Faster than a speeding G2G announcement!

Question

More powerful than a spell checker! Able to leap tall brick walls in a single bound! Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No! It's Scriptergeek!

Ahem. So, this year, I've added a couple of new datasets to the surnames that I'm tracking. One of those datasets is the Commonwealth War Graves Commission site, where you can search for all the war dead (both military and civilians) whose graves are tended by the CWGC. For the surnames I'm studying, I've been checking the lists of war dead with each surname on the CWGC site, and looking to see if those people already have WikiTree profiles. (Only about one in sixty have so far.)

But this week, I noticed something that I hadn't before. At the top of each list, there's a link that says "Download all results". If you click that, you get a CSV file with all the matches for your search.

Now, I'm not a programmer. Nor do I play one on TV, but it seems to me that those CSV file could be insanely useful in the right hands. For example:

• Imagine a WikiTree app which would allow you to upload a CSV file for all the war dead with a given surname, and it would search the WikiTree database and tells you which entries in the list match up with WikiTree profiles, so you can go straight to those profiles to add the CWGC site as a source (and, I have found, it's often easy to find other sources from the information on the CWGC site), and straight to those profiles and spiff them up, instead of having to do search after search for each entry in the list.
• Imagine a WikiTree app which could convert those CSV files into GEDCOM files, which you could then upload to WikiTree and spruce up the profiles created by the upload before you approve them. (You'd probably want the tool to break up the list into manageable chunks, like 25 or so entries at a time, because some surnames have a lot of entries on the CWGC site.)
• It might even be possible for Aleš to use this for his suggestions: putting up a suggestion that says "Possible grave", or something like that, for those WikiTree profiles that look like they match up with entries on the CWGC site.
• I'd be happy if somebody could write a macro to convert the CSV files into a format that I could import into the spreadsheets I use to track surnames!

The possibilities are huge. I just don't actually know how to make any of them happen.

Comments

Apparently some genealogy programs allow you to upload a csv file; GRAMPS is one. [Make any changes that might be necessary.] You could then export that data as a gedcom, in theory, and upload the gedcom.

I can’t believe that this is totally seamless, so what the stuff in the brackets is (above), I have no idea.

See https://gramps-project.org/wiki/index.php?title=Gramps_5.1_Wiki_Manual_-_Manage_Family_Trees:_CSV_Import_and_Export&mobileaction=toggle_view_desktop

Caveats:

• I don’t know what data is exported from the site you mention. So, I can’t say how much of that data matches standard gedcom fields.
• I don’t use GRAMPS.
• I have never done a gedcom import.

---

The fields in the CSV are:

Field	Comments
Id	This is a number with up to seven digits, and the URL for each page listing casualties is in the format https://www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/casualty-details/2521466/arthur-john-phillips/ where, in this case, 2521466 is the Id for Arthur John Phillips.
Surname	All the surnames are in ALLCAPS, so some kind of script would be needed to change PHILLIPS to Phillips, etc. (But also recognise McA, MacB, LeC, LaD, deE, etc. constructions.)
Forename	Not all entries have a forename listed. Some only have one or more initials.
Initials	Initials are separated by spaces, with no periods.
AgeAtDeath	This is a numeral for the years.
Honours	Medals, etc.
DateOfDeath	In the format DD/MM/YYYY
DateOfDeath2
Rank
Regiment
SecondaryRegiment
Unit
SecondaryUnit
CountryOfService
ServiceNumber
Burial	Country
Cemetery
GraveRef
AdditionalInfo	This will frequently (not always) say something like, "Son of Albert David and Margaret Jane Phillips, of Haycastle Cross, Pembrokeshire."

Answer 1

Can you show an example of this (maybe a link)? I went to the site you linked to, did a search, got some results, and didn't find a CSV link.

(By the way, I sent you an email regarding one name studies recently.  Did you get that?)

Comments

1. Okay, first, I hit https://www.cwgc.org/
2. I click on the link that says "Find Records" and then choose "Find War Dead" from the drop-down menu and end up at https://www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/
3. I fill in the "Last Name" field with a surname I'm working on. I'm working on Phillips this month, so I enter that, scroll past all the other fields, and click "Search". I end up at https://www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/search-results/?Surname=Phillips&Forename=&Initials=&ServiceNum=&Regiment=&CountryCommemoratedIn=null&Cemetery=&Unit=&Rank=&SecondaryRegiment=&SecondaryUnit=&AgeOfDeath=0&DateDeathFromDay=1&DateDeathFromMonth=January&DateDeathFromYear=&DateDeathToDay=1&DateDeathToMonth=January&DateDeathToYear=&DateOfDeath=&Honours=null&AdditionalInfo=
4. The screen of the page I end up on looks like this:
   
5. The download link is between the number of war dead and the sort box. Kind of dead in the middle of the screen. Am I a bad man for being glad that you missed it? It makes me feel less ashamed of missing it myself.
6. When I click on the link, a window pops up with another "Download all results" link and a "Close" box. This "Download all results" link actually starts the download.

Greg

(And, yes, I did get your email. I just haven't had time to check out the app yet. Sorry.)