Fly Me To The Farm! Did someone in your family homestead during the late 1800 s or early 1900 s?

Transcription

1 C Copyright 2013 Volume 7 #2 Fly Me To The Farm! Did someone in your family homestead during the late 1800 s or early 1900 s? There is a simple and free way to find out. Even better, you can use Google Earth to fly you to the location of the 160 acres your grandpa or great grandpa homesteaded. Watch the How To Movie This Newsletter may be viewed as a How To video. Click on or go to the following website to watch the video. O c 1

2 Converting Land Patent Information to be Viewed on Google Earth and Heritage Collector. By Marlo E. Schuldt - LifeStory Productions, Inc. This newsletter will help you learn how to do the following: 1. Determine if your grandparents or relatives had a homestead by going to the BLM web site to search for and find Land Patents and related information. 2. Save a Land Patent PDF and display it in a Heritage Collector collection. 3. Go to the Earth Point web site to convert Land Patent information so it can be viewed on Google Earth. 4. Drag the KML file into a collection. 5. Link and display KML files in Heritage Collector. 6. Double click on the KML file to fly to the location using Google Earth. Instructions for each item, except installing Google Earth, will follow. The Firefox Browser is recommended and is used for this tutorial. Screen captures may not match what you see on your monitor if you are using a different browser such as Microsoft Internet Explorer (The big blue E ). Going to the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) web site. 1. Go to the Bureau of Land Management Site (You can click on any text with a blue underline to go to the web site). 3. Click the Land Patents link. 4. Enter Information Select a state and enter a first and last name. 5. Click Search Patents. Oc 2

3 6. The Patent summary information will appear. 7. Click on the image icon or the blue Accession number. The Land Patent will appear as shown below. Saving the Land Patent - two options 8. More Land Patent information will appear. 9. Click on the There are two ways (blue and green) to save the Land Patent depending on the type of PDF viewer that is installed on your computer. Follow the instructions below that match the content being displayed on your monitor. 1. Click the Patent Image tab and then click the Save icon. 1. Click the Patent Image tab. 2. Click the Download option to save and import the PDF into Heritage Collector. An option to save the PDF will appear. 2. The Save As dispel will appear. Select a folder on your hard drive. 3. Select Save File and then click OK. 3. Type in a name. 4. Click the save button.. O c 3

4 Import the Land Patent PDF to a collection. 4. Select the Import icon. 4. Click on the down arrow at the top right of the Firefox Browser to open the download. 5. Browse out to the folder containing the PDF 5. Left click and hold on the SER_Patient name and drag into the desired Heritage Collector collection. 6. Select the Land Patent PDF. 7. Type in a caption and click the Save button. You can then double click on the PDF thumbnail to view the PDF in Heritage Collector. Converting the Land Patent Description so it can be viewed in Google Earth You will need to do the following two things BEFORE you attempt this next step. 1. Install Google Earth on your computer. (If it s not already installed) 2. Link KML file with Heritage Collector Go to the next step below. Linking a KML to Heritage Collector 1. Open Heritage Collector. 2. Select the Collection menu. 3. Open the Preferences option. 4. Select Register Doc Types. Oc 4

5 5. Type in KML and then click Browse. 6. You will need to find the folder Google Earth is installed in. Clicking Browse will bring up My Computer or a view of your computer devices. Typically, Google Earth will be installed in either Program Files or Program Files (x86). Click on and open one of these folders. 7. You will see a Google folder. Open the folder. If you don t see Google, select the other folder listed above (Program Files or Program Files (x86). 8. Open the client folder. O c 5

6 9. Open the Google Earth folder. 10. Select or left click ONE time on goolgeearth.exe (we don t want to double click or open it). You may only see the blue icon and googleearth. 11. Click the Open button at the bottom right of the display. 12. This will take you back to the first display where you entered KML. 13. Click the Register New Type button 14. Click OK. You have now linked the Google file type so it can be displayed in Heritage Collector by clicking on the file thumbnail. Oc 6

7 You are now ready to finish converting the Land Patent Description so it can be displayed in Heritage Collector and Google Earth. You will next need to open a program called, Earth Point. Go to this link: You will need to enter information from the Land Patent to Earth Point. 1. Type or paste the three following numeric descriptions from the Land Patent to the fields in Earth point. Take care to get the right setting. 2. Click on the down arrows in Earth Point and then select a state and Principle Meridian and the three other numbers that correspond to the number in the Land Patent document. O c 7

8 3. You are ready to create and save the file. Click Fly To On Google Earth. The KML box will appear. 4. Select Save File and then click OK. You are ready to create and save the file. 6. Select Save File and then click OK. 7. The arrow at the top left of the browser will flash and turn into a big green arrow. The arrow will return to the small black down arrow. Click on the arrow to open the download list. 8. Left click and hold on the KML file while dragging it into a Heritage Collector collection. 9. Double click on the KML file in Heritage Collector to fly you to the location of the Land Patent. 9. Google Earth will open and display and fly you to the 160 acre homestead! 10. Have fun and share with family and relatives!! Oc 8