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  • GRO MAGPIE Project

    Bad news, I'm afraid, though maybe not that much of a surprise - I was just reading in Ancestors magazine that the project has been dropped for the moment as the contractors, Siemens, have pulled out. If the GRO want to get it going again then they would have to find a new contractor to do the work and it could take years.

    Hope no-one was holding their breath waiting for the shiny new indexes!
    KiteRunner

    Every five years or so I look back on my life and I have a good... laugh"
    (Indigo Girls, "Watershed")

  • #2
    Well hoping, but quite believing that something would go wrong. They really don't want to make it easier for us do they?

    Comment


    • #3
      A girl can dream, can't she?

      I suppose this has been on the cards for the past couple of years. But how come TNA can get the censuses up and out? I know there were teething problems with 1901, but the data processing was done on time.
      Phoenix - with charred feathers
      Researching Skillings from Norfolk, Sworn from Salisbury and Adams in Malborough, Devon.

      Comment


      • #4
        They do suggest in Ancestors magazine that if the project is restarted, TNA should be the partner. Mind you, it is the official magazine of TNA!
        KiteRunner

        Every five years or so I look back on my life and I have a good... laugh"
        (Indigo Girls, "Watershed")

        Comment


        • #5
          Remind me, what's the difference between MAGPIE and DOVE, and is DOVE still proceeding?

          Comment


          • #6
            I think that DOVE was digitisation of vital events - so they don't have to use Smedley Hydro for sending out certs - but MAGPIE was the index with mmns, ages at death etc back to 1837. And goodness knows what EAGLE was, but I bet that has flown away too!
            Phoenix - with charred feathers
            Researching Skillings from Norfolk, Sworn from Salisbury and Adams in Malborough, Devon.

            Comment


            • #7
              Oh, WHY am I not a bit surprised?!!

              When I first read about all this - must have been 2002-ish - we were going to have downloadable certs, like they do in Scotland.

              Then it all went terribly quiet and I started to wonder if I had imagined it all. But no, I read a tiny bit somewhere that they were quietly abandoning these plans as the law would need to be changed in England to allow certificates to be viewable on line.

              Then I read that Siemens were having big problems with the digitising - the equipment wasn't up to the job and lots of the images were less than satisfactory.

              THEN I noticed that news on the various birdie projects hadn't been updated on the GRO site for 15 months...

              Now this! So, who was paying for it and what will now happen to that money?

              OC

              Comment


              • #8
                Presumably us, as taxpayers, and we won't get it back!
                KiteRunner

                Every five years or so I look back on my life and I have a good... laugh"
                (Indigo Girls, "Watershed")

                Comment


                • #9
                  If Siemens backed out of a contract, they can presumably be sued, for what that's worth.

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Scottish Genealogy News and Events: DOVE and MAGPIE to fly no more?

                    has info, plus this gem of a quote:

                    The Federation of Family History Societies states on its website that with the three projects being named after certain birds "it is tempting to think of the whole planning exercise as having been bird brained".

                    It doesn't say Siemens have pulled out, it says their 3-year contract won't be extended. But it looks like DOVE and MAGPIE are dead ducks!
                    Last edited by Little Nell; 09-07-08, 20:44.
                    ~ with love from Little Nell~
                    Chowns, Dunt, Emms, Mealing, Purvey & Smoothy

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      That's so disappointing!

                      Christine
                      Researching: BENNETT (Leics/Birmingham-ish) - incl. Leonard BENNETT in Detroit & Florida ; WARR/WOR, STRATFORD & GARDNER/GARNAR (Oxon); CHRISTMAS, RUSSELL, PAFOOT/PAFFORD (Hants); BIGWOOD, HAYLER/HAILOR (Sussex); LANCASTER (Beds, Berks, Wilts) - plus - COCKS (Spitalfields, Liverpool, Plymouth); RUSE/ROWSE, TREMEER, WADLIN(G)/WADLETON (Devonport, E Cornwall); GOULD (S Devon); CHAPMAN, HALL/HOLE, HORN (N Devon); BARRON, SCANTLEBURY (Mevagissey)...

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Originally posted by Little Nell View Post
                        Scottish Genealogy News and Events: DOVE and MAGPIE to fly no more?

                        has info, plus this gem of a quote:

                        The Federation of Family History Societies states on its website that with the three projects being named after certain birds "it is tempting to think of the whole planning exercise as having been bird brained".

                        It doesn't say Siemens have pulled out, it says their 3-year contract won't be extended. But it looks like DOVE and MAGPIE are dead ducks!
                        I'm going to cry......... I was relying on it to work out what happened to dads mum....:(

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                        • #13
                          lobby them to change the name to phoenix lol

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            Or dodo!

                            Funny, this, really, because all Registrars in England are now computerised - no more handwritten certs and the info goes immediately and directly to the GRO.

                            That bit worked then...

                            OC

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                            • #15
                              Well, I think in the article in Ancestors magazine, they were saying that that bit hadn't been a complete success either and that some offices still hadn't managed to implement it, but I don't know if that's true.
                              KiteRunner

                              Every five years or so I look back on my life and I have a good... laugh"
                              (Indigo Girls, "Watershed")

                              Comment


                              • #16
                                DoVE (Digitisation of Vital Events) is/was the project to digitise and index birth, death and marriage records for England and Wales from 1837 to 2006.

                                EAGLE (Electronic Access to GRO Legacy Events) is/was the system to handle certificate applications using the digitised records.

                                MAGPIE (MultiAccess to GRO Public Index of Events) is/was the project to index the digitised records.

                                Unfortunately the GRO spent so much energy thinking up catchy acronyms that there were no resources left to actually carry out the projects. ;)

                                No, seriously the whole digitisation project was virtually a lame duck ever since the government unlawfully tried to push the change of registration through without proper debate in parliament.
                                Cheers
                                Guy
                                Guy passed away October 2022

                                Comment


                                • #17
                                  Originally posted by Mary from Italy View Post
                                  If Siemens backed out of a contract, they can presumably be sued, for what that's worth.
                                  No the contract finished in July they simply did not extend the contract.
                                  Cheers
                                  Guy
                                  Guy passed away October 2022

                                  Comment


                                  • #18
                                    I want to know what each *E* stands for for each entry for Dorothy Edelewiss Dean


                                    Too many Dorothy E Deans.......... Only one Dorothy Edelewiss....

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                                    • #19
                                      Perhaps the GRO should have used whoever scanned the certs for GROS on Scotland's People? They appear to have managed the technology ok.

                                      It infuriates me really, the more I think about it. What a complete and bumbling waste of time, money and effort, and no one has got a smack for it, either.

                                      I might even get worked up enough about it to ask my MP for a full explanation. I am sick of these huge wastes of public money (some of which is mine!) just being quietly written off.

                                      OC

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                                      • #20
                                        The bit that is really annoying is that we had all been misled into thinking this would be a help to genealogists and now its snatched away.

                                        How they think the identity card scheme is going to work, I really don't know. This is a government that can't even send something in the internal post without losing it.
                                        ~ with love from Little Nell~
                                        Chowns, Dunt, Emms, Mealing, Purvey & Smoothy

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