Michael Smith comment
"The bottom line for me is, I want Ancestry to honour their commitment to regularly updating the PNA so I don’t have to split legitimate place names to resolve them."
The key words in this statement are "legitimate" and "resolve"
My feeling and experience is that when you split a legtimate place name you don't resolve it - you just resolve a portion of the place name
An Example
Let us suppose I want to enter the the legtimate place name Burley, Cassia, Idaho, USA
Now lets suppose the PNA doesn't have this legtimate place name in its data base. [In this example case they do have it in their data base, but for assumption purposes suppose they don't]
So I blithely enter the total place name and then check to see if it is resolved. In this case[by my assuumtion] it doesn't exist and it is not resolved and the system suggests that I resolve it
The suggestion they give you for resolution is Cassia, Idaho, USA. So assume you accept that and the system then lists Cassia, Idaho, USA and gives it coordinate numbers.
Now suppose you want to verify those coordinates so you go some place else to find the coordinates for Burley, Cassia, Idaho, USA and you find two sets of coordinates. One set for Burley, Cassia, Idaho, USA and one for Cassia, Idaho, USA
Now you go back to what FTM says and the coordinates you found elsewhere for Cassia, Idaho, USA matches exactly those with FTM, BUT the coordinates you found for Burley, Cassia, Idaho, are nowwhere to be found
The reason for this is the system is resolving Cassia, Idaho, USA AND IT IS NOT RESOLVING BURLEY. CASSIA, IDAHO, USA [NOTE;THE COORDINATES FOR THE LEGTIMATE PLACE NAME BURLEY, CASSIA, IDAHO ARE NOT THE SAME AS THE COORDINATES FOR THE LEGTIMATE PLACE NAME CASSIA, IDAHO, USA]
It can't resolve it because it doesn't have the info to resolve it so it kicks it down one step in the hierarchy and resolves that lower step [Place Name} in the hierarchy.
I run into this a lot with places in Spain and France, since FTM does not have an abundance of Legtimate "Total" place names for these coutries.
What I do is to enter the correct/legtimate place and then not attempt to work aroud it. My hope is that someday FTM will finally enter the correct legtimate place and then I won't have to develop any workarounds
So my suggestion is the same -----keep telling the development group about the issues and keep feeding them correct legtimate place names that they don't have in their data base
"The bottom line for me is, I want Ancestry to honour their commitment to regularly updating the PNA so I don’t have to split legitimate place names to resolve them."
The key words in this statement are "legitimate" and "resolve"
My feeling and experience is that when you split a legtimate place name you don't resolve it - you just resolve a portion of the place name
An Example
Let us suppose I want to enter the the legtimate place name Burley, Cassia, Idaho, USA
Now lets suppose the PNA doesn't have this legtimate place name in its data base. [In this example case they do have it in their data base, but for assumption purposes suppose they don't]
So I blithely enter the total place name and then check to see if it is resolved. In this case[by my assuumtion] it doesn't exist and it is not resolved and the system suggests that I resolve it
The suggestion they give you for resolution is Cassia, Idaho, USA. So assume you accept that and the system then lists Cassia, Idaho, USA and gives it coordinate numbers.
Now suppose you want to verify those coordinates so you go some place else to find the coordinates for Burley, Cassia, Idaho, USA and you find two sets of coordinates. One set for Burley, Cassia, Idaho, USA and one for Cassia, Idaho, USA
Now you go back to what FTM says and the coordinates you found elsewhere for Cassia, Idaho, USA matches exactly those with FTM, BUT the coordinates you found for Burley, Cassia, Idaho, are nowwhere to be found
The reason for this is the system is resolving Cassia, Idaho, USA AND IT IS NOT RESOLVING BURLEY. CASSIA, IDAHO, USA [NOTE;THE COORDINATES FOR THE LEGTIMATE PLACE NAME BURLEY, CASSIA, IDAHO ARE NOT THE SAME AS THE COORDINATES FOR THE LEGTIMATE PLACE NAME CASSIA, IDAHO, USA]
It can't resolve it because it doesn't have the info to resolve it so it kicks it down one step in the hierarchy and resolves that lower step [Place Name} in the hierarchy.
I run into this a lot with places in Spain and France, since FTM does not have an abundance of Legtimate "Total" place names for these coutries.
What I do is to enter the correct/legtimate place and then not attempt to work aroud it. My hope is that someday FTM will finally enter the correct legtimate place and then I won't have to develop any workarounds
So my suggestion is the same -----keep telling the development group about the issues and keep feeding them correct legtimate place names that they don't have in their data base