How do you know whether a place name has been standardized as intended?
Answering my own question, the simple answer is, "You don't"!
The screenshot below illustrates a common problem. In this example "North America" has been accepted as a standardized place name, but it had been standardized as "American Samoa"! Strangely, I found (when I accidentally stumbled across this) that top of the drop-down list was "North America - Continent", so I easily switched to this. Incidentally, the "North America" had been carried across during the attachment of an England & Wales census source, by another user.
I have often encountered examples like this (usually by "accident"), but short of checking every place name entry that appears to have been correctly standardized (i.e. no Data Warning message / red exclamation mark) I don't know how you could ever monitor the "match" between the display name and the "hidden" name to which it has been standardized.
Best Answer
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Quickest way to check is to look at the Timeline map. Any pins that look way out of place need to be checked. Your American Samoan pin would have been obvious.
The other way is hover the cursor over the place name. In a couple of seconds a tool tip pops up with the standardized version of the name.
I would like to see something like my proposal here to make it very easy to check: https://community.familysearch.org/en/discussion/86445/please-consider-updating-an-individual-s-detail-page-to-include-standardized-values#latest
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Answers
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Dear Paul,
Regarding: we received your question about standardized places, how do we know.
Welcome to the FamilySearch community and thank you for your question regarding Standardized places.
You can request that we add a missing place (such as a town, city, or church) to the FamilySearch database of standardized places but the majority of them are already included and it seems that your question indicates this.
If the place already exists in the FamilySearch database, location options will appear when you click onto the standardized place.
You will find all the information to follow in a knowledge article in which we have provided a link for you below.
Welcome to the FamilySearch community and thank you for your question regarding Standardized places.
You can request that we add a missing place (such as a town, city, or church) to the FamilySearch database of standardized places but the majority of them are already included and it seems that your question indicates this.
If the place already exists in the FamilySearch database, location options will appear when you click onto the standardized place.
You can view more knowledge articles in Help (the small circle around the question mark at top right of screen)> Help Centre.
I hope that we understood and provided information that answers your question. Thank you for using Community and we hope this link or the Help Centre provides the answers you seek.
If you need further help regarding this question, please reply directly to this answer/discussion.
I would like to thank you for your desire to seek out your ancestors and wish you joyful success as you do your family history work.
You can view more knowledge articles in Help (the small circle around the question mark at top right of screen)> Help Centre.
I hope that we understood and provided information that answers your question. Thank you for using Community and we hope this link or the Help Centre provides the answers you seek.
If you need further help regarding this question, please reply directly to this answer/discussion.
I would like to thank you for your desire to seek out your ancestors and wish you joyful success as you do your family history work.
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Sorry, but you have missed my point. Unfortunately, the screenshot I posted has still not be "moderated", so the issue probably isn't very clear without that being shown.
The place name "North America" does not need to be added to the database, as it already exists. If I had added it, I would have noticed the error (it being standardized as "American Samoa") and chosen the correct option immediately. But the standardization in this case has been made by "a computer", during the source linking process. Seeing the display name without any data warning flag would indicate there was no problem here. Whilst I doubt if there is an easy solution, currently we would have to check the (hidden) standardized place name behind every display name (we had not entered manually ourselves) to ensure another user (or a computer) had picked the right option.
As I say, my point should be made clearer once the image appears.
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@Paul W, it is unfortunate that your screen shot has not become available. You might try just providing the URL for the page from which the screen shot was created.
@lstolk36 did provide some useful information which explains what to do when the system recognizes that a location is not from our Standardized Location database, however, you are correct when you say that sometimes another user has linked an incorrect standardized location to a specific record or to a specific life event of our ancestor. We also know that the automated system which selects standardized locations for many of our Historical Records collections can make mistakes.
Because this can happen [and thank you for recognizing that this is usually an accident], it is important to carefully review all of the details that exist our deceased ancestors who are in Family Tree. Often we can correct these errors which will improve the overall accuracy in Family Tree, and that is the way the system is designed. One important purpose with a World-wide Family Tree is to allow us to learn as we collaborate with others who are our extended family members.
I especially love this statement from the article: "It is our hope that, through Family Tree, we can work together to create the best-sourced, public genealogical family tree in the world and allow family members to connect both in the past as well as the present."
You are so correct that there is no easy solution which guarantees mistakes will not happen which is why our efforts to work together are so important. Carefully reviewing the information in Family Tree is probably the best way to help achieve the goals for which the Family Tree software was created. I hope you will find these additional comments useful.
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Thank you for remarks. I was not criticising the input of @lstolk36 - some very useful advice provided - just remarking it did not really address my specific issue.
I have posted the .png image again (with my original post), but will find the URL, as suggested, if this (currently appearing as a link, rather than direct image) cannot be seen.
One purpose of my posting this here was to warn other users against thinking their relatives' vitals have necessarily been standardized correctly, because: (1) The display name looks fine & (2) they are not receiving a data warning flag.
Without following Gordon's advice (or finding the wrongly standardized place name by accident), how would anyone know that "North America" had been standardized as "American Samoa", as in my example?
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Great question, @Paul W. Your point was well-taken and as I said in my response to you, there are no "easy" solutions to be sure a standardized location is indeed correct. As we click on a current standardized location, when we hit the spacer bar, Family Tree provides a list of possible standardized locations under the typing field. Sometimes that might help us to feel more confident about what has been standardized. Your comments are a great warning to others about taking the time to continue to review what is already in Family Tree.
That, of course, is a personal choice, and your post is a great voice of warning which might help others as they work in Family Tree. Thank you so much for taking the time to share your perspective in an effort to assist others.
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