Map¶

The Map page displays all places in your family tree as interactive markers on a geographic map. It is accessible from the sidebar.

Place markers¶

Only places that have GPS coordinates stored in the Gramps database are shown on the map. Places without coordinates are silently omitted. GPS coordinates can be set on the place detail page (edit the place and fill in the latitude and longitude fields).

Tip

If many of your places are missing from the map, open a place detail page and check whether latitude and longitude are set. You can add or correct coordinates directly from the place's edit view.

Each place with coordinates is shown as a marker. Clicking a marker opens a summary card showing the place name and its linked events and people. Click the place name in the card to open the full place detail page.

Search¶

The search box in the top-left corner of the map searches as you type and groups the results under three headings:

Places – places in your family tree. Selecting one pans the map to it and highlights its marker.
People – people in your family tree. Selecting one switches the map into the person view described below.
External – locations from OpenStreetMap, for anywhere in the world. Selecting one simply pans and zooms the map to that location; it does not filter or change your tree's places.

The external results are also useful when adding coordinates to a place: you can look the location up here to see where it is before entering its latitude and longitude.

Following a person across the map¶

Selecting a person – from the map's search box, or with the Open in map button on a person's detail page – shows the places connected to that person's events, joined by lines in chronological order. Small arrows along each line indicate the direction of travel, so you can follow a person's life from birth through to death across the map.

Places on a place detail page have an Open in map button as well, which opens the map centred on that place.

Time slider¶

The time slider at the bottom of the page filters which place markers are shown based on the year of their associated events:

Drag the handle to select a year.
Only places linked to events that fall within the selected time window are shown.
Use this to trace where your ancestors lived at a particular point in history.

Map layers¶

A layer switcher button (stacked-layers icon, bottom-left) lets you choose between two base maps. Below them, it lists your own map layers under "Your maps" (see Custom map overlays and Map files of places) and the Wikidata buildings layer under "External", each of which can be switched on and off.

The labels of both base maps are shown in the language you selected in Gramps Web, where the map data has a name in that language, and in the local name otherwise.

Base Map¶

The default layer, powered by OpenFreeMap (Liberty style for light mode, dark style for dark mode). This is a modern general-purpose map suitable for locating places.

Historical Map¶

Switches the base map to OpenHistoricalMap (OHM), a community-driven project that maps the world as it existed at different points in time – think of it as a historical counterpart to OpenStreetMap.

When the Historical Map layer is active, the time slider also filters the map tiles themselves: OHM renders the map as it appeared in the selected year, so historical borders, place names, and features are shown instead of the modern ones. This makes it possible to see both your ancestor's location and the contemporary geographic and political context in a single view.

Note

OpenHistoricalMap coverage varies by region and period. Areas or eras with sparse contributions may show limited historical detail. If you notice missing or inaccurate historical data, consider contributing to OpenHistoricalMap – it is an open community project that anyone can edit.

Custom map overlays¶

In addition to the built-in base layers, you can turn any scanned historical map image – stored in Gramps as a Media object – into a custom overlay positioned on the live map. This is useful for scans of old city plans, parish maps, or property maps that you want to compare directly against modern or historical geography.

Georeferencing an image¶

Open the media object for the scanned map image and switch to edit mode.
Open the "Map" tab and click Edit coordinates. This opens a georeferencing dialog with the image alongside a map.
Click Select a point on the map, then click the location on the map that a point on the image should correspond to. The image is placed on the map for the first time as soon as a point is selected.
Use the Scale slider to resize the image and the Opacity slider to see the base map through it while positioning.
Click Align the image and click on the map again to shift the image so that the pinned point lines up precisely.
Repeat the scale, opacity, and align steps until the image matches the underlying geography, then save.

Behind the scenes, this stores the image's corner coordinates in a map:bounds attribute on the media object.

Viewing overlays on the Map page¶

Once a media object has been georeferenced this way, it automatically becomes available as a toggleable layer on the Map page. Open the layer switcher (stacked-layers icon, bottom-left) to show or hide each overlay independently of the base map. Overlays are listed by the media object's title.

Each overlay has an opacity slider below its name, so you can see the base map through it.

Map files of places¶

Places can have map files attached as media objects – for example the boundaries of a parish, a district, or an estate, or a route. Supported are KML (.kml), GeoJSON (.geojson), and GPX (.gpx) files.

When you select a place on the map, its map files are drawn on top of the map, using the colours stored in the file where it has them. This also works for places without coordinates: the map then zooms to the area covered by the files. While the place is selected, its files are listed in the layer switcher under "Your maps", where you can switch each of them off.

To add a map file to a place, add it to the place's gallery like any other media file.

Wikidata buildings¶

The "Wikidata buildings" layer shows buildings recorded in Wikidata, such as churches, farms, or town houses. It is off by default and can be switched on in the layer switcher under "External". Buildings are only shown when the map is zoomed in far enough. When the time slider is active, only buildings that existed at the selected time are shown.

Click a building to see its details from Wikidata, such as when it was built or demolished, its addresses, occupants, and owners.

Saving a building as a place¶

Users who can add objects see a Save as place button in the building's details. It opens the form for a new place, prefilled with the building's name in your language, a place type (Farm for farms, otherwise Building), its coordinates, and a link to the Wikidata item. Complete the form, for example by selecting the enclosing place, and save it.

If a place in your tree is at the same location as the building, the button reads Open saved place instead and shows that place.

Info

The server administrator can remove the Wikidata buildings layer with the mapWikidata option of the frontend configuration.