No recognition of "USA" as a country? (Fixed)

[Alexander Bisset]

Interestingly it works on my machine just fine. I suspect therefore that the factlocationfixes.xml file is missing.

Edit: yes the XML files had been marked in the new website as data files and not required program files so they weren't getting included in the installer. I've fixed this for v6.1.3 which is now published.

The issue was the factlocationfixes file that standardises USA and all other country variants wasn't getting processed so it wasn't recognising countries properly.

 

[Tim]

Great job Alexander, thanks. Let's see how Jorges gets on.

 

[Bryman]

I can't be the only person who has this problem, unless of course it is only the Ancestry format of the two US censuses that FTA has stopped recognising.

I think that there is a more general problem because most programs and people record this information in slightly differing formats and hence FTA provides a very useful ability to accept slight variations as if they were all the same. This can save many people a lot of time and effort by avoiding the need to change existing references to a 'common' standard. Before FTA was available, many people recorded census information within Notes in a form which was convenient to themselves, rather than using any facility within their family history program which can often be more time consuming to complete.

I am just as guilty of such laziness as anybody else. Fortunately, FTA accepts several variations, one of which suits my data for the England and Wales censuses in 1841/1881/1911. When it comes to other countries/years, the information is different and I am not aware of all the formats anticipated by FTA. Alexander has given the alternatives above for the US 1840 census but what exactly does that mean and what about other countries/years? I think that a few examples in the documentation would be very helpful and much appreciated by users.

I expect that most users of FTA almost exclusively provide reference data for England and Wales in 1841/1881/1911 so the problems with other countries would not apply to them.

I haven't dug deep enough to find the string used, but I create my GEDcom using FTM. I can always try to find it, but to be honest I'm unsure of how to do so.

It should not be too difficult to find the appropriate records in the Gedcom file. Open the file using Notepad, or something similar, and use CNTL-F to locate the individual concerned. Look for a record starting "1 CENS" followed by another with "2 DATE" indicating the year of the census. Other records should have been included to show the appropriate census reference, eg "Class: RG09; Piece: 614; Folio: 159; Page: 41" for E/W in 1861. Obviously, the 1840 US census would have different terms but should be broadly similar and match the values recorded in your FHS. If you supply the contents of such records to Alexander he will probably be able to advise further or make adjustments to FTA to accommodate.

 

[jorghes]

Thanks very much all - FTA now showing that it has "found" some entries for the US census... and of course, some now "missing". But it actually shows them now rather than it seemingly not finding them at all! (and my "missing country" list has shrunk to only a single entry.)

 

[peter]

On a lighter note.....

"Australia Isn't A Country"

 

[jorghes]

... oh dear lord.

Just as a final note, not only is Australia a country, AND the world's smallest continent... it's also the world's largest island...

 

[Margery]

.

"Australia Isn't A Country"

An interesting story. At least it wasn't confused with Austria!

 

[Margery]

not only is Australia a country, AND the world's smallest continent... it's also the world's largest island...

And the best place in the world to live!