I am tidying up my Gramps database (Version 6.0/6.4) and have three points where I am stuck:
1. Importing GOV data:
I want to use data from GOV. I know the GetGOV Gramplet, but with the volume of places I have, that involves too much manual work. How can you best import this data into Gramps in bulk, without having to type everything in individually?
2. What is the real benefit of the GOV ID (EXID)?
I am still not clear on what happens when I save the GOV IDs as “EXID” in Gramps. Does this help the program automatically recognize which place is meant? And can the program thereby later automatically assign which district or state the place belonged to at a given time, or do I have to manually enter this structure (times/affiliations) into Gramps?
3. Organizing places correctly (from World to Farmstead):
My family tree is very detailed (World → Country → District → City → Suburb → Hamlet → Farmstead). How do you map this hierarchy in Gramps without it becoming cluttered or creating duplicate entries? Is there a trick for linking this cleanly in Gramps?
4. Territories east of the Oder-Neisse line:
How do you handle places that are now in Poland or Russia? Do you use the current names or the old German names from the past? How do you enter this chronologically so that you can still see historical affiliation at baptisms?
I want my database to remain clean and suitable for the future. I would greatly appreciate simple tips on your working methods.
Place records can have names change based upon the date of the event. You can set up in the Alternative names tab multiple records with dates for when the name was valid. One key fact… you must also do the same for the main place Name by opening its edit window with the icon at the end of the Name field.
Every place record can have these options setting up a date path through the hierarchy with name changes along the way. It will be no different for places that have changed countries over time.
I try to use the endonym for the place names. So I have Київ as the place name and Kyiv and Kiev as alternatives so I can search for the record.
If you use GetGOV, it will download the place hierarchy. It will store Its place record ID in the Gramps’ ID field. As you download more records, records with the same GetGOV id will be automatically merged.
I started using GetGOV for my German places but no longer use it. It was just too much. All I want is the populated place and the big picture enclosed by hierarchy. I do not want all the administrative offices throughout time.
I once used the Get GOV Gramplet, and it messed up my entire place hierarchy.
I type the data directly from GOV. Data prior to 1800 is mostly not found in it anyway. For the rest, I get it from the Wikipedia entry for the respective place.
There will probably never be anything that automatically syncs your places en masse in Gramps, since everyone has slightly different preferences regarding place hierarchy.
2. What is the actual benefit of the GOV ID (EXID)?
I don’t know. However, it overwrites the Gramps ID of the place. That’s another reason why I don’t use the Gramplet.
3. Organizing places correctly (from World down to Hof):
I handle it similarly to you. Sometimes, however, I leave out certain elements so that the place name doesn’t become too long. If I transfer this to the Family Tree Printer, it doesn’t look very nice. It becomes cluttered on its own anyway. Try entering a municipality from the Saarland, and you’ll really get lice (i.e., it gets very messy).
4. Territories east of the Oder-Neisse line:
This comes about if you use “Alternative Names” and assign the place via “Part of” to a territory located above the place in the hierarchy.
Start with the country. It had different names over the centuries. You type those in first (unfortunately, all manually). I’ll put a few screenshots here for you, so you can see how I did it.
