A new free website where you can map your ancestors

[Toastie]

Hello

I work for an online mapping company which has created a new website which I think will be of interest to people who, like me, are interested in researching their family histories.

http://www.findfreemaps.co.uk offers totally free access to a range of constantly updated maps from reputable sources such as the Ordnance Survey and Google. The site offers a free toolkit which allows users to draw on the maps and to insert text and graphics. It also allows them to instantly measure, style, colour and print finished maps or save them as PDFs.

Having selected a map and a view, users can examine an area in which family members lived or create personalised maps showing, for example, the geographical movements of an individual family member, the distribution of different family members or the location of graves. They can also add information to their maps from a range of layers grouped under various headings including ‘heritage’ and ‘boundaries’.

I've made a simple map as an example of how genealogists might use the site. It can be found on http://www.findfreemaps.co.uk under 'Help' and is entitled 'Genealogy: mapping your ancestors'.

The site has been created using datasets released free of charge under the government 'open data' scheme - that's why it's free to use. Unfortunately, historic maps have not yet been released as part of this scheme.

I’d be happy to answer any questions you may have and welcome your feedback.

With thanks and kind regards

Pamela

[Northern Lass]

moved to misc section