Input Appreciated on Family Tree Visualization project

Question

Hello

I am working on a family tree visualization project that I would appreciate input on. It is available at:

https://learnforeverlearn.com/ancestors

Charles II of Spain (good example of pedigree collapse): https://learnforeverlearn.com/ancestors/?file=Charles_II_of_Spain.ged.txt

It shows people in the tree chronologically, among other things, which adds a different "flavor" to the tree.  You can load your own GEDCOM (all data is local to your computer and not sent to a server), or view some of the sample trees.  When you hover on a person, it shows info on the person and shows all paths from that person to the "root person" (this version is focused on a root person and their ancestors).

A view recent notes with screenshot are here: http://www.nowherenearithaca.com/2015/01/better-handling-of-pedigree-collapse-in.html

Note - while it should display ok on mobile/tablets (including the samples), the interactivity is really best on desktop.
Thanks!

Comments

Oh, wow. That's super cool. I'll have to spend some time with it before I can give any coherent feedback, but thanks for sharing!

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It's good for small to medium trees but the larger ones, like the default that shows up could be difficult to find things as they get more crammed together at the top of the page.

 

Perhaps an option to limit the generations displayed to make it easier to see.  Maybe an option to spread out the tree.  It would require you to scroll at the bottom but it would make the older generations easier to see.

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thanks - yes, the default page was intentionally "large" based on the "pedigree" of the visualization itself, where the initial purpose was to show how fast a tree gets large

I have plans for zoom/translate, which I think it kind of what you're referring to in "spread out the tree" - I agree this is needed.  

I'll make a note about the generations thing, too.

 

thanks!

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I'm very pleased to see someone tackling pedigree collapse graphically! It's driving me nuts in renderings of my ancestry -- "it's not just for nobility anymore!"

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thanks for the comment! - let me know if you get a chance to play with it with your own tree.  I've added a number of features since this note, including descendant trees and the ability to pan/zoom

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Brad, I've just joined WikiTree and discovered your amazing visualization tool. Thank you for all of your brilliant work on this. It is elegant, lightning fast, and the added bonus of having historical events populated into the timeline was a delightful surprise.

I've been struggling to show my wife about pedigree collapse in her own sprawling family web. She's been ever-so-patient but it's been clear that she only grasped the concept at the most-superficial level.

This was the perfect tool to demonstrate that! She gets that now at a deep level, and it is deeply-satisfying to have first-hand data support Justin Chang and Ralph & Coop's work.

Also, I love being able to see an overall pedigree map, which has been exceedingly difficult to create manually.

I'm a retired software architect and know how vital tools like this can be orphaned. Do you have plans to put this tool on Github or something similar?

Answer 1

I have been looking for this ever since I saw it on a FB group. Yay!