Topola Genealogy Viewer
View your genealogy data using an interactive chart.
Website: https://pewu.github.io/topola-viewer
Features
- Hourglass chart
- All relatives chart
- Click on a person to focus
- Open standard GEDCOM files you can export from any genealogy application
- Load from URL (just point to a GEDCOM file on the Web)
- Privacy – your files do not leave your computer
- Print the whole genealogy tree
- Export to PDF, PNG, SVG
- Side panel with details
- Configuration options
- Permalinks when loading from URL
- Cool transition animations
Examples
Here is an example from the Web:
- Shakespeare (from webtreeprint.com)
- Marie Skłodowska-Curie (from WikiTree)
If you have data in a genealogy database, you can export your data in GEDCOM format and load it using the "Load from file" menu.
Integrations
Topola Genealogy Viewer is being integrated into more and more Web and desktop applications. Here are the current integrations:
Gramps
To view your Gramps data in Topola Genealogy Viewer, install Interactive Family Tree plugin from the Gramps plugin manager. The plugin will add a Tools->Analysis and Exploration->Interactive Family Tree menu item to Gramps.
Source code: https://github.com/gramps-project/addons-source/tree/master/Topola
Webtrees
Embed Topola Genealogy Viewer in your Webtrees installation with the Topola interactive tree addon.
Source code: https://github.com/PeWu/topola-webtrees
WikiTree
You can browse the WikiTree genealogy tree using Topola Genealogy Viewer. On a WikiTree profile page go to the Family Tree & Tools tab and click the Dynamic Tree by Topola link.
Example: Stephen Hawking
Topola Genealogy Viewer is hosted on apps.wikitree.com to benefit from the ability of being logged in to the WikiTree API.
Running locally
npm install
npm start
Self-hosting
You can host Topola Genealogy Viewer on your own server. There are no specific requirements for the hosting server. There is no code that is executed on the server side. The server only hosts the application files and whole application runs in the browser.
You can build Topola Genealogy Viewer from source code or take a ready-to-deploy package.
Bulid your own
Here are the commands to build the application:
git clone https://github.com/PeWu/topola-viewer.git
cd topola-viewer
npm install
npm run build
Now, take the contents of the build/ folder and host it on your own server.
Use an existing package
Download the following file, unpack it and upload the contents to your server: https://github.com/PeWu/topola-viewer/archive/refs/heads/gh-pages.zip
These are the exact files that are hosted on GitHub pages.
Alternative build
The topola-webpack tool can build a Topola Genealogy Viewer package bundled together with a GEDCOM file.
Additional options
handleCors
Add &handleCors=false to the URL to avoid using the CORS proxy
embedded
Add &embedded=true to the URL. This option removes the options to open a different file. It is an option that was intended to be used when Topola Genealogy Viewer is in an iframe.
Hosting a GEDCOM file
One of the common ways to host a GEDCOM file which can be used in Topola Genealogy Viewer is using Google Drive. Here are the steps you can follow:
- Upload the GEDCOM file to Google Drive
- Right-click the file in Google Drive and choose "Get link"
- In the "General access" section change "Restricted" to "Anyone with the link" with "Viewer" permissions.
- Click "Copy link" to get the link to the GEDCOM file.
- Open Topola Genealogy Viewer.
- Click "Open URL"
- Paste the copied URL and click "Open"
- Once the tree opens, copy the current URL.
You can now share the copied URL with someone.
Note that the URL you just copied is not discoverable. Only people who have the link will be able to see your data. It's similar to an "Unlisted" YouTube video – you can see it only if you know the link.