GEDCOM
| Genealogical Data Communication | |
|---|---|
| File extension : |
.ged
|
| Developed by: | Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons) |
| Initial release: | 1985 |
| Current version: | 5.5.1 (as of November 15, 2019) |
| Website : | Specification 5.5.1 |
GEDCOM ( GE nealogical D ata COM communication) is the specification of a data format that enables the exchange of data between different computer programs for genealogy (genealogy).
Description and scope
The GEDCOM format ( file extension .ged) is purely text-based and contains the data of the individual persons in a family tree as well as information about their family relationships. It was developed by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons) to assist its members with family research.
Many genealogy programs and websites on the Internet support this data format.
Versions
In 1985 the first draft version 1.0 was published, in October 1987 version 3.0, the first version that was more than a draft.
A draft for version 6.0 (GEDCOM XML) has existed since October 2000. It is incompatible with previous versions because it is based on XML . So far it has not been used.
| version | date | Remarks |
|---|---|---|
| 1.0 | 1985 | |
| 2.0 | 1985-12 | used by PAF 2.0 |
| 2.1 | 1987-02 | used by PAF 2.1 |
| 3.0 | 1987-10-09 | first "standard" |
| 4.0 | 1989-08-04 | |
| 5.0 | 1991-09-25 | |
| 5.1 | 1992-09-18 | only as draft version |
| 5.3 | 1993-11-04 | only as draft version |
| 5.4 | 1995-08-21 | only as draft version |
| 5.5 | 1995-12-11 | A corrected version was published on January 10, 1996 |
| 5.5.1 | 2019-11-15 | The draft had been available since October 1999 |
After FamilySearch has withdrawn from further development, the international group FHISO tries to establish itself as a new standardization organization. In addition, a working group of German authors of genealogy programs under the umbrella of the Verein für Computergenealogie has for some time been working on renewing the GEDCOM standard specifically for the German-speaking area.
Example of the sentence structure
The basic concept of the GEDOM format for data exchange is based on the separation of people and their relationship to one another. Persons ( individual INDI ) are marked here with the letter I and a unique reference number. Their relationship is as a family ( Family FAM marked) with the letter F and reference number.
Assume that Martina Musterfrau is married to Max Mustermann, and the couple have a daughter, Monika. Then the data of the three persons (each beginning with 0in the first column, the unique number @I1@, @I2@or @I3@and the final identifier INDI) as well as the marriage (starting with 0in the first column, the unique number @F1@and the identifier FAM) are coded as follows:
0 HEAD
0 @I1@ INDI
1 NAME Martina /Musterfrau/
1 SEX F
1 BIRT
2 DATE 1 JAN 1980
2 PLAC Musterstadt
1 FAMS @F1@
0 @I2@ INDI
1 NAME Max /Mustermann/
1 SEX M
1 BIRT
2 DATE 1 JAN 1979
2 PLAC Musterstadt
1 FAMS @F1@
0 @I3@ INDI
1 NAME Monika /Mustermann/
1 SEX F
1 BIRT
2 DATE 1 APR 2001
2 PLAC Musterstadt
1 FAMC @F1@
0 @F1@ FAM
1 HUSB @I2@
1 WIFE @I1@
1 CHIL @I3@
1 MARR
2 DATE 30 JUN 2000
2 PLAC Musterstadt
Some programs require HEAD to be specified. Otherwise the GEDCOM file will be rejected as invalid.
In addition to these simple basic structures, the standard offers a large number of other field names ( tags ) and references, for example for multimedia files or references.
Web links
- GEDCOM Documentation Library (English)
- Gedcom 5.5 specification (English)
- Page from "familysearch.org" to Gedcom (English)
- genealogy.net wiki about "GEDCOM"
- GEDCOM documentation; V 5.5.1 (D) to V 6.0 (E)