Rodovid:About
Rodovid is a free, multi-language, collaborative genealogy portal designed to organize the world’s family trees into a single, cohesive network. Unlike traditional genealogy software, Rodovid is built on a "living" database structure where every connection contributes to a global map of human history.
Our Mission
Our goal is to provide a stable, high-performance platform for researchers and families to preserve their heritage. We treat genealogical data as a fundamental civilization resource, where "Trust" and "Accountability" are the core engines of the network.
Key Statistics
- Records: Over 1.5 million individuals.
- Technology: While Rodovid utilizes a customized MediaWiki interface for collaborative editing and content rendering, the core of the project is powered by the Rodovid Engine. This specialized backend was developed specifically to overcome the limitations of standard wiki software when dealing with massive, interconnected genealogical datasets.
- Global Scope: Support for dozens of languages and historical naming conventions.
Licensing & Open Access
To ensure that family history remains accessible to everyone while protecting the hard work of our contributors, Rodovid operates under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) license.
What this means for you:
- You are free to share: You may copy and redistribute the data in any medium or format.
- You are free to adapt: You may remix, transform, and build upon the material for any purpose, even commercially.
- Attribution is required: If you use data from Rodovid, you must give appropriate credit (a link back to the specific family or person page on Rodovid) and indicate if changes were made.
Database Protection
As of April 2026, the transition to CC BY 4.0 explicitly includes Sui Generis Database Rights. This protects the structural integrity of our data, ensuring that while individual facts remain free, the collective "engine" of Rodovid cannot be scraped or republished without proper acknowledgment of the project’s efforts.
License Transition Notice
As of April 24, 2026, Rodovid has upgraded to CC BY 4.0. Content contributed prior to this date remains available under CC BY 2.5; however, per the compatibility of these licenses, the database is presented as a unified collection under CC BY 4.0. All new contributions are strictly licensed under CC BY 4.0.
Technical Philosophy
Rodovid is more than a list of names; it is a complex system of network interactions. We prioritize:
- Integrity: Ensuring that data remains linked and verifiable across generations.
- Security: Implementing advanced challenge-response systems to protect the database from automated harvesting while keeping it open for human researchers.
- Stability: Providing a permanent home for family data that transcends individual software life cycles.
Getting Involved
Rodovid is built by people like you. Whether you are adding a single ancestor or managing a vast regional tree, your contributions strengthen the collective memory of our species.
