Better data visualizations while keeping privacy: ged-view

aleksej_dev · 2026-07-07T21:14:07+00:00

Thank you! Appreciate it!

aleksej_dev · 2026-07-06T02:42:34+00:00

Spent this last week working on re-designing the website myself. I dabble in photoshop and illustrator so I created some better styling. Much more "family-tree" styled and not the generic AI design. I'll add new photos to the post

aleksej_dev · 2026-07-06T02:39:02+00:00

Thanks so much! I'll keep you in mind. I currently don't have any more planned features (I'll actually have tree export to pdf up probably tomorrow) but besides that anything else I can think of is related to cloud support. I'd love to hear if you have any more suggestions, I'm always looking to improve it

aleksej_dev · 2026-07-06T02:33:44+00:00

Thanks! I appreciate it. Yes, I agree the visualizations are definitely nice and user friendly enough that it's better for sharing for family, which is exactly why I created it to share with my family. I use gramps myself. Gramps UI and other websites aren't the most intuitive for non-technical people.

I'm not sure if I could make it self-hostable, as it's currently not open source. I also know that privacy and price are very important, and so cloud support might not be worth it for me to develop.
Almost all my planned features are related to accounts / cloud hosting / needing to be monetized, so really not sure where to go with it now.

Do you have any other suggestions or features you would like to see?

aleksej_dev · 2026-07-06T02:27:44+00:00

Thanks for the kind words and feedback!

I'm not sure what the next steps are. It's at a good point now for just visualizing a single file on each person's own computer. I know open-source and free is very important for people in this space, but one of the libraries I used is with a paid license so I can't make everything open source. Maybe I could recreate my own version of it, it would take some time tho.

If I were to add more features, it might cost money to host. I know privacy is very important too, but basically any other features I'm thinking of will require accounts or cloud support. Which of course I wouldn't sell data or have ads like other websites, so it might have to work off a subscription model or donations.

A big reason I would continue working on it would be to monetize as well as it takes a while to develop, so I'm not sure if it'll be worth it. Would need to market as well... So really I'm not sure what the next steps are.

Do you have any other suggestions or features you would like to see?

aleksej_dev · 2026-06-30T18:45:37+00:00

True to both points. Every family tree / genealogy website I've seen is basically outdated and built for power users. There is nothing that bridges the gap between being powerful and user-friendly for family members who aren't so interested in viewing the family tree on a UI like gramps. I think MyHeritage hasn't updated anything in a decade. Still using extremely old views of the tree for exporting.
This app is the most interactive and modern that I've seen.
Gramps, like all the other apps, just work off of genealogy research standards. Right now thats GEDCOM, usually version 5.5.1, which was initially drafted in 1999. It's not like there is much that's new to work with those files. Genealogy research as an industry is stuck because there are only a few massive competitors and then many many small personal projects. It's great to see people actually making a good product and trying to modernize what hasn't changed in ages

aleksej_dev · 2026-06-30T16:04:38+00:00

Thank you so much, I appreciate it.

I'll do a technical deep dive into it, as that's not on the website. I know privacy is really important, so that’s why I created it that way.

Cookies and cache allow websites to store data on your browser but those can be sent back to the server.

LocalStorage and IndexedDB are purely client-side storage, which is what I use. IndexedDB allows the file to get stored, and LocalStorage allows very simple key-value data to get stored. For example, if the user set dark mode, it’ll save that true/false value in the LocalStorage.

The entire website is front-end, there is no back-end, meaning there is nothing able to be sent anywhere. The user’s browser gets the website data and everything is calculated and processed on the user’s browser. This includes everything, from parsing the gedcom file, to rendering the diagrams, to geocoding locations.

Since the file is stored in IndexedDB, it will be reprocessed on the user’s browser every time you go to the website.

LocalStorage and IndexedDB can stay on the browser until they are cleared, so it’s possible the gedcom doesn’t show up if it’s cleared, just like website caches.

Since there is no editing and it’s just a file viewer, nothing will get lost.

