Kansas Association of Mappers - Cemetery Question

03 Jun 2022 10:47 AM

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Message # 12804617

Lisa Olson

Does anyone have a fantastic solution they use for searching lots/occupants at a cemetery in your city/county? And in case you aren't aware, occupant is the correct word to use for the body in the lot. I did not know that until last week. The Clerk's office wants to create something, correction - wants GIS to create something that is searchable by occupant name and that we can have a web page for with a QR code people can scan with their phone. Anyone that has already done this PLEASE get in touch with me so I don't have to work very hard on this. Thanks!

04 Jun 2022 10:41 AM

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Reply # 12805754 on 12804617

Amy Roust (Administrator)

Hi Lisa! Cemetery mapping is a hobby of mine. I did both of these with an ArcGIS personal license:

And this is the cemetery we did for the pre-conference workshop last fall, also with ArcGIS - though in this case, we used ArcGIS Online and Field Maps:

Valencia Cemetery

City of Lawrence has their large cemetery in an ArcGIS app:

Oak Hill and Memorial Park Cemetery

City of Manhattan has their two largest cemeteries in an ArcGIS app as well:

Sunrise and Sunset Cemeteries

The bigger question in my mind is what your data source(s) look like. Do you have a plat map? Burial records? Does the cemetery need to be GPSed, and if so, how big is it? (I'm guessing it's either Restlawn or Liberal and not one of the tiny rural cemeteries?) Depending upon what you have to work with, you could even use Google Maps to create a viable product.

There are also a lot of commercial products for cemetery management - I've got a spreadsheet that compares several of their features, assuming that you want to invest in new software.

Last modified: 04 Jun 2022 10:45 AM | Amy Roust (Administrator)

06 Jun 2022 8:11 AM

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Reply # 12807162 on 12804617

Lisa Olson

Restlawn is the one. There is an old software the Clerk's Office uses but it's so basic that it's not really helpful at all. It's barely an upgrade from a simple excel spreadsheet to track owners/occupants. We need something that will be simple to use to search for an occupant at the cemetery. Liberal City cemetery purchased a kiosk but also paid a lot for it & pay yearly maintenance fees which we are looking to avoid. What they have in mind is a QR code on our website that links to a searchable database by occupant since most people don't have section/lot # information.

07 Jun 2022 8:08 AM

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Reply # 12808385 on 12804617

Amy Roust (Administrator)

Since you have ArcGIS software, you have what you need to build any of the examples I listed above. I agree that cemetery software can get expensive quickly, so you may as well use what you already have. As for a QR code, that is easily generated online for free, so I'd say you're in good shape.

Happy to help with this project in any way!