Two ways to search for people in a location: how do they differ?

JuanZuluaga3

Behind the scenes, what is the difference between searching like this

https://www.familysearch.org/en/search/record/results?count=100&q.recordCountry=Colombia&q.recordSubcountry=Colombia%2CValle%20del%20Cauca&q.surname=Monedero

compared to searching like this?

https://www.familysearch.org/en/search/record/results?count=100&q.anyPlace=Valle%20del%20Cauca%2C%20Colombia&q.surname=Monedero

Áine.ní.Donnghaile

Good morning @JuanZuluaga3

Your first search is isolated just to collections from Colombia, 5 collections only.

Your second search includes results from over 100 collections, from many different countries. There may be a mention of Colombia in those records.

Your first search should return results more quickly since it is narrower in scope.

JuanZuluaga3

Hi @Áine.ní.Donnghaile ,

"Your first search is isolated just to collections from Colombia, 5 collections only."

I agree, this is what I would have expected. However, I have seen some strange cases. Please consider this (as I try to find people with a lastname within a specific collection from Ecuador):

https://www.familysearch.org/en/search/record/results?count=20&q.recordCountry=Ecuador&q.surname=torreglosa&f.collectionId=1923402

I get 19 records.

However, as I go thru them, I realize that the 1st record, not only got entered wrong location (the Cartagena, Lambayeque, Perú part, a human or bot mistake as we have see often), but belongs to a different collection, from Colombia.

See how record comes from a Colombian collection — that somehow got linked to an Ecuadorian collection.

So, even if the search should be done within a collection, somehow records from other collections get included, even with a high score (and getting to the top of the list).

SerraNola

@JuanZuluaga3 This is a known error that has been in the queue. I will see if I can get it corrected. Thanks for bringing it back to our attention!