2012-02-02 FamilySearch releases GEDCOM X

GEDCOM X goes public

GEDCOM X site

Up until today, the GEDCOM X site said Welcome!, but it really meant bugger off.

GEDCOM X home page

Today, the GEDCOM X site has gone public.

GEDCOM X home page

GEDCOM X defined

The GEDCOM X home pages promotes GEDCOM X as an open standard for genealogical data communications.
It claims GEDCOM X is the technological standard whereby genealogical data is stored, shared, searched, and secured across all phases of the genealogical research process and that GEDCOM X defines the fundamental building blocks of genealogical data and is the foundation of integration with the genealogical development community..

GEDCOM X goals

The GEDCOM X site lists the follow GEDCOM X goals:

Let's make it easy for people to:

Discover their family and heritage, preserve their identity, and publish their life story.

Reduce duplication of sources, relationships, and identities.

Identify people in photos, in documents, on gravestones, and in other sources of information.

Keep track of the progress made in family research.

Distribute and share genealogical information.

GEDCOM X community

FamilySearch has been developing GEDCOM X in isolation, but the GEDCOM X sites stresses the value of collaboration:

The Value of Community:

Development will happen more quickly.

The standards should meet the needs of a wider range of family history products and services.

The people who shape the standards will be in the best position to use them effectively.

We can better incorporate the requirements of the mobile and social media technologies that have already changed the way we discover and share family history.

Those who create genealogical apps and services should be involved in shaping the standard toolset.

All that is on the GEDCOM X home page. Additional pages discuss the GEDCOM X model, API Profiles, and Community. There is an About page, a page specifically aimed at developers and a FAQ page.

GEDCOM X model

open source

FamilySearch has been creating GEDCOM in secret. Last year, the GEDCOM X article not only revealed the GEDCOM X project, but also revealed that FamilySearch was using a public site for development of the GEDCOM X, and that you could download it from there.
Today, FamilySearch officially opened up the GEDCOM X project on GitHub. You can download the GEDCOM X code from the official project page now, and if you browse around there, you'll find the GEDCOM X wiki.