In the last two posts, I talked about genealogy software and the GEDCOM spec. In this post, I'm going to talk more about the GEDCOM spec. This time I want to talk about the external media support for GEDCOM files.
In the GEDCOM spec, there exists support for external media files. The most common use of this feature is pictures. An INDI record can point to an external file that contains a picture of that person. This works great for software that uses GEDCOM files as the database. This part of the specification breaks down when you use GEDCOM files as a way to exchange family trees.
First, lets talk about the export/import process. When you export a GEDCOM file, you get a single file. Some software will allow you to export a zip file that contains the GEDCOM file as well as the media that goes along with it. Then, you take your GEDCOM file and import it. Just the GEDCOM file, not the zip file. This begs the question, how do I import the media? I'm sure some software allows this. If any software does allow this, will they run into the same problem that I discussed in Part 2? References to external files are stored as OBJE records. You can do a search and replace of FAM with OBJE in Part 2 and you will see the dilemma. This goes back to the root of the problem I discussed in Part 1. The genealogy software today assumes that they are the single master copy of the family tree.
In the GEDCOM spec, there exists support for external media files. The most common use of this feature is pictures. An INDI record can point to an external file that contains a picture of that person. This works great for software that uses GEDCOM files as the database. This part of the specification breaks down when you use GEDCOM files as a way to exchange family trees.
First, lets talk about the export/import process. When you export a GEDCOM file, you get a single file. Some software will allow you to export a zip file that contains the GEDCOM file as well as the media that goes along with it. Then, you take your GEDCOM file and import it. Just the GEDCOM file, not the zip file. This begs the question, how do I import the media? I'm sure some software allows this. If any software does allow this, will they run into the same problem that I discussed in Part 2? References to external files are stored as OBJE records. You can do a search and replace of FAM with OBJE in Part 2 and you will see the dilemma. This goes back to the root of the problem I discussed in Part 1. The genealogy software today assumes that they are the single master copy of the family tree.
I do know a program that can import multiple gedcom files including their media files :-)
ReplyDeleteThe new gedcom file is just added to the existing file, including the names of the media files. After the import, just add the new media files in the existing media folder.
Most programs can do this...
Huub Mons.
Thanks for that info. I will try with my father-in-law's Family Tree Maker files. I try not to modify the contents of a webapp, so I never thought of just copying the files in.
ReplyDelete