Zoom in on the World – Zoom in on a Place

Zoom in on the World provides several tools that will assist you in locating your ancestors.

Heredis will help you get a better understanding of your ancestors’ environment by offering an array of miscellaneous information related to places.

To access Zoom in on a Place, all you need to do is either click:
• on the button, from Data > Personal Data > Events > Details tab,
• on the button, from Family Tree Mapping > Places tab,
• from the Tools menu > Zoom in on the World > Zoom in on a Place,
• on the Zoom in on a Place button in the toolbar,
• from the Places Index or the Places panel, on the button.

In the upper part of the side panel, under Heredis Data, you will find the information for the location currently displayed in Heredis. You can tick or untick the box entitled Display place subdivisions to show or hide the subdivisions of your genealogy file that are linked to this place on the map.

Change places by clicking on the magnifying glass . Open the Places Index by clicking on the button . The button allows you to zoom back on the place indicated under Heredis Data if you have been navigating on the map of a bordering place.

Please see the paragraph entitled Bordering Places.

Details tab

Under this tab, Heredis will display the information on this place found on the internet in OpenStreetMap’s and Wikidata’s databases, as well as a map zoomed in on this place. Administrative levels such as city, county, state/province, or country are clickable links that will allow you to modify the zoom level on the map.

Heredis is also defaulted to display on this map every subdivision already geolocated in the current genealogy and linked to this place. Yellow markers indicate their position on the map.
With just one click on a marker, the data related to this subdivision will be displayed.

You can untick the box entitled Show place subdivisions to hide the geolocated subdivisions markers.

Toponyms tab

Under this tab, you will find every toponym available in the OpenStreetMap database. The color of the marker, grey or blue , indicates whether the toponym has been selected in the list of toponyms.
Click on a toponym’s marker to visualize its data and to copy it, if you wish to, by clicking on the Copy button. Such data will allow you, for instance, to precisely locate an event in your genealogy.

Click on a toponym to copy and paste its name and coordinates into Personal Data > Events > Details, by clicking on next to the Place subdivision field (all data or coordinates only).

For more information on geolocating subdivisions, please consult the article entitled Family Tree Mapping subdivisions.

Note: yellow markers indicate subdivisions that have already been located in your current genealogy.

Bordering Places tab

Heredis will display the places bordering a city. You might be able to finally locate the impossible-to-find death certificate of your ancestor in one of these bordering places. Indeed, it is quite common to hit a wall when desperately looking for an event in the place where your ancestors’ family resided while sometimes all it takes is to search in a neighboring village.

Click on Bordering Places. On the map, Heredis will display all registered cities that are on the same administrative level and directly surrounding your ancestors’ place.

Note: Heredis can only display bordering places that are on the same administrative level as the place you have selected. Other bordering places may be on a different administrative level and therefore will not be highlighted.

When you select a city on the list, its city limits will be outlined. Click on the city displayed on the map and some concise data will pop up.

You can click on the Detail button to obtain more detailed information on this place. Heredis navigates on the Details tab in Zoom in on a Place and zooms in on this place on the map. You can access the various toponyms for this place under the Toponyms tab.

Click on the button under Heredis Data to zoom back on the place you had selected in your Heredis file.

Right-clicking on the map of bordering places enables you to Copy coordinates and paste them in the Place subdivisions field of an event by clicking on (all data or coordinates only).

For more information on geolocating subdivisions, please consult the article entitled Geolocating Place subdivisions.

Updating your data and options available in Zoom in on the World

You can leave Zoom in on the World open and simultaneously work on your genealogy. For your latest data entries to be accounted for, click on the button .

The button allows you to access various options and create a customized display:

• choose where you want the side bar and its various tabs to be located – you can either display it on the left- or right-hand side.
• decide whether you want to display boundaries at the various administrative levels (Borders), if such data is available in the OpenStreetMap database.

Contribute to OpenStreetMap

OpenStreetMap is a community database. Should you notice any missing data, e.g. some toponyms, feel free to add them yourself.

Click the Contribute to OpenStreetMap button and follow the instructions in the article entitled Contribute to OpenStreetMap. Heredis frequently updates its data from OpenStreetMap’s. Data reported by worldwide users will then be integrated.