Come to Sophie Kay’s talk on Flourish
About the author Dr.
Dr Sophie Kay will be demonstrating how to use Flourish to create a timelapse map at the May Genealogy Gadgets Club meeting (25 May, 1-2pm UK time). Find out how to join the club at www.family-tree.co.uk/membership.
Sophie Kay is a professional genealogist and geneticist at Khronicle. You may know her from her family history blog, The Parchment Rustler; from Twitter’s #AncestryHour, where she’s part of the behind-the-scenes team; or from her courses in historical mapping techniques and research methodology at Pharos Tutors. She’s also a co-founder of Pro-Am Genies, a networking group for professional and aspiring pro genealogists. Find her on Twitter as @ScientistSoph if you’d like to chat maps, occupations, DNA and all things family history!
Gathering your data The starting point for creating a timeline is first to export the data from your family tree, so that you can then work with it to build your timeline.
When it comes to sweeping vistas on your family history research, few things can beat a good map. Stepping away from individuals and embracing the bigger picture and broader patterns can utterly transform your perspective on your ancestors. Whole generations, branches, even your entire family tree: maps invite you to witness the ebb-and-flow and movements of your ancestors over centuries.
So let’s see how to create a timelapse map of genealogical dates and places, using a data visualisation website called Flourish (https://flourish. studio/).
In four stages, you can turn those dates and places from your family tree into a beautiful map capturing your family’s meanderings over time. Here, I’m going to create a visualisation of ancestral birthplaces for the fictional DUTTON family. The more ambitious amongst you might also try mapping other events, such as marriages, deaths or baptisms.
STAGE 1: GATHERING YOUR DATA