Rabbit Holes With Randy - The "Wheels" in Heredis Genealogy Software

 I recently obtained Heredis software (see Genealogy Software: Heredis 2024 Is Available!), installed it, and imported a GEDCOM file of my family tree (with over 71,400 profiles) and checked it out.

The software publicity mentioned "wheels" and I wanted to determine what that was and how it was used.  In short, a "wheel" is a circular representation of a persons ancestor or descendant family tree - like a fan chart.  In Heredis, it can be a whole circle, a half circle or a portion of a circle - the user can control the shape of the family tree.  

Here is a screen shot of a 9 generation "Ancestors wheel" (I chose a 225 degree "wheel" for this) of my great-grandmother, Julia E. White (1848-1913) with the background colors determined by the County the person was born in:

Here is a 7 generation "Descendants wheel" for Julie E. White (again colored by County) showing descendants of Julia:

One of the new features of Heredis is a "Mixed wheel" (180 degrees for each type) showing both ancestors (9 generations) and descendants (7 generations) of Julia E. White:

When you are on the screen, you can run your mouse over the screen to zoom in and out of a portion of the tree.  Here is a zoomed portion of the "Mixed wheel" so I can examine a portion of the tree:

I had not seen a "Descendant wheel" or "Mixed wheel" chart before.  There are several different options for the background colors that can be selected by the user.

I'm still exploring the many features of Heredis.  There are significant differences in how the family tree is displayed in Heredis versus Family Tree Maker, RootsMagic and Legacy Family Tree (the other software programs I am familiar with).  One difference is that all names in Heredis are displayed with the surname first and in capitals as shown above.  Another is how dates are displayed - as month/day/year.  I haven't yet figured out if those items can be modified. 

It was fun and informative to go down this rabbit hole this week.  There are many more screens and features for this curious bunny to explore.

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Disclosure:  I have received complimentary copies of Heredis software over the years, including this most recent version, but I have never really explored it.  I am in the process of exploring how I might use this software to enhance my genealogy research.

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