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GEDCOM info

GEDCOM FILE
A quote from the Introduction to the GEDCOM 5.5.1 Standard:
GEDCOM was developed by the Family History Department of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) to provide a flexible, uniform format for exchanging computerized genealogical data.  GEDCOM is an acronym for GEnealogical Data Communication.  Its purpose is to foster the sharing of genealogical information and the development of a wide range of inter-operable software products to assist genealogists, historians, and other researchers.

A copy of the GEDCOM 5.5.1 draft Standard, to which PhpGedView adheres, can be downloaded in PDF format here:  GEDCOM 5.5.1 Standard This Standard is only available in English.

The GEDCOM file contains all the information about the family. All facts, dates, events, etc. are stored here. GEDCOM files have to follow strict rules because they must be exchangeable between many programs, independent of platforms or operating systems.


^ DATES IN A GEDCOM FILE
Although the date field allows for free-form entry (meaning you can type in whatever you want), there are some rules about how dates should be entered according to the GEDCOM 5.5.1 standard.
  1. A full date is entered in the form DD MMM YYYY. For example, 01 MAR 1801 or 14 DEC 1950.
  2. If you are missing a part of the date, you can omit that part. E.g. MAR 1801 or 14 DEC.
  3. If you are not sure or the date is not confirmed, you could enter ABT MAR 1801 (abt = about), BEF 20 DEC 1950 (bef = before), AFT 1949 (aft = after)
  4. Date ranges are entered as FROM MAR 1801 TO 20 DEC 1810 or as BET MAR 1801 AND 20 DEC 1810 (bet = between)

    The FROM form indicates that the event being described happened continuously between the stated dates and is used with events such as employment. The BET form indicates a single occurrence of the event, sometime between the stated dates and is used with events such as birth.

    Imprecise dates, where the day of the month or the month is missing, are always interpreted as the first or last possible date, depending on whether that imprecise date occurs before or after the separating keyword. For example, FEB 1804 is interpreted as 01 FEB 1804 when it occurs before the TO or AND, and as 29 FEB 1804 when it occurs after the TO or AND.
Be sure to enter dates and abbreviations in English, because then the GEDCOM file is exchangeable and PhpGedView can translate all dates and abbreviations properly into the currently active language. Furthermore, PhpGedView does calculations using these dates. If improper dates are entered into date fields, PhpGedView will not be able to calculate properly.

You can click on the Calendar icon for help selecting a date.


^ LOCATION LEVELS

This shows the levels that are displayed now. The list box showing places is actually a sublist of the leftmost level.

EXAMPLE:
The default order is City, County, State/Province, Country.
If the current level is "Top Level", the box will list all the countries in the database.
If the current level is "U.S.A., Top Level", the box will list all the states in the U.S.A.
etc.

You can click a level to go back one or more steps.




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