Mapping Relationships

[Sarai]

What I wish I could do with the relationship tool:

Choose one person and then add layers to show relationships on a social level:
- union relationships (marriage, engagement, etc)
- (grand)parent-(grand)children relationships
- other family relationships (cousins, uncle/aunt-nephew/niece)
- other family (but not blood) relationships (step-parents--step-children, godparens-godchildren, milk-nurse, etc)
- in-laws
- foster/adoptive relationships
- employer-employee-work colleague relationships
- group membership relationships

Ideally, these relationship layers could all be applied separately or simultaneously.

Now, the number of people shown...
Ideally, when a central character is chosen, a dialogue box appears with a list of all the people and the respective type of relationship. Then there could be a button saying “display all characters”, or, alternatively, the user would tick the people and relationships which the map ought to focus on.

Also, if there are problems with the size of the beast (that would definitely be my situation), there could be a warning stating the limit of relationships viewable (e.g. you can choose six more characters... Ooops, you’ve exceeded the limit, please tick off two characters).

Then there should be the possibility of levels. So, the central character would be level zero. All its direct relationships would be level one. Level two would be mapping relationships between those direct relationships (so we focus on character A, who is connected to B and C. But B and C are also connected; on the first level that relationship wouldn’t be apparent, but on he second level it would). I’d like a level 3... but I’ll ask for it when level 2 is in place.

Another possibility – and I would so love this one – would be the relationship finder. So you pick two, three or four characters (or a higher limit – preferably!), then you click the button to find direct relationships. Then you can click a button to find indirect relationships, with you being able to choose how many intermediaries there are (so, A and C would have one intermediary, B; but A and E would have 3 intermediaries, B, C and D).

Finally, the lines connecting the characters should have the option for showing text (embedded in/on the line) or not.

And for the final finally, it would be great if the relationship map would organise itself automatically having in mind avoiding links crossing over too much. However, it would also be nice to have the possibility of switching off that ‘automatic view’ and let the users themselves organise the map.

Nevertheless, I don’t expect you to work seriously on the relationships for quite some time... Perhaps you’ll be able to think about it in, say, one-two years? I’m fully aware that there are far more pressing needs at hand. Still, that’s my wish list...

Keep up the wonderful work: you’re an inspiration for all the people who have a dream and wonder whether it’s viable to work on it when everyone says it’s impossible.