Family Tree Magazine Podcast: Using Google Earth for Genealogy with Lisa Louise Cooke
Date: May 15, 2025
Host: Lisa Louise Cooke
Episode Overview
This episode explores practical, creative, and advanced ways genealogists can use Google Earth, especially the free downloadable Google Earth Pro software, to supercharge their family history research. Lisa Louise Cooke shares tips on mapping ancestral locations, accessing and overlaying historical maps, plotting land patents, and building interactive or video family history tours. She emphasizes the intersection of place and time in genealogy and demonstrates how digital mapping brings family stories to life for both researchers and relatives.
Key Discussion Points & Insights
1. Why Google Earth for Genealogy?
- The Power of Place: Genealogy depends on when and where ancestors lived. Mapping tools help pinpoint people and events within their historical context.
- Multiple Versions:
- Web Browser Version (
earth.google.com) - Mobile App
- Google Earth Pro (Software) – Focus of this episode, offers “all the advanced tools, the bells and whistles” [01:28].
- Web Browser Version (
2. Getting Started with Google Earth Pro
- How to Get It: Download for free from google.com/earth (link will route to all three versions).
- Why Pro Matters: The downloadable software provides capabilities beyond the web/mobile versions, ideal for research projects to build and save maps, overlays, and tours [02:26].
3. Using Historical Maps in Google Earth
- David Rumsey Historical Map Collection
- Access via the Layers panel under Gallery. Activating layer adds icons (“little gold navigation medallion”) to your screen [03:19].
- Clicking an icon displays the map, its date, details, and a link to the original source [04:06].
- Georeferencing: These maps “are georeferenced to attach to the modern-day map as closely as possible” [04:28].
- Opacity Sliders: Use to fade between old and present maps—“you can sort of time travel between the current day location and back in time” [04:44].
- Multiple Layers: Stack maps from different years, useful in regions with shifting boundaries (e.g., Germany) [05:04].
- Pro Tip: Clicking the “more David Rumsey maps” link loads hundreds of additional maps into the Places panel [05:46].
Notable Quote:
“That’s the beauty of this: you could even have multiple maps layered over the top of each other, giving you that time travel experience… that is just a huge help, particularly in a location like Germany.” – Lisa Louise Cooke [04:46]
4. Exploring Historical Imagery
- Historical Imagery Button (toolbar): View satellite imagery over the last several decades to see how locations changed [06:22].
- “This is based on satellite imagery, so it’s not the same as the old historic maps… but again, I would really recommend do all your work in the software because over time you’re going to be building places and tours and overlays…” [07:10].
5. Creating Custom Map Overlays
- DIY Map Overlays: Import digitized historical maps you’ve found elsewhere by hosting images online and overlaying in Google Earth [08:03].
- Guided tutorials for advanced overlay techniques are offered in Lisa’s online course [08:52].
- “Once you get the hang of it—oh my gosh—that is just going to really explode your ability to look at a variety of locations…” [09:11].
6. Plotting Land Patents
- Using Data from the Bureau of Land Management/GLO Website:
- Extract legal land descriptions, plot property boundaries precisely in Google Earth [09:39].
- Visualizing ancestors’ farms helps break through research dead ends, especially where census records lack addresses [10:30].
Notable Quote:
“As we’re plotting the places where they lived, we’re starting to see a story emerge, we’re seeing a pattern of the path in which they followed.” – Lisa Louise Cooke [10:39]
7. The Storytelling Power of Google Earth
- Creating Interactive Place Marks: Mark life events, add photos, documents, videos, links—turn research into an interactive map [11:31].
- Family History Tours:
- Cluster waypoints, add content, and compile into a “Family History Tour”—“a lot like looking at a video game” [13:31].
- How It Works: Zip tours into a file (.kmz or .kml), email to relatives—they can “interact with it,” pausing, resuming, and exploring as they wish [14:16].
- Recording Narrated Tours: Add your voice, explanations, and transitions between sites [14:38].
- Movie Maker Feature: Generate a shareable MP4 video of your tour, perfect for relatives less comfortable with interactive files [16:03].
- Post these online, email them, or integrate with other media [16:29].
- Storytelling Tips: Keep videos “short and sweet… almost like chapters in a book, but each one tells its own unique story” [17:16].
Notable Quote:
“When they click the Tour Play button in your file, they’re going to hear it, they’re going to see it, you’re going to be moving around. It’s a lot like looking at a video game.” – Lisa Louise Cooke [13:38]
8. Recap: Four Essential Google Earth Uses for Genealogists
[18:13]
- Historical maps from David Rumsey
- Custom overlays
- Land patents and legal land descriptions
- Family history tours (interactive or video)
“There are so many different ways to use Google Earth to not only analyze your research, but tell the story of what you’re finding.” – Lisa Louise Cooke [18:41]
Guidance & Resources
-
Lisa’s Key Encouragement:
“You don’t need any kind of great tech expertise to be able to use this software… If you can click a mouse and you can copy and save on your computer, then you can do all of it and I’ll walk you through it step by step.” [20:00] -
Further Learning:
- Lisa’s book: The Genealogist’s Google Toolbox
- Family Tree University Course: Google Earth for Genealogists (starting May 5, 2025)
- Four-week, step-by-step interactive class with Lisa’s personal support [20:40]
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Show Notes & Links: familytreemagazine.com/podcast [21:15]
-
Connect & Stay Updated:
- Sign up for the Family Tree Magazine free newsletter [21:40]
- Visit Lisa: genealogygems.com
Summary prepared for listeners by Family Tree Magazine Podcast Expert Summarizer