README.md

js_family_tree

Interactive visualization and -exploration tool for large family trees.

Author: Benjamin W. Portner

License: GNU General Public License v3.0

Live example here. (Kudos to Pavel Puchkin from githack.com for providing the caching proxy!)

JSFiddle here.

Features

The code is based on the collapsible d3 tree example by d3noob.

Features in the original:

• uses d3-hierarchy
• collapsible children nodes
• nice transitions

New features:

• uses d3-dag instead of d3-hierarchy (allows two parents per node)
• introduces union nodes to connect parents and children via common way point
• nodes are collapsible in all directions: children, parents, partners (nodes memorize their dependencies)
• use d3-tip to show metadata on hover
• use d3-zoom to enable zooming and panning

How to use

• Edit data/data.js to represent your family tree
• Open familytree.html
• Done!

Data format

The file data/data.js contains a single javascript object, which represents the family tree. The fields are as follows:

• start: Enter here the id of the person, which should be the starting point of the family tree.
• persons: Contains metadata about each person. Make sure each id is unique. Also, make sure each element in own_unions refers to a valid union defined in data.unions.
• unions: Contains metadata about each family. Each entry in partner and children must refer to a valid person defined in data.persons.
• links: Defines how unions and persons are to be linked (edge list). Basically an alternative representation of the information contained in person.own_unions, union.partner and union.children. Unfortunately, this redundancy is for now necessary to ensure proper functioning of the code!

data = {
    "start":"id4",
    "persons": {
        "id1": { "id": "id1", "name": "Adam", "birthyear": 1900, "deathyear": 1980, "own_unions": ["u1"], "birthplace":"Alberta", "deathplace":"Austin"},
        "id2": { "id": "id2", "name": "Berta", "birthyear": 1901, "deathyear": 1985, "own_unions": ["u1"], "birthplace":"Berlin", "deathplace":"Bern" },
        "id3": { "id": "id3", "name": "Charlene", "birthyear": 1930, "deathyear": 2010, "own_unions": ["u3", "u4"], "parent_union": "u1", "birthplace":"Château", "deathplace":"Cuxhaven" },
        "id4": { "id": "id4", "name": "Dan", "birthyear": 1926, "deathyear": 2009, "own_unions": [], "parent_union": "u1", "birthplace":"den Haag", "deathplace":"Derince" },
        "id5": { "id": "id5", "name": "Eric", "birthyear": 1931, "deathyear": 2015, "own_unions": ["u3"], "parent_union": "u2", "birthplace":"Essen", "deathplace":"Edinburgh" },
        "id6": { "id": "id6", "name": "Francis", "birthyear": 1902, "deathyear": 1970, "own_unions": ["u2"], "birthplace":"Firenze", "deathplace":"Faizabad" },
        "id7": { "id": "id7", "name": "Greta", "birthyear": 1905, "deathyear": 1990, "own_unions": ["u2"] },
        "id8": { "id": "id8", "name": "Heinz", "birthyear": 1970, "own_unions": ["u5"], "parent_union": "u3" },
        "id9": { "id": "id9", "name": "Iver", "birthyear": 1925, "deathyear": 1963, "own_unions": ["u4"] },
        "id10": { "id": "id10", "name": "Jennifer", "birthyear": 1950, "own_unions": [], "parent_union": "u4" },
        "id11": { "id": "id11", "name": "Klaus", "birthyear": 1933, "deathyear": 2013, "own_unions": [], "parent_union": "u1" },
        "id12": { "id": "id12", "name": "Lennart", "birthyear": 1999, "own_unions": [], "parent_union": "u5" },
    },
    "unions": {
        "u1": { "id": "u1", "partner": ["id1", "id2"], "children": ["id3", "id4", "id11"] },
        "u2": { "id": "u2", "partner": ["id6", "id7"], "children": ["id5"] },
        "u3": { "id": "u3", "partner": ["id3", "id5"], "children": ["id8"] },
        "u4": { "id": "u4", "partner": ["id3", "id9"], "children": ["id10"] },
        "u5": { "id": "u5", "partner": ["id8"], "children": ["id12"] },
    },
    "links": [
        ["id1", "u1"],
        ["id2", "u1"],
        ["u1", "id3"],
        ["u1", "id4"],
        ["id6", "u2"],
        ["id7", "u2"],
        ["u2", "id5"],
        ["id3", "u3"],
        ["id5", "u3"],
        ["u3", "id8"],
        ["id3", "u4"],
        ["id9", "u4"],
        ["u4", "id10"],
        ["u1", "id11"],
        ["id8", "u5"],
        ["u5", "id12"],
    ]
}