Forum Host- Joined
- Apr 18, 2019
- Location
- Upstate New York
Image source - @lupaglupa
I have been reading about the many cemetery visits @bdtex has made over the winter with some jealousy - here in cold and snowy New York you just can't get out and explore much in the winter months. But one constant problem he brings up that I'm not eager to experience again is the wandering through rows of tombstones you often have to do when looking for a grave. Finding the one tombstone you are looking for in a large cemetery can be challenging and time-consuming. Wouldn't it be great if there was a map for each grave?
In some cases - and in growing numbers - there are now maps available online which do show the placement of specific gravesites. Adding GPS (global positioning system) information to cemetery records is a growing phenomenon among the websites that maintain cemetery listings. The leader in this effort is the website BillionGraves, a rival to longtime cemetery website FindaGrave. BillionGraves has made adding location data for each tombstone a key part of its records since it began - in fact, the website homepage says it's main focus is creating "searchable GPS cemetery data." FindaGrave has added a GPS feature to their website which lets their members add GPS location data to both new or old listings in its database. Adding this geo-location data to cemetery records should make life much easier for those of us who love to roam cemeteries - but will it?
As yet, the number of gravesites which have GPS location tagged to them is only a small percentage of all the graves in the United States. Though BillionGraves has this information with each listing, overall it has only 12 million listings, just a fraction of FindaGrave's 180 million. But at FindaGrave, only a small percent of the listings have the GPS data. In addition, both websites rely entirely on information submitted by volunteers, which is not always reliable. So, using either site, your chances at finding accurate directions to the tombstone of a specific person are slim. Not that you shouldn't try - but don't get your hopes up.
Image source - screenshot 3/17/2021 www.billiongraves.com
The BillionGraves website does make finding the location of graves easy. Mapping information is prominently placed at the bottom of each grave listing, with a clear satellite photo showing the location of the grave within the cemetery. As GPS data is taken via a mobile app when graves are photographed, the locations themselves seem accurate (I admit to only having checked a few graves). The big hitch here is in the transcription of information. BillionGraves allows volunteers to either transcribe their own photos or to leave that task to other volunteers. This means that many photos are posted without transcriptions or with transcriptions done by someone who has only seen the one picture of the grave. Yes, there is only one picture taken - so if the stone has information on both sides can get lost. In my first test search I found multiple errors on records for my family. Those badly transcribed records mean searches done from the main search page won't show accurate results - which rather reduces the usefulness of the website. BillionGraves does allow members to edit records so transcription problems can be fixed, but that only works if you know to look for errors in the first place.
Image source - screenshot 3/17/2021 www.findagrave.com
Image source - screenshot 3/17/2021 www.google.com/maps
At the FindaGrave website, GPS location information is a bit hidden. In the burial information at the top of the listing, those graves which have a GPS location will include a link labeled "show map" at the end of the cemetery address. Clicking on that link brings up Google maps with a view of the gravesite location. As in the BillionGraves listings, this information is added through a mobile phone app and, again, the graves I checked seemed accurate. But I had few graves to check. In my local cemetery, of the over 1300 burial records only 33 had GPS tags linked to them. That hardly makes locating someone easier. And, as longtime FindaGrave users know, editing existing records is very difficult as records are generally managed by their original creator. Getting an error fixed can be a frustrating process.
So where does that leave those of us who wish to find gravesites without long searches? For now, being able to find a specific grave without walking through rows of tombstones seems to be a matter of luck. You might find the record you want has accurate information and a GPS tag. You probably won't. But as the number of GPS marked burial sites grows I expect it will become more common and maybe in the near future we will be able to walk right to the spot we want. Who knows, in a few years we might well be on CWT getting nostalgic for those long afternoons wandering between the stones.
Bringing the