Map My Ancestors is a software program  designed to map genealogy files using the Gedcom format employed by programs such as Legacy, Rootsmagic or Family Tree Maker.  For a detailed tutorial on using Map My Ancestors use the following link.

Getting started:

Begin by import your Gedcom file in Map My Ancestors. Select file open and chose the Gedcom option. Navigate to the location where you have stored the Gedcom file and select the file. 

Geo-Coding: Once you have selected your Gedcom file MMA will proceed to geocode all the locations associated with the individuals in your file(select the Places window). This is the most important and time consuming part of the mapping process. Once the Yahoo geo-coding engine has processed the records it assigns a "star" rating to the locations. You should confirm each record by highlighting it and checking the map. If you are satisfied that the location is correct click  the green button. Note the stars turn green. The nice thing about  MMA is it will retain this location in its internal data base and any subsequent file that contains this location will be correctly geocoded.

Those unknown or uncertain  locations......

The Yahoo geo-coding engine will not geocode all your locations  correctly. In fact it may be stumped or "confused" by many. If the place cannot be found or if you think it is incorrect you will have to do some digging.

If your locations are in the United Kingdom use Streetmap.co.uk. If Streetmap  finds the location look to the bottom of the page for the Click here to convert to coordinates link. Copy the post code and paste it in the search for field in MMA and hit your enter button.

You might also use Google Maps for stubborn places. I will search Google Maps for a place and include "post office" or "school". Google will return a list of schools or post offices for that place. Copy the postal code for the location and  paste it into the search for field in MMA.

Those really stubborn locations.......

Have you misspelled the name of the place? Has the spelling changed over time? Does the place no longer exist but you know approximately where it is? Use the internet. Historical locations will often be found on the internet as other Genealogists may be looking for the same location or may have found it. Use your detective skills!

Select your Data:

Once you are satisfied with the locations chose the selection option. You can:

• select all individuals or specific individuals
• sort on the date and highlight a date range
• highlight an individual in the main list and select ancestors or decendents.

Select map it and Google earth will map the file. You also have the option not to include the distribution map, in which case only markers for each record would be shown. If more than one record appears at one location the distribution folder will list all the records at that point(see the image to the right). If you pass your cursor over the location the points will "fan" and each record can be selected to view the details associated with that point.

Map It:

Once mapped you can return to Map My Ancestors and adjust any of the parameters and remap. Finally save the file as a Google Earth KMZ file.