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Addon:PlaceCleanupGramplet

7 bytes added, 13:25, 3 October 2018
Faq
* GeoNames finds multiple places: Example, 'Santa Rosa, CA'. GeoNames finds both 'Santa Rosa, Sonoma, California, United States' and 'City of Santa Rosa, Sonoma, California, United States'. The way the GeoNames database is structured, they have a 'Populated Place', which generally has lots of Alternate names and postal codes, and an 'Administrative subdivision' for the same place. The 'City of' version is the Administrative subdivision, which generally doesn't have postal codes and alternate names. I personally prefer the first version, which should appear first in the 'Choices' list.
* Timeouts: When using the GeoNames web database with a free account, you will sometimes get a timeout. The Timeout is set to 20 seconds for each request, unfortunately some actions take several requests, so the user may see unresponsive Gramps for up to 40 seconds. You can always try the request again by pressing the last used button. According to the GeoNames web site, if you pay for an account, you may get better performance, as the paid accounts use more lightly loaded servers.
* Not Found: While the GeoNames database contains some historical names, it mostly tries to be up to date with the current times. Many places in a typical family tree are described as of the time the event occurred. So it is entirely possible that the described place no longer exists. It may now belong to a different country, or other administrative subdivision. Or it may have been subsumed with within another larger place. Initially you should try removing the intermediate place data, leaving only the initial segment and the country. You may get a lot of matches, but that may give you a better clue as to the current situation. Or you may have to do some research outside the Gramplet to figure out what it might be called now.
* Place Types: Since GeoNames does not have place 'type' data, the same way that Gramps does, this addon uses an algorithm to attempt to pick an appropriate place type. If a country is known to have a rigid administrative place type structure, such as the United States with its City/County/State/Country, then the various parts of the place hierarchy are typed accordingly.
: If the structure is not always known or used, then the algorithm attempts to assign place types by looking at the place name. For example if the place name includes a word that matches a place type, such as "Harris County" or "Smith Township", then the place type is set accordingly. To do this, all the various place alternate names are scanned, in case the primary name does not include a suitable word.
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