French Helpers by Geographical Location

In late February 2016 French researcher Franck Signorile published his latest contribution to researchers working with records of French helpers of Allied airmen.  As its title indicates, it shows French helpers by geographical location.  To access the results of his research, click on the following link:

http://www.aide-aviateurs-allies-ww2.fr/.

The following is a sample of what it looks like when a searcher is looking at northern France at a medium magnification:

Sample map #1 from Franck Signorile (jpg version)

Mr. Signorile has described the Main Research Features as follows:

  • At this point the website is only written in French, but even if you are not familiar with the language, please take a look at the map-based research tool that is available on the “Recherche” tab. This is the heart of the new website.
  • The first time you open the research tab the page might take a while to load, especially if you have a slow Internet connection. I have tested it on PCs, Macs and also tablets. The larger your screen is, the easier it will be to navigate with the zoom feature. The left windows will let you search helpers by name or by city. You can also simply browse and zoom into the map directly, like in Google Maps.
  • At the default zoom level, the map will only display the largest cities where the number of helpers exceeds 20 or 50. Things will get more interesting and detailed when you zoom in; smaller cities will gradually appear when you continue to zoom in. For obvious reasons it was not possible to display all cities at once since there are more than 21,000 helpers spread across 5,600 different cities and villages.
  • You can double-click on the map to zoom in or use the “+” button on the top-left corner. If you move the mouse over a city icon, you will see the name of the city and the number of helpers. If you click on a city, a pop-up window will appear with a list of names. You can then click on an individual helper and see more details.
  • The “Help/Aide” tab has more explanation on how to use it, but again, only in French for the moment. An English version of the website is coming in the near future.
  • The “Liens/Links” tab is empty for the moment.