TOPIC:

FYI - following post about GEDCOM 7.0 was found on the Internet:

genealogysstar.blogspot.com/2021/02/intr...sion-70-release.html

The new GEDCOM Standard v7.0 has been discussed for some time now. I'm not going to get too excited by this new version! Why?

1) I have not see the final documentation for this version and don't know if they have taken any real steps to fix many of the problems I see as important.
2) Most genealogy programs don't support GEDCOM v5.5 or v5.5.1 to any extent so why will they now embrace GEDCOM v7.0. GEDZip will probably get used because many people loose their photos when the transfer them, BUT based on the discussions I have had with two Genealogy Program companies, they say most people don't care about GEDCOM anyway, why should we?

I followed FHISO for a number of years but I'm guessing that GEDCOM-X, their concept for GEDCOM, will not be part of the new GEDCOM v7.0!

It seems that the 7.0 standard will be published on 25th February.

I am currently working on some code which separates the GEDCOM definition from the code with uses it.

So, it will hopefully be easy to support the new standard when it arrives.

... it is now published: GEDCOM 7.0

For more detailed information see gedcom.io

I had a first look to the documentation. Besides new tags and structures, some inconsistencies of version 5.5.1, which caused ambiguities in data exchange between genealogical programs, have been fixed in the new release.

What's new:
- UTF-8 is now the only permitted character encoding
- All length limits are removed
- LANG payloads are now language tags, as defined in IETF BCP 47
- Media types are now IANA Media Types
- Embedded object structures are removed
- A new NO tag allows making negative assertions
- Media can now be combined with a GEDCOM file in a GEDZip
- Media can now link to the Internet as well as to local files (like webtrees support it)
- CROP is now allowed under image-valued OBJE (definition of image crops)
- MIME (text/plain, text/html). Notes may now used a subset of HTML for basic rich-text markup (like webtrees support it)
- CONC has been removed
- All dates can now have date phrases, including date ranges and periods
- All dates can now have associated times
- Ages may now be expressed additional in weeks
- Ages and all enumerated values can now have user-text values and clarifying phrases
- Names and place names may now have multiple translations and transliterations
- Shared note record SNOTE as a replacement of the NOTE record
- Identifiers RIN, RFN, and AFN have been combined into a new EXID tag, which can now also be used to link to external databases and websites
- ASSO tag is now permitted under events as well as individuals. _WITN and _GODP isn't necessary anymore.
- ASSO.RELA has been replaced by enumerated value ASSO.ROLE: CHIL, CLERGY, FATH, FRIEND, GODP, HUSB, MOTH, MULTIPLE, NGHBR, OFFICIATOR, PARENT, SPOU, WIFE, WITN, OTHER
- CREA can now be recorded along with the existing CHAN
- SEX X for intersex persons
- Same-sex partnerships can now be maintained in the Family Record
- New NAME.TYPE: PROFESSIONAL
- Additional customer oriented NAME.TYPEs are allowed, starting with an underscore
- Name pieces are not comma separated anymore
- UID is a globally-unique identifier for a record (like webtrees support it as _UID today)
- SDATE is a sort-by date
- SCHMA in header to decribe extensions
- And some other changes

After a gap of more than 20 years, the new release shows that the development has been resumed and will be continued. The list of contributors to this new release also gives hope that the new standard will be widely implemented (see chapter 5).

I hope that issues such as place records or family relationships will be picked up and standardized. Also, new requirements arise from the collaboration of several researchers on the same family tree - especially for web-oriented programs like webtrees. Such forms of collaboration were not supported in programs 20 years ago. Here too, I expect support from GEDCOM in the future.

Best regards
Peter

... great summary, Peter! Thanks!

Minor additions:
- RESN is now allowed in all record types (like webtrees support it) and in events, but "RESN none" is missing
- NOTE.SOUR is allowed (like webtrees support it)
- NCHI.SOUR is allowed (like webtrees support it)
- "@" has not to be duplicated in user strings (like webtrees support it), except if "@" is the first character
- SUBN is removed

One update to GEDCOM 7.0 is the move away from the NOTE tag being supportive of both inline notes and shared notes. They have introduced a SNOTE tag for shared notes and left the NOTE tag for just inline notes.

It looks like they removed the REFN tag from the SNOTE record. Now indicated in a new structure.

They have also removed inline SOUR and OBJE tags, which is a good thing and the way webtrees does it.

The new version 7.0 does not support multiple files within one OBJE record.

All dates in the DateValue datatype must have a year. Thus, you cannot use yearless dates as DateValues.

You can add any date information as a PHRASE, however, if you could bound the year, you could add them as a PHRASE, as e.g.

2 DATE
3 PHRASE March 3rd (year unknown)

A new crazy structure is the NON_EVENT_STRUCTURE.

