Place names in MLS

[russellhltn]

Then it sounds like we need some official clarification on the inconsistent MLS instructions.

First thing might be to check the most recent instructions. I haven't had a chance yet.

[aebrown]

I had a old MLS help file, but found the instructions were inconsistent. Some indicated to use the country in the birth place and made no mention of a "Birth Country" field, while others that did mention "Birth Country" showed Birth Place examples that lacked the country.

Then it sounds like we need some official clarification on the inconsistent MLS instructions.

Not a single place in the current MLS help file that mentions Birth Country gives an example that omits the country, so that shows improvement over what RussellHltn saw in an older MLS file.

The current MLS help file instructs clerks to fill in the country more often than not, but unfortunately there are some cases where the country is not mentioned.

In 7 of the places that mention a birth or marriage place (Child Blessing Record, Child Blessing Certificate, Record Temple Marriage, Record Civil Marriage, Convert--Prior Spouses, Convert--Current Spouse, Out of Unit Member--Spouse) it says something like:

...enter the place of birth in the format City, County, State or Province, Country (example: Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah, USA).

But in 5 other places (Child Blessing Information, Child of Record--Personal Information, Child Baptism--Personal Information, Update Individual Record--Personal Information, and Out of Unit Member Individual Information) it says something like:

...enter the birthplace in the "City, County, State" format (example: Portland, Multnomah, Oregon).

So it looks like it's 7 to 5 for including the country. My guess is that the current policy is indeed to enter the country, but those 5 places in the MLS help file haven't been fixed yet.

I've sent a message to Local Unit Support requesting that the MLS help file be fixed.

[mkmurray]

So it looks like it's 7 to 5 for including the country. My guess is that the current policy is indeed to enter the country, but those 5 places in the MLS help file haven't been fixed yet.

Well that is comforting to know that I was doing it the suggested, even if my reasoning was out of personal preference on how a birth place string should look on a Child Blessing Certificate.

[Mikerowaved]

Hummm... I thought I recalled reading in the instructions where they did not want abbreviations used for places, but rather have everything spelled out. Wouldn't that apply to "USA" also? :rolleyes:

[jdlessley]

Well if the test data is any indication, then the developers are not adhering to that instruction.

[aebrown]

Hummm... I thought I recalled reading in the instructions where they did not want abbreviations used for places, but rather have everything spelled out. Wouldn't that apply to "USA" also? :rolleyes:

That's a good point. Of the 7 places in the MLS help file that mention the country, 2 concern birth places. Those two (Child Blessing Record, Child Blessing Certificate) say "USA" in the example.

The other 5 (Record Temple Marriage, Record Civil Marriage, Convert--Prior Spouses, Convert--Current Spouse, Out of Unit Member--Spouse) concern marriage places, and their examples all say "United States".

In my previous post, the example I cited was from the first one I came across, which happened to be a birth, so it said "USA", but there are actually more references to "United States." I would definitely go with "United States."

[aebrown]

Well if the test data is any indication, then the developers are not adhering to that instruction.

I wouldn't look to the test data at all for guidance on such issues. It is very old and hasn't been updated along with MLS. It has many inconsistencies in its data -- state and county names are sometimes spelled out, and sometimes abbreviated. Countries are rarely listed, and the most common county name doesn't even exist.

The charitable view is that the data was so inconsistent on purpose to give us practice in cleaning up data. Since I like to be charitable, I'll stick with that theory.

[russellhltn]

The charitable view is that the data was so inconsistent on purpose to give us practice in cleaning up data.

I think it would be there on purpose to assist in testing the software. It needs to gracefully handle everything that could reasonably expected to be found in the actual data. And unless someone turns loose an automated cleanup tool, all the variations we found are not that far off.

[iamrkh]

...enter the place of birth in the format City, County, State or Province, Country (example: Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah, USA).

In the case of an independent city (no county), should the entry read:

1. Alexandria, Virginia, United States

OR

2. Alexandria, Alexandria, Virginia, United States [Standard Finder format]

The second format could be (wrongly) interpreted to suggest that Alexandria is located in Alexandria County.

[RossEvans]

...enter the place of birth in the format City, County, State or Province, Country (example: Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah, USA).

In the case of an independent city (no county), should the entry read:

1. Alexandria, Virginia, United States

OR

2. Alexandria, Alexandria, Virginia, United States [Standard Finder format]

The second format could be (wrongly) interpreted to suggest that Alexandria is located in Alexandria County.

Alexandria effectively is a county as well as a city. (I used to live there, and spent a lot of time researching courthouse records.)

So I would use your example # 2.

Virginia is unique in that there are no overlapping cities and counties. Cities such as Alexandria perform all the functions that elsewhere are performed by counties, such as maintaining birth records in its own courthouse. Conversely, counties such as neighboring Arlington perform all the functions that elsewhere are performed by cities.