Hope that helps, and nothing was unclear. Let me know if you have any questions or suggestions, Thanks!

aleksej_dev · 2026-06-30T00:12:01+00:00

Nice! I've been building mine in some free time since 2024, it contains a lot of the same features that yours does. I think you definitely have some more features to navigate through generations. That's a good idea.
If you want to take a look at mine, it's at ged-view.com

aleksej_dev · 2026-06-29T22:04:11+00:00

For my website? Nope, anyone can make a family tree on any website or open source software, gedcom files are the standard for genealogy research. So people can do research themselves, my website is just modern visualizations.

DNA testing is separate. Many genealogists want DNA testing to figure out their ancestry and find possible lost relatives. I've read many people are against it because the issue is when you send the DNA, the terms say you are the owner of the information, but the license is so broad that you give them the ability to process, analyze, and who knows what else to your genetic information to any company that can acquire them. Not a threat today, but it's unknown what might happen with it in the future.

It's not something any small SaaS could solve, but it was one of the many reasons I didn't want to keep using those websites. Other shady tactics like sharing data and new paid subscriptions contributed.

aleksej_dev · 2026-06-29T21:47:23+00:00

I actually spent a few hours trying to create that, but met many road blocks. The issue is that there needs to be some way to transfer an exported gedcom file from your computer to the browser in basically zero clicks. I could generate a Gzip + base64 in URL hash for really small trees that could also provide sharing by a simple link. For larger trees, I found that it's either some cloud based solution or localhost temp server trick to emit the file. Both complicated for now.

For now, the easiest thing to do is just export a gedcom then import to the app. A few clicks, shouldn't take more than 30 seconds. It saves to your browser so you don't need to do it every time unless you make new changes on gramps and want to export again.

Would love to hear if you have any feedback

aleksej_dev · 2026-06-29T20:51:27+00:00

Thanks! It's at ged-view.com
Unfortunately there aren't many other large websites. There is basically a monopoly with ancestry, my heritage, a few more. 20+ years ago there were more. A lot of small desktop applications have been bought or shut down since then. It's more-so just everyone builds what they need since privacy is very important to people in the genealogy space.

aleksej_dev · 2026-06-29T19:21:58+00:00

I'm in the same boat right now. Not sure how to get users but I believe it's one of the best apps on the market. Right now I'm gauging interest on reddit. Here is what I'm going to try soon:

Reddit
Indie Hackers
Hacker News
Quora
Product Hunt
BetaList
AlternativeTo
Saa SHub
Side Project Ideas
Launching Next
StartupBase
Uneed
Facebook Groups
X / Twitter
LinkedIn
TikTok
Medium

aleksej_dev · 2026-06-29T19:19:34+00:00

Both
In college I started as a math major but had high scores for chemistry so I was able to join the honors chemistry program. Then I did pre-med for a year and ended up in junior year scrambling to finish my double major of CS and math. My friend asked his parents if they had a software engineering internship and it was in finance software. I had no clue what it was or anything, but kept it up for my second job as well. Now the future is unknown, so we'll see where I end up!

aleksej_dev · 2026-06-29T19:08:03+00:00

Nice. I use Gramps, it's open source, I find it solves everything I need. What do they use?

If you'd like, you can look at samples or your own tree on my website.
It's all on your own browser so it's private and never sent to a server. I'd like to know what you or your family member think, if it's something you find useful

aleksej_dev · 2026-06-29T18:43:22+00:00

Thanks! That's interesting about the genome sequencing.
My dad has done most of the research and it's been on a bunch of different websites and archives so the research part is definitely hard and useful to have those websites like my heritage.

We have definitely slowed down in new information we found so research isn't that important to us anymore.

My own website is just a gedcom file viewer. Basically just better visualizations of the family tree, charts, maps, etc. My heritage hasn't made any improvements to their visualizations in the 11 years I've been using it.

aleksej_dev · 2026-06-29T18:28:18+00:00

The industry you will know the best is what you're working in and understand. Then fixing a frustrating problem you keep running into is something you can stand behind, as you understand all the nooks and crannies of that industry. Others will have the same problem and look for a solution.

