Genealogy and what??? "Orienteering"? What is that?
Dictionary.com says:
o·ri·en·teer·ing (ôr-n-tîrng, -n-, r-)
n. Sports
A cross-country race in which competitors use a map and compass to find
their way through unfamiliar territory.
Okay, so what possible connection is there between the study of
one’s ancestry and a little-known sport where people race through the woods
using a map and compass? Read on . . .
First of all, the Dictionary.com definition is technically correct
but perhaps a bit outdated. Orienteering traditionally is a sport where individuals
or teams use compass, maps, and other tools to navigate quickly through woods
or other unfamiliar territory. However, modern technology has moved into orienteering;
competitors now use GeoPositional Satellite (GPS) receivers to accurately pinpoint
locations and maps to find out-of-the-way trails, engage in Geocaching (finding
"prizes" hidden in advance by orienteering competition organizers),
or to compete in orienteering contests.
Bob Maley is a genealogist who obviously has also enjoyed orienteering.
Now he sees a chance to combine the two and thereby benefit many thousands of
genealogists. Bob calls his idea the "U.S. GeoGen Project." Quoting
from his Web site:
The US GeoGen Project ™ is a national project designed to
combine the hobbies of genealogy and electronic orienteering. Most everyone
who has performed genealogical research has spent time driving around looking
for cemeteries and other historical sites and monuments. Electronic orienteering
is the use of global positioning devices (GPS) and maps to find out of the
way trails, engage in Geocaching, or compete in orienteering contests.
The goal of the project is to create a national network of
county oriented pages listing locations of interest to the genealogist along
with their geographical coordinates, so those researchers that follow can
easily find the locations.
The same Web site also says, "The national database will
always be made freely available via the Internet to anyone who is researching
his or her ancestry."
When I read the phrase, "locations of interest to the genealogist,"
I think of cemeteries, especially the old, abandoned cemeteries. Bob Maley apparently
thinks of old cemeteries as well. However, I suspect that other locations might
also be of interest, such as abandoned towns.
To search the database, the user enters a state and then a county
name. The Web’s software searches to see which locations in that county have
been indexed, if any. If any matches are found, the results page points to the
personal Web pages that contain the detailed information. This method is quite
similar to several other genealogy Web databases.
I searched the GeoGen Project database but found precious little.
This project is in its infancy and needs to have data input by many volunteers
before it becomes a useful tool. However, the GeoGen Project promises to become
a very useful research aid for genealogists. Armed with the information in the
GeoGen Project, along with a GPS receiver, future genealogists should be able
to find even the tiniest of cemeteries.
How can you help? First of all, you do not need to be a trained
athlete. You should be able to walk around old cemeteries in wooded areas, however.
You will also need a GPS receiver (available for less than $100 for a basic
model) and be willing to devote some of your time helping other genealogists.
You then can begin by locating cemeteries in your area and recording their locations
online, using the GPS receiver to log the longitude and latitude coordinates.
I would expect many local genealogy societies to get involved in this cemetery
location project as well as individual genealogists.
Bob Maley is also looking for more people to "adopt"
states and coordinate projects involving the identification and recording of
cemetery locations in each state. As of this writing, only ten states have been
"adopted." Of those ten, only a few have data available online today.
Here is your chance to get in on the "ground floor" of an interesting
new service.
For more information or to see how you can help, look at the US
GeoGen Project at: geogen.org.
Dick Eastman Online