This replaces the _NMR with:which means “no marriage had occurred as of March 24th, 1880”

This structure can be used, I think, with any event tag.means a death did not occur. Rather than saying:.

The Name Structure now allows multiple name parts rather than one. For SURN this is a change from webtrees preferred as a comma delimited list to multiple SURN tags.

Hello Ken,

norwegian_sardines wrote: It looks like they removed the REFN tag from the SNOTE record.

REFN is now part of the IDENTIFIER_STRUCTURE which is usable in all records.

norwegian_sardines wrote: The new version 7.0 does not support multiple files within one OBJE record.

Multiple files in one record are still allowed. See {1:M} in MULTIMEDIA_RECORD.

Best regards, Peter

Yes in the standards document they suggest {1:M} for the OBJE RECORD
In other documentation they indicate that inline OBJE tags that it is not allowed.
Here

Sorry I miss read the usage!

Very interesting. A few initial comments. I'll have more after my first coffee of the day...

I see that all length limits have been removed - including the length of XREFs.
Databases cannot use arbitrary length fields as primary keys or unique indexes.
It would have been helpful if XREFs had a maximum length - e.g. 255 chars.

Since webtrees has already created calendar defintions for arabic and persian
calendars, it would be good if I could suggest them. To my knowledge, no
other application supports these calendars.

Media files are stored in the .ZIP file in the root folder - not in a subfolder.
This means that you cannot have a media file called "gedcom.ged".
(Some of my sources are other people's GEDCOM files, and so I have
media objects containing .GED files.)

It would be great to provide feedback - but there is no way to provide it.

Maybe contact the GEDCOM Relations Manager as shown on page 1?

Suggestions and Correspondence:
Family History Department
GEDCOM Relations Manager
15 East South Temple Street
Salt Lake City, UT 84150 USA
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Or see gedcom.io/community/ for further options to join their community.

Try this email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

> Notes may now used a subset of HTML for basic rich-text markup (like webtrees support it)

Not quite, webtrees supports a flavour of Markdown. A switch to HTML is doable though (with a conversion)


> ASSO.RELA has been replaced by enumerated value ASSO.ROLE: CHIL, CLERGY, FATH, FRIEND, GODP, HUSB, MOTH, MULTIPLE, NGHBR, OFFICIATOR, PARENT, SPOU, WIFE, WITN, OTHER

That's a shame, since enumerations are not extensible. And there are some missing, like BUYER & SELLER on PROPerty, SUCCESSOR & PREDECESSOR on TITLes.


> All dates in the DateValue datatype must have a year. Thus, you cannot use yearless dates as DateValues.

This change breaks a "feature" I heard some use: name days of Roman Catholic saints. So if your name is Peter, then apart from your birthday you have the name day of Saint Peter to celebrate. It needs to be recorded without a year in order to trigger reoccurring events.

Hello Bert,

bertkoor wrote: > ASSO.RELA has been replaced by enumerated value ASSO.ROLE: CHIL, CLERGY, FATH, FRIEND, GODP, HUSB, MOTH, MULTIPLE, NGHBR, OFFICIATOR, PARENT, SPOU, WIFE, WITN, OTHER

That's a shame, since enumerations are not extensible. And there are some missing, like BUYER & SELLER on PROPerty, SUCCESSOR & PREDECESSOR on TITLes.

That's not correct.
a) Enumerated values may be extended with new values that match production extTag
b) You can use the role OTHER in combination with the tag ASSO.ROLE.PHRASE

bertkoor wrote: > All dates in the DateValue datatype must have a year. Thus, you cannot use yearless dates as DateValues.

This change breaks a "feature" I heard some use: name days of Roman Catholic saints. So if your name is Peter, then apart from your birthday you have the name day of Saint Peter to celebrate. It needs to be recorded without a year in order to trigger reoccurring events.

Here you also can use the tag PHRASE. See GEDCOM 7.0 - Technical FAQ: Link

Best regards
Peter

It seems, like FamilySearch has "de-annouced" GEDCOM 7.0.

www.beholdgenealogy.com/blog/?p=3724

Strange.

Ladislav

On www.gedcom.org/gedcom.html there were released two documents on 2021-02-21 and 22 named "GEDZIP 0.1, initial draft" and "GEDZIP 0.2, added reference section".

Tweet from Tamaura Jones (23 February):
"Tamura Jones @TamuraJones - 23. 2.
Many, many things in Gordon Clarke's GEDCOM "7.0" (5.6 really) have been copied from or inspired by my many GEDCOM articles, solutions, best practices, the 5.5.1 Annotated Edition & the GEDCOM 5.5.5 specification without any acknowledgement. I believe that is called plagiarism."

Ladislav

Did anyone download the PDF version of the 7.0.0-rc1 specification? If so, can you send me a copy?

I will add it to my library of GEDCOM documentation - webtrees.net/gedcom/

Hello Greg,

I will send you a copy.

Best regards, Peter