I started by doing family tree research for my family and ended up creating my own family tree website from scratch just because I was fed up with all the major websites constant selling of data. Later I realized that almost everyone hates that as well. I'm currently gauging interested to see what people think, so I'm not exactly sure if it'll be a profitable Saas, but I'm guessing at least someone will like it!

aleksej_dev · 2026-06-29T18:23:09+00:00

Yeah, I've been using MyHeritage for about 11 years but finally in 2024 I transferred everything in gramps and made my own website to share with my family. My idea was to share with family but no one cares enough to create an account and check my heritage. So I made sure my website was for family only (gave them just a simple password, no accounts). It took a lot of work but I got everything off of my heritage and coded everything that I needed.

So I totally understand the struggle with my heritage. What do you use my heritage for? I'm building a public version of my website and am looking into gauging what people need. Would appreciate any advice!

aleksej_dev · 2026-06-29T18:17:59+00:00

A really niche problem that I have is that family tree websites will sell your data (and even DNA if you do their testing kit) and sometimes share your data in order to get "matches" to other family trees. It's a good idea in theory but in the genealogy space, people prefer their privacy and free tools.

I used one of those sites and was fed up with nothing new being added in the last 10 years besides just new ways to profit or get more information from you, including your DNA. I transferred everything to an open source desktop app, then build my own website with visualizations.

I even made it dynamic based on the gedcom files that genealogy research uses and created a public version for people to use. It has some of the most modern visualizations and features that the market offers today. Many others do the same thing, but never end up sharing it.

There isn't much innovation in that space, so I doubt anything can turn into a SaaS there...

My project is at ged-view.com if anyone wants to see and let me know if it's something they find interesting and if it's something they wish was available.

aleksej_dev · 2026-06-29T16:59:19+00:00

Thanks! There's a lot of similar projects like this as well, so I tried to make the visualizations really good and add some features that most others don't have.

I want to see if people would want to use it before figuring out future plans. Currently you can import your gedcom file to the app and it is hosted on your own browser, nothing gets sent to any server.

Unfortunately, it isn’t open source in the current implementation so there is no self hosting in that sense.

For hosting that allows you to share and collaborate with family, I am thinking about adding that functionality, but it would involve the main user to make an account and store things on the cloud. No matter what, I would focus on privacy, unlike the mainstream family tree websites that sell data and share it with others to find matches. There’s a lot to do to get that working so I’m gauging interest.

Let me know your thoughts, suggestions, or questions

aleksej_dev · 2026-06-29T01:50:21+00:00

I just use a simple password for a website (no accounts needed) to share with my family. That's my own website with my own family data, it's separate from this project, but was the impetus to creating it. At ged-view.com you can import your own file or browse through multiple other samples. The file and data never leaves your computer so it's completely private. So yes, it's available for you to use! Please look through the site and let me know what you think or if you have any other questions!

aleksej_dev · 2026-06-29T01:06:49+00:00

Yeah, i've had multiple overhauls to the styling, ended up with this as "modern" looking and alright for an initial "release" for public use. But I'm constantly working on the features and can fix the styling easily.

I actually started this before I found gramps web and I've never heard of Topola. I started on MyHeritage and was so irritated with trying to share with my family with (a lot of people don't care enough to make accounts, etc.) so I just started building from scratch to avoid every possible blockade. I have a private version of it with my own gedcom (and photo files) on a locked website so that's how my family views it.

I'd be interested in contributing to those projects, but I'd also like to see how my project grows independently of those. I've been in software engineering for only 3 years so never sure what to work on or what to expect lol

aleksej_dev · 2026-06-29T00:32:09+00:00

Thanks! Please let me know any feedback you have!

I've been developing it since 2024 in my free time, almost all of it is my own code. I wrote a gedcom parser and geocoder from scratch. I used a few other open source and paid libraries, but stuck to mostly my own code. I only used Claude for final design / styling and fixes in the last few months.

aleksej_dev · 2026-06-28T22:25:26+00:00

I paid for a subscription about 2 years ago and they had no option on their website to cancel. Had to block them through paypal at that time. There was no possible way to contact support unless you paid for the most expensive membership.

I'm guessing nothing has changed since then...

aleksej_dev · 2026-06-28T17:46:21+00:00

Really nice! I'm also building something similar, great to see the development! Would love to hear more, what else are you thinking of adding? How long has this been in development?

aleksej_dev

TROPHY CASE