OpenStreetMap
Not that there isn't a HUGE job using the map background to (merely) visualize individual buildings, but I got to wondering if one went on a walking tour of a cemetery, if one could map out the individual, named burial plots. This would be of value particularly in older cemeteries where the names are fading.
Of course, trying to map out 7'x4' (that's "foot" not "arc minute") closed ways might be unrealistic, so maybe just a pinned tag is appropriate.
Is there a tag for a burial plot?
Discussion
Comment from chillly on 24 December 2011 at 20:06
The tag historic=memorial with memorial=grave was discussed, but not widely used. If you add a lot of graves this would render with a lot of memorials so maybe a different render needs to be applied too.
Comment from marscot on 24 December 2011 at 21:21
mm I cant see what you mean, it would also take a lot of time
Comment from ceyockey on 25 December 2011 at 03:00
I've thought a bit on this myself. Aerial imagery is in most cases not of sufficiently high resolution to trace individual burials (though mausoleums and crypts can be mapped) and GPS straight from the commercial devices is not generally precise enough to map reliably. If you had a plot map from a cemetery conservator who agreed to release the plot map by a license compatible with OSM, then this would be the best bet for getting individual plots mapped as objects. The plot map could (in principle) be rendered as a shape file and imported. What I've taken to doing is to try and pare down a cemetery into small enough units which are naturally separable such that a person looking for a particular memorial need not hunt long within the narrowly specified region before finding their target. An example of this is at http://www.werelate.org/wiki/Interments_in_Lombardy_Cemetery%2C_Bellefonte%2C_New_Castle%2C_Delaware%2C_United_States ... but I'm thinking on how to refine this so it is more straightforward.
Comment from bugjar on 27 December 2011 at 03:56
ceyockey,
Thank you for reminding me that the GPS error can be substantial and is certainly greater than what would be necessary to uniquely identify a regular burial plot. GPS is what I envisioned using to locate a gravesite but it would not be feasible to use it. I never even considered getting a cemetery to donate the burial map. I suppose it could be done for smaller family or church cemeteries. For some of the cemeteries I've visited, it could be a major chore just to find A person to contact!
Oh well. Thanks for entertaining my idea.
Comment from ceyockey on 27 December 2011 at 17:48
In the larger cemeteries, some of the monuments are well delineated in satellite imagery and the boundary may be visible if it is fenced. You could do a GPS coordinate collection for the aerial imagery visible elements and use these anchor points to roughly position groups of plots.