View Full Version : Gro digital images
ElizabethHerts
06-07-23, 13:17
https://www.gro.gov.uk/gro/content/certificates/images/CGOVPublicBeta.pdf
Digital Image (JPEG)
Image of a record that can not be used for official identification e.g. if applying for a passport, driving licence, or where required to give notice of marriage
Cost £2.50. Image available to view once payment is complete and a link to the image is provided on the order confirmation screen
Available in 'My Orders' for 3 months after date of purchase
Not all records are available to view as Digital Images, however the record you are searching for may be available as a PDF or certificate.
I haven't yet found a record available as a digital image, but I haven't looked at more than a couple of records so far.
Phew.
It's been promised for long enough
kiterunner
06-07-23, 14:56
Who selected the sample image in 7 Q&A Q3? (On page 4 of the Service Guide.) It seems like a really bad example.
maggie_4_7
06-07-23, 15:00
I have looked at two digital images my Nan born 23 Dec 1888 registered Feb 1889 and also my mum born 19th March 1921.
Mary from Italy
06-07-23, 15:44
That's great. I hope they'll add marriages and later births and deaths at some point, although they say they're not planning to at the moment.
I can't access the site at all this morning!
Olde Crone
07-07-23, 07:55
Glad on two levels - the cost and speed, obvously, but the fact that the DOVE project has finally been used and not wasted, even if it has taken twenty years to do so.
OC
From an email from WDYTYA - it gives dates
n exciting news for family historians, civil birth records from 1837 to 1922 and death records from 1837 to 1887 will now be much easier and cheaper to access in a new scheme making them available to download as digital imagesI
maggie_4_7
07-07-23, 12:36
From an email from WDYTYA - it gives dates
n exciting news for family historians, civil birth records from 1837 to 1922 and death records from 1837 to 1887 will now be much easier and cheaper to access in a new scheme making them available to download as digital imagesI
Well I got a digital image for 1889, so perhaps that a typo.
Edit: sorry misread it it's death's to 1887. I need to pay attention
Hmm. One death entry I've ordered shows half "my" entry and half the one above. I can work out who is on the entry above, but there are eight entries per page. So, to get the other half, I'd have to order another six. It sounds as if we can get our money back, but not expect an accurate image if we buy things on the cheap.
I just ordered one to test the system. Very easy and the complete image.
Being on the other side of the world may make the system less congested but I have a heap of certificates I've wanted but haven't ordered but now I can get 3 for the cost of a pdf so I can order more.
Hmm. One death entry I've ordered shows half "my" entry and half the one above. I can work out who is on the entry above, but there are eight entries per page. So, to get the other half, I'd have to order another six. It sounds as if we can get our money back, but not expect an accurate image if we buy things on the cheap.
Let them know. I'm sure this is the way they want orders to go from now on, all automated and less staff required. If you only get half an image, you will then complain, want the other half and/or a refund. Not a good business model and not efficient for them either.
Unless I've misread the FAQs you can get a refund but they won't refilm the image. This will probably depend on how many complaints they get.
Mary from Italy
09-07-23, 16:07
Surely they could display both pages in that case?
The reason that the service can be offered so cheaply is the lack of human intervention. They suggest, if you are not satisfied, you get a refund, but have to pay £7.50 for a decent image.
Olde Crone
09-07-23, 16:51
Hmmm. Scotland's People have been doing instant downloads for ever, of course, very cheaply. Occasionally an image is unreadable, you don't get your money back but you do get a better copy via human intervention!I
OC
How big a database would Scotland's People have? I'm not excusing GRO, the image I've seen is pretty shoddily aligned, but they are going to have different economic models. There must be a vast amount of sunk cost in this, and the cost of re-doing is probably more than it's worth.
Olde Crone
09-07-23, 21:26
SP is a much smaller database of course, but even so they are able to correct and expect to. The DOVE project is paid for, that cost has gone and I think the GRO could afford a bit of set-aside to correct the short comings of that project. Istr that one of the major reasons for abandoning it was the technical difficulty of copying the registers, the scanners couldn't cope with the deep indent between left and right pages. Otherwise it's a fire sale - take your chance, this is all we've got. Yet again a missed opportunity! Wish I was in charge.
OC
Wish I was in charge.
OC
Oh yes, OC!!!
Olde Crone
10-07-23, 09:41
Lol Merry, be careful what you wish for.
OC
Durham Lady
12-07-23, 11:07
I ordered a birth entry and although I can read it on the computer it won't print a full copy, all I get is a blown up fraction of the details. With a pdf l have no problems printing.
I ordered about 6 certs and only one was not the full image.
I complained and got my money back quite quickly.
maggie_4_7
29-08-23, 17:53
I have looked everywhere but does anyone know if the GRO intend to continue beyond the 1887 cutoff for deaths?
maggie_4_7
29-08-23, 17:55
I ordered about 6 certs and only one was not the full image.
I complained and got my money back quite quickly.
Yes me too.
I have dowloaded a lot and one was unreadable and I got my money back the next day in my bank account.
I have looked everywhere but does anyone know if the GRO intend to continue beyond the 1887 cutoff for deaths?
The Lost Cousins guy was in on all the 'testing' and stuff for the digital images and I have it in my head that one of his newsletters said either he didn't know if that date would be extended, and/or that he didn't know why that was the cut off date. It seems quite random. Oh, is to just that they did 50 years from 1837? :confused:
The process of filming and indexing the records must be huge. To avoid crashing the site, and to see what sustained demand is like, it makes sense to release it in tranches.
I have probably spent more in the last few weeks than I did in the last decade. If I am typical, this is probably helping them to decide that they have the funds to justify more releases.
Mary from Italy
29-08-23, 20:14
I have looked everywhere but does anyone know if the GRO intend to continue beyond the 1887 cutoff for deaths?
I posted this upthread: "I hope they'll add marriages and later births and deaths at some point, although they say they're not planning to at the moment."
I got that information off their website, I think.
maggie_4_7
30-08-23, 05:55
Thank you everyone.
Olde Crone
30-08-23, 08:16
I thought they were using the images they produced during the DOVE project? As that was abandoned because of insurmountable problems then there won't be any additions. Or have I got that wrong?
OC
I thought they were using the images they produced during the DOVE project? As that was abandoned because of insurmountable problems then there won't be any additions. Or have I got that wrong?
OC
I can't remember when DOVE was on everyone's lips, but probably nearer twenty than ten years ago? Technology will have changed so much since then that any interface between old and new stuff might be difficult to stitch together.
Olde Crone
30-08-23, 10:23
Yes, 15 or more years ago, definitely, I still remember how gutted I was when the project was abandoned.
AFAIR, the problem was that the old registers could not be opened flat and the hand held scanners couldn't cope with the resultant curve of the page, which might account for the poor quality of some of the images.
The GRO is not allowed to make a profit as it is a vital service, so any project money must come from elsewhere. I think the DOVE initiative might have been funded by the EU but I don't know.
OC
Olde Crone
30-08-23, 10:34
Just checked. According to wiki, DOVE was superseded by DI, which in turn was abandoned in 2010 because of government spending cuts. "There are no plans to continue with the digitisation" .
OC
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