What does Country Coding do?
When enabled, Country Coding adds little flags of countries to cards in your family tree showing the birth (or death, depending on the settings) countries of the displayed individuals. It also shows a list of all the countries mentioned in the current view of your tree.
At a glance:
Visualization: This feature helps you see migration patterns and diverse origins at a glance across all tree views (Family, Pedigree, Fan, and List).
Scope: Country Coding is enabled per family tree. Enabling it for one tree will not automatically enable it for others in your account.
Event Selection: By default, flags are based on birth and baptism places, but you can choose to use death and burial places instead via the settings. (See settings at the bottom of this page)
How can I enable Country Coding in my family tree?
Click on the steps below in order to open the collapsible instructions.
Step 1: Locate the navigation panel
Step 1: Locate the navigation panel
After logging in to your MyHeritage account, open your family tree on your MyHeritage family site and look at the navigation panel at the bottom right of the screen.
Step 2: Click the Globe icon
Step 2: Click the Globe icon
Click the Globe icon (located above the Color Coding option). This icon acts as a toggle to enable or disable the feature.
Step 3: Confirm the activation
Step 3: Confirm the activation
The first time you enable the feature, a pop-up will appear. Click the button at the bottom of the pop-up to finish enabling Country Coding.
How does the MyHeritage flag assignment work?
Flags are assigned to individuals in your tree using a combination of manual text recognition and automatic geolocation.
Manual Override: If the last word of a place name is a recognized modern country (for example, "Poritzk, Ukraine"), the system will prioritize that country and display its flag.
Automatic Geolocation: If no country is specified (for example, "Danzig"), the system uses PedigreeMap to geolocate the coordinates. It then assigns the flag of the modern country currently occupying that space. For example, "Danzig" shows a Polish flag.
Unknown Locations: If the system cannot determine a modern country from the text provided, a "?" icon is displayed.
Can I manage the Flags for Historical Locations?
Our system is designed to provide clarity based on modern geography, but you can use the following methods to control how flags are displayed:
Manually "claim" a city: You can assign a city to a specific country by appending the country name to the location. For example, if you prefer a Finnish flag for Viipuri instead of a Russian one, you can enter "Viipuri, Finland."
Understand flag limitations: Please note that the system only displays flags of existing modern countries. Historical flags, such as the USSR, Prussia, or Nazi-era flags, are not currently supported or available in the code. They will map to their modern-day equivalent or may not display a flag if a modern equivalent is not identified.
Handle missing places: Individuals without a birth or baptism place listed will show a flag icon with a dashed circle. You can click this icon to enter missing location details.
What are the Country Coding settings?
When the feature is active, a Country Coding panel appears on the right side of the tree. You can customize your view by clicking the three vertical dots at the top of this panel to access the settings menu.
Country breakdown
Country breakdown
From here, you can manage the following regional flag preferences:
United Kingdom: By default, the UK is broken down into its constituent nations: England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland.
USA: You can opt to show individual flags for all 50 states.
Canada: You can choose to display flags for individual provinces.
Australia: You can enable flags for specific states.
Types of places
Types of places
You can choose whether you want to look at birth/baptism places or death/burial places in your tree.
Options
Options
You can enable or disable showing icons of missing places.