Traces of the Past 1.0 Released for iPhone

There is a new genealogy-related App out for the iPhone / iPod touch / iPad, called Traces of the Past. It’s in the vein of Ancestry.com Tree-to-Go or MobileTree. It differs from those two applications in that unlike Tree-to-Go it’s not limited to Ancestry.com, and unlike MobileTree, it’s not confined to a membership-only website/database. It also doesn’t have family tree functionality, similar to say GedView.

Basically it acts as a front-end to genealogy databases/collections. It’s something you would use “on the go” if you needed to do a quick lookup or if you had some time to spare and wanted to be productive.

This puts it in its own class and I hesitate to lump it in with the other genealogy applications. I’m hoping to find the time to test it out at some point, as I think it does have a place on your iPhone, assuming you have memberships for the genealogy databases that it accesses, that require it. The fact that it’s not tied to any specific websites is a huge bonus in my view. Ancestry.com Tree-to-Go and MobileTree are both useful if you qualify or are paid up for their respective services, but if you don’t qualify or don’t pay for a membership, they are useless, and that’s where Traces to Go has the potential to shine.

Traces of the Past supports the following databases/collections (some may require payment/registration) and it looks like it can be updated to access other databases in the future:
* FamilySearch
* Footnote.com
* Findmypast.com
* EllisIsland.org
* Others

Screenshots can be found on the Traces of the Past page here at MobileGenealogy.com.

From a comment on their website, it looks like they are working on native iPad support, rather than just the 2x upscaling currently available.

It’s available for $3.99 in the Apple iTunes Store

Genealogy Gems Podcast App 1.5.2

The iPhone/iPod touch/iPad app for Genealogy Gems Podcast has been updated to version 1.5.2. The app provides an easy way to access the Genealogy Gems Podcast (Your Family History Show) by Lisa Louise Cooke, along with additional content such as:
* PDFs of tips and ideas from the show
* Genealogy Gems Wallpaper
* Bonus audio/video content
* Easily follow the show on Twitter
* Call-in audio comment feature (iPhone only)

Version 1.5.2 Changes:
* Bug Fixes
* Episode Search

Genealogy Gems Podcast App at iTunes Store ($2.99)

If you want to access the regular podcast for free, you can access it through the iTunes Store or through the Genealogy Gems Podcast website.

MobileTree Lite 1.3

The “Lite” version of MobileTree, MobileTree Lite, has been updated to version 1.3 today.

There are only a few changes:
- FamilySearch has given MobileTree the okay to store the username and password for new.familysearch.org. The username and password are stored securely on the device.
- Bug fixes.

Note: You may need to be a member of Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in order to use this iPhone or iPod Touch app – it uses their genealogy database and this app requires login credentials for New.FamilySearch.org

Link to Apple iTunes store

GedView 2.10 Released, iPad Supported

GedView, a genealogy application for the iPhone / iPod touch / iPad, has undergone a significant upgrade as of the 2.10 release. It’s now the first GEDCOM-based genealogy application running on the iPhone OS that allows for full-screen mode on the iPad. Note that this is not the 2x upscaling that Apps written for the iPhone or iPod touch employ when used on an iPad.

GedView offers quite a few advantages over other genealogy apps on the iPhone platform. It allows you to import GEDCOM files through several means (WiFi, 3G, etc.) as well as exporting either through email or through a built-in webserver. It can handle the importing of multiple GEDCOM files into multiple database and you can easily switch back and forth between databases. You can also create new databases/GEDCOMs within GedView. It is not tied to any Mac OS X applications.

Changes:
- Improved date parsing, now handles month names in any language supported by the OS.
- Now makes use of _PLAC_DEFN as used by Legacy to add latitude/longitude information to places. Also supports reading latitude/longitude incorrectly placed on an address record
- Support running full screen on iPad.
- Numerous bug fixes.

It’s available for $3.99 USD (or £2.39 / €2.99) ($4.99 AU) at Apple’s iTunes Music Store

Metes and Bounds 1.4.1 Adds iPad Support

Metes and Bounds (Universal) has now added support for Apple’s new iPad, in addition to supporting iPhone and iPod touches.

Metes and Bounds is an application that can be quite useful for some genealogists – it allows you to take a property deed or other such land description that you may come across in your genealogy research, and turn it into an actual plat drawing.

It does support quite a few units of measurement, and can even plot out with older measurements you might come across such as rods, chains, and spans. It does not (as of now) support plotting based on section calls. The desktop version allows you to set latitude and longitude points as well as layers (if you have multiple deeds centered on a certain piece of land).

The iPhone/iPad version allows you to email the file to your desktop or laptop Mac or Windows PC to be loaded into the Mac OS X or Windows version of Metes and Bounds.

Changes:
* Added iPad support.
* No longer crashes if adding a call with no length.

It’s $4.99 and is available through Apple’s iTunes Music Store