Tuesday, April 23, 2013

Great Charts at TreeSeek - UPDATED (oops, still uses new.FamilySearch data)

One of the reasons I want to add my data to the FamilySearch Family Tree is to be able to create the absolutely beautiful family tree fan chart that can be created on the TreeSeek website (https://www.treeseek.com/index.php).



How did I get there?

1)  The TreeSeek home page looks like this:


There are a number of different charts that can be created based on the information in the FamilySearch Family Tree [see Update at bottom - still uses new.FamilySearch data]. To be clear, a user has to have a FamilySearch registered account (they are free) and have a presence in the FamilySearch Family Tree.

2)  I wanted to create the 9-generation Fan Chart, so I signed on to FamilySearch from within TreeSeek and clicked on the "My Trees" link:


TreeSeek can use data from either FamilySearch or Geni./com.  I chose to Create my chart from data in FamilySearch.

3)  I clicked on the "Create Tree" link, and had to make sure that I was identified.  It asked:



It had my FSFT ID correct, so I clicked on "Create data set."

4)  The system took awhile to create the tree chart.  Before I saw it, this screen appeared:


5)  I clicked on the "Create Tree" button, and the 9-Generation Family Tree Fan Chart was created and saved on my computer as a PDF file.  I opened it and saw:




The file is only 528 kb in size.  Even so, I can Zoom in on areas of the Tree:


And another area:


There are other options on the home page after the tree is created - a 4-generation Fan Chart, a 9-generation pedigree chart, a 10-generation pedigree chart, and a number of word clouds.

here is the 9-generation Pedigree Chart:


And the Surname Cloud:


I do wish that there was more information on the Fan Chart and the Pedigree Chart.  Life span dates (e.g., 1911-1983) would great, at least out to the sixth or seventh generation.  

Those are all pretty nice.  Did I mention that I especially like the Fan Chart?  However, there are errors (in  my humble opinion, based on my extensive research and that of others) in the FamilySearch Family Tree that I need to fix before I get a really big Fan Chart made using a printing service.

The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2013/04/great-charts-at-treeseek-uses.html

Copyright (c) 2013, Randall J. Seaver

Updated 24 April:  David Samuelsen, in a comment on Google+ concerning this blog post, noted that TreeSeek seems to be accessing old new.FamilySearch tree data rather than the new FamilySearch Family Tree.  I wondered why some of the entries on the Fan Chart did not include what I have updated over the past year - look at my Seaver line on the chart!  It is possible that they are using a relatively old version of new.FamilySearch to create the charts.

I still love the chart layout and colors...and will be on the lookout for when TreeSeek starts using the updated FS Family Tree data.

3 comments:

Kathleen Moore said...

I'm not usually one to get excited about the charts, but those are awesome!

Lisa S. Gorrell said...

The fan chart is pretty cool. You can see very quickly where your "holes" are!

Anonymous said...

Randy, FYI TreeSeek.com now lets you upload a gedcom to create some of the charts. In my last blogpost https://openingdoorsinbrickwalls.wordpress.com/2015/03/16/52-ancestors-11-lucky-in-love/ I used a 9 gen chart generated from my gedcom. I've been complimented on the chart and checked around to see if anyone had written a post about the site. I tried the site a few months ago and since they only used FamilySearch's tree I did not get the same result. ~ Cathy