Discover your inside story with AncestryDNA®

August 2, 2012

Playing with Uencounter.me and Loving it!

Uencounter.me is a very cool site. It's a virtual pin map site which allows you to mark significant events on a map and designate the timeframe for the event. There's a social aspect to it too as you can link to others who are using it. Best of all it's free!

It's great for genealogists and I've been playing around in it for a few weeks now. When I first tried this site out there was a problem with date choices in the drop down menu which didn't start early enough. I knew the site was new and so minor glitches were to be expected.  I sent an email about the date issues, received an immediate response and the problem was corrected very quickly.

A week or so later I encountered another glitch with the Google map search. Again I reported it and by next morning it was fixed by the site developer. And I was informed by email that it was now working properly. Immediate response and fast action to overcome glitches - it doesn't get any better!

Some ideas for genealogists based on my experiences with Uencounter.me:

* Mark an ancestor's residence in various years

* Drop pins for events such as a birth, death or marriage of an ancestor.

* Track an ancestor's migration pattern by dropping pins along his or her route.

I'm sure readers will come up with many more ways to use this site. 

When you first log in there are various choices represented by circular icons on the top right: Build your map; Say thanks; Find Someone. I've only used Build your map so far and it's easy.

Just use the built-in Google map to find the location you want for a pin. Then enter your information using the drop-down menus (how easy is that!). The colour of the pin is automatically chosen by the category you choose. Yes, genealogy is a category

Olive Tree Genealogy Profile Page
Uencounter.me recently added the ability to create user profile pages and I've got one under Olive Tree Genealogy  So if you are using Uencounter.me drop me a link request and we can link together.

I like this site and plan on spending more time here and dropping many more pins.

8 comments:

Bernie Hornung said...

Will also play with this, thanks.
I had been looking for some way to mark a map with ancestor locations in order to figure out where they were and then where they might go. Might be able to use this service to aid in doing that.
FTM is limited in its mapping to an individual's movement and not being able to create an ever widening circle as ancestors move about.

Celia Lewis said...

Oh dear - I've been on it for over an hour! Addictive, Lorine!! And, it makes me want to go dig through my photo albums which still aren't scanned, and put some specific photos up as well...

Jana Iverson Last said...

Dropped my first few pins on the map!

Thanks Lorine!

Lola said...

I do wish there was a way to designate different branches of the family on the same map--different color or shaped pins...

Nancy said...

Do you have different maps for different families? Can you put several families on the same map and designate the families by color or in some other way?

I haven't gone to the site but will this weekend.

Thanks for telling us about it.

leslyn kantner said...

Lorine, I just want to comment to your readers who are requesting different maps/pins etc to track different branches of family members... we are creating this as we speak! It's been on our list since so many genealogy enthusiastic began using the site and telling us it would be beneficial. We have attempted to prioritize items and the custom mapping is the NEXT big feature to roll out. Keep your fingers crossed that it will be within a week or two. I promise to let you know when it goes live! Thanks again for the post... your readers have been dropping a ton of pins!

Unknown said...

I still prefer HistoryPin to Uencounter.me. HistoryPin allows you to create collections (aka, by Surname) and tours (chronologies), and allows you to embed those on to another website -- such as a family history website or blog.

However, HistoryPin does require that you actually pin a digital object (photo, video, audio, document, etc.) rather than just an event.

-- Colleen Greene
Colleen & Jeff's Roots
Colleen's Commentary

Jana Iverson Last said...

Hi Lorine! Just wanted to let you know I wrote a blog post about uencounter.me and included a link your uencounter.me post at http://janasgenealogyandfamilyhistory.blogspot.com/2012/08/mappy-mondayfun-with-uencounterme-and.html

Thanks so much!!