Image Search - Location Error

Áine Ní Donnghaile

I've been working recently on a family group buried in The Evergreens Cemetery in Brooklyn, New York City.

I checked image search yesterday hoping to find some of the cemetery records. I was delighted to see a recordset with the title "The Evergreens Cemetery, Brooklyn, Kings, New York, United States Cemetery Records 1888-2015"

Only - when I opened the image set, it is for a cemetery in Box Butte, Nebraska.

https://www.familysearch.org/records/images/image-details?place=4608874&page=1&lifeEvent=102899&rmsId=TH-909-59252-93890-4

genthusiast

Alphabetically Neb does come before New - and Box before Bro?

Yep, probably just the ole AI place correcting problem. The title change(?) however ... that's concerning ...

Also concerning that the issue is in Search> Images (first I've heard tell of it there).

Doubtless you already have the cemetery contact info: https://www.theevergreenscemetery.org/genealogical-requests

Áine Ní Donnghaile

The staff at The Evergreens are very helpful and accommodating, usually responding to emails within the day. But, I always try to help myself when I can.

Áine Ní Donnghaile

Addendum - I took another look at this record set after seeing some newer posts about Images:

The title in Images is still showing with the New York description while the title in the Catalog shows the correct Nebraska. So, it seems that the may be another instance of the placename AI issue.

https://www.familysearch.org/search/catalog/4114739 is "Nebraska, Box Butte County, cemetery records, 1883-2015."

I have reported via Feedback on Images, but I do wonder how many more instances we will see of this kind of issue before something more definitive is done.

Áine Ní Donnghaile

Update - I think.

I received a message from familysearch this morning. Since the message is not a reply nor does it quote any part of my report, I can only surmise that it is in reply to my report on this issue.

It is entitled: Historical Images - Patron Feedback - Metadata Issue

Thank you for contacting FamilySearch. We appreciate you taking the time to share your feedback.

 It has been reviewed and specifically relates to what is referred to as metadata problems and has been sent to a metadata specialist to be fixed.

 Not by way of excuse, but rather by way of explanation, there are well over four (4) billion images available on FamilySearch today, and more are being added every day. The largest number of images at this point came from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints' genealogical collection efforts. This began many, many decades ago. Camera crews traveled throughout the world for decades offering to photograph local paper records and documents that were fast deteriorating. The original records' custodians and archivists retained the original records and received a film version, which allowed them to preserve their vital records, which they were losing. For this free service, we were given rights to have a copy of the film or microfiche version stored in the Granite Mountain Records Vault (GMRV), and to make the information available for individuals searching for their ancestors.

 Many years ago, with the establishment of the Internet, the process of digitizing these GMRV film images so they could be more easily accessed by the public was estimated to be an 80-year project. Along this path, the evolution of computer technology allowed most of these images to be digitized and made viewable on the Internet in 15 years, nearly a full generation earlier than originally thought. 

 Fortunately, the majority of images are fine, however certain languages, certain geographical areas, and some camera processing issues were more of a challenge for computer-aided processing than others. These are the "problems" that still need to be identified and fixed, like what you found. It is estimated it will take several additional years to find, fix, or otherwise correct all such issues "hidden" within over four billion images. 

 The good news is, there are literally billions of images available now, for free, that wouldn't otherwise be seen for literally decades.

 As mentioned earlier, thousands of additional images are being added to the image library daily. Many of these images are already digitized and are copied, with permission, from existing computer files. Obviously, many of these images are more recent records, or come from images that have already been digitized so the number of computer-aided problems are substantially less.

 When we discover a problem, or problems are brought to our attention as you have done, we add that to the list of images/files to be corrected. Various metadata experts are assigned to correct these problems. Although the corrections may take some time because of the billions of images we are managing, and of course finite resources, please know that which you have identified is now on the "to be fixed" list and will be corrected.

 Again, thank you for helping us locate these problems and bringing them to our attention.

 We wish you success and joy in discovering more about your family history.

 Sincerely,

FamilySearch Explore Images Support team (sb)