This is not my page, but I use it to find people who have the same ancestors.
I would recommend everyone to provide his GENDEX file.

Regards,
Michael Beuss

]]> By: Hilton http://www.dftproject.org/blog/2007/03/05/piggybacking-on-google/#comment-9565 Hilton Thu, 08 Nov 2007 00:35:58 +0000 http://www.dftproject.org/blog/2007/03/05/piggybacking-on-google/#comment-9565 Thanks Michael! Actually, within the last week I've been in contact with the owner of familytreeseeker.com about using the site in Genesis. Contrary to appearances, I've been working on Genesis as time becomes available, and a new version will be coming out soon. So far, the plan is to use familytreeseeker.com as the default search engine. It will be presented in a browser window within Genesis. I'm also working on a p2p genealogy system in one of my CS classes which uses GENDEX records to distribute the index. I think it's a simple, straightforward, and effective format and hope that I can help influence adoption. Thanks Michael!

Actually, within the last week I’ve been in contact with the owner of familytreeseeker.com about using the site in Genesis. Contrary to appearances, I’ve been working on Genesis as time becomes available, and a new version will be coming out soon. So far, the plan is to use familytreeseeker.com as the default search engine. It will be presented in a browser window within Genesis. I’m also working on a p2p genealogy system in one of my CS classes which uses GENDEX records to distribute the index. I think it’s a simple, straightforward, and effective format and hope that I can help influence adoption.

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