digitizing graveyards

Lindsey Brinton & Joseph Glass

Digitizing Graveyards

Problem

You are hereThe grave is here

UVA Confederate Cemetery

UVA Cemetery and Columbarium

•Founded in 1828•Over 850 graves•Resting place of UVA Presidents, faculty, community members

•Photographed over 1000 gravestones•Took rubbings for illegible inscriptions and connected them to image file names•Uploaded photos onto virtual cemetery in Findagrave.com

What we did

•81 million grave records•Virtual Cemeteries•Upload photos, biographical info, leave memorials and comments•Contact other users uploading information on the same family lines•Request for specific cemeteries to be uploaded

Findagrave.com

•Smartphone app allows you to take a picture of each grave, then upload it along with exact GPS coordinates•You can personally extract the information, or leave it for online users •Once indexed, those photos to create a worldwide searchable database•Request for specific cemeteries to be uploaded•Completely free

Billiongraves.com

•Stay out of the glare- Early morning, afternoon, and overcast days are good

•Get it all- Full names and dates, inscriptions

•Keep it steady •Keep hands and feet outside the photo at all times

Tips for taking graveyard photos

Stay out of the glare

Get it all: Wrong

Get it all: Right

Keep it steady: Wrong

Keep it steady: Right

Keep it steady: Very Wrong

•www.Billiongraves.com•www.Findagrave.com•www.Geneology.com•www.Familysearch.org•https://familysearch.org/blog/preserving-memories-billion-graves/?cid=fsHomeMemD2012

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