Links to the best Place Finders

An obvious place to start searching is Google Maps.

However, borders have changed. Village names have changed. Some places have different names in different languages.

These outstanding tools should help you identify and locate the place your ancestors came from. If you know of other tools that are useful and should be included in this list, please send me the URL.

GOV contains around 1.3 million entries (residential areas, administrative units, churches, etc.) mostly in Europe, North America and Australia (as at November 2024).

Global Gazetteer is a directory of 2,880,532 of the world's cities and towns, sorted by country and linked to a map for each town. Presentation © 1998 by Carl Rosenberg.

The Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names allows you to search for a place name and lists synonyms in a variety of different languages. Provides a hierarchical structure (continent, region, country, province, town, etc..) as well as historical background information. Disadvantage: the DB doesn't yet contain many of the small villages that we often hunt for.

• Austrian ZIP codes (interactive) or alphabetical listing (by province) [both in German]
• If available, check the GenWeb for the specific province. Some (e.g.. Burgenland) have some very detailed listing of villages and parishes.
• Search for the name of the place using the usual search engines (and try the Austrian Internet search engines).
• Post a well formulated query (including background information) on:

• • AustrianGenWeb and/or
  • other WorldGenWeb sites for bordering countries
  • Facebook groups
• Research in libraries, check indices, old maps, verify spelling and alternatives, check which country it might really be in (see History & Geography). Consider checking encyclopedia; eg. Wikipedia.
• Check with Austrian societies & researchers.