Global Cemetery Maps [closed]

+57 votes
3.0k views

Just a little over a year ago I started working on a cemetery mapping concept. The data was based on the cemetery categories located here at WikiTree; however, the data connection was slow and clunky, the information being pulled had some serious data issues, and the base code I was playing with had some serious limitations. Eventually I just scrapped/abandoned the project.

I started looking into this again recently on the request of a few members, and I am happy to say that a lot of the previous errors are no longer a major hurdle thanks to the WikiTree community who have been helping to sanitize our cemetery data.

Using data that Aleš is collecting based on the CategoryInfoBox Cemetery template, we also have a stable connection to the information we need that is frequently updated.

Without further ado, I would like to present a new app where you can now navigate the globe to find our documented cemeteries:

WikiTree Cemetery Maps

image

When selecting a cemetery on the map, you will be presented with a popup box that contains the Cemetery Name formatted as a link to the applicable cemetery category, as well as a number of profiles contained within the category (in parens).

image

If you have any ideas for future improvement, or notice any bugs, please let me know here.

Hope you enjoy :)

closed as a duplicate of: Did you see the Cemetery Map Update?
in The Tree House by Steven Harris G2G6 Pilot (733k points)
closed by Steven Harris

Just released: Dynamically assigning colors based on profile counts.

  • 1-5
  • 6-10
  • 11-50
  • 51-100
  • 100+
Steven, awesome project; LOVE IT.

In regards to the dynamically assigned colors though, for some reason, the dots are also dynamic and the smaller cemeteries are super hard to click on the little button. Would it be possible to make the dots not so small?
I've just updated the circle radius, so they should be fairly consistent now when zooming in.
Is there a way we could add a list of people (or names) to the cemetery without creating a profile for each?

I have access to several cemetery records in my area but really don't have the time to create profiles for everyone,given I may not know the details.

Also, can we add plot locations or plot references?

Hi Robert, those details are best handled via a Cemetery Page, not this specific app.

As an example, see Welby General Cemetery. One of the links is to a "Table of Graves" where you can add Names, Plot info, etc. Then as you have time to add profiles, you can update the table with links.

Steve, absolutely love the map,

Many Thanks,

Steve
I will be traveling to Brazil and visiting a few cemetaries. What is the best way to quickly capture tombstones and share with people looking for Brazilian relatives? Does wikitree have the ability to take photos and read text?

Hi Bryan - WikiTree itself cannot take pictures or read text - so we have a strong project that works tirelessly on capturing this information. If you are interested in the process, see the Cemeterist's Getting Started Guide.

I've just had a brief look at this. Concept is great,but still appears to be a bit slow.

I looked at a particular cemetery and it is actually a hybrid of two cemeteries. The photo shows a grave in Hobbys Yards General cemetery, while the caption shows it as being the Uniting Church cemetery at Hobbys Yards. They are about 2km apart. How can we fix this? FAG appears to have it right - can't see for BG.

Second, what is considered a "documented" burial for the purpose of this map?
This app is loading over 35,000 data points, so it can take time to load and remap tiles. I am working on some updates already to help combat this.

Data is loaded from Categories, so you would need to view the category and make any changes needed there. Sounds like two cemeteries are conflated, so that will take some work to sort out.

Documented Burial means we have a profile on WikiTree tagged at that cemetery.

This is fantastic! yesGreat Job!!

So if I have entries for a cemetery or Memorial ID's can I add them?

Thanks in advance,

Maria C

Absolutely Maria! Coordinates are added on Cemetery Categories, and Profiles are tagged with the category. code!

Great work! I'm a fan. I was inspired to go add more cemeteries and add coordinates to cemeteries that didn't have any. However, I'm not seeing cemeteries get picked up after adding coordinates to existing cemetery categories, or new cemetery categories that I've added with coordinates, even days later. For example, all of the following cemeteries were existing and coordinates have been added, or are new with coordinates:

  • [[Category:Bascom Cemetery, Bascom, Texas]]
  • [[Category:Bradford Cemetery, Troup, Texas]]
  • [[Category:Gee Cemetery, Troup, Texas]] .
  • [[Category:Mason Cemetery, Arp, Texas]] 
  • [[Category:Monroe Stone Cemetery, Troup, Texas]]
  • [[Category:New Canaan Cemetery, Whitehouse, Texas]] 
  • [[Category:Rucker Cemetery, Troup, Texas]]
  • [[Category:Rucker Community Cemetery, Troup, Texas]]
  • [[Category:Smith Cemetery, Troup, Texas]]
  • [[Category:Stone Burying Ground, Troup, Texas]]
  • [[Category:Troup City Cemetery, Troup, Texas]] 
  • [[Category:Williams Cemetery, New Chapel Hill, Texas]]

The new cemeteries have at least one categorized person. All were done two to three days ago and haven't shown up on the map.

I just noticed that even though these new cemeteries don't show up on the map, they do show up in the search prefill list.

Nice! They all showed up with the upgrade. I did notice a new issue you may want to look at though. Before the upgrade, both of the following cemeteries showed up:

  • [[Category:Asbury Cemetery (North), Smith County, Texas]] 
  • [[Category:Asbury Cemetery, Smith County, Texas]]

Only Asbury Cemetery (North) is showing up in the app now. These two cemeteries are adjacent and the first 15 characters of the names are the same. Before the upgrade, both were displayed. I suspect it's because there are no burials in the one not displayed, in which case, it's working as designed. I'm going to research someone in the "empty" cemetery. My guess is that it will appear once that data is included.

22 Answers

+18 votes
Very nice and should prove a useful tool.
by Doug McCallum G2G6 Pilot (525k points)
+21 votes
Hi

That looks good! If a graveyard  doesn’t appear on the map is there a way to check if it’s not set up correctly?
by L Greer G2G6 Mach 7 (70.2k points)
I think that we have a bunch of cemeteries that are in our category list but not on the map because they have no info box or the gps location is not entered. It is always helpful to upgrade info boxes when possible.
Thank you … after a bit of searching and comparing two pages I think I’ve managed to add the coordinates to that page. Now I’ve noticed there are some graveyards not set up yet too. I’m not sure I’m quite brave enough to add them myself but I’ll see if I can work out what needs to be done!
+19 votes
Steven, this is really cool. I'll see if I can add the GPS to cemeteries in my area.
by Pip Sheppard G2G Astronaut (2.7m points)
Once the coordinates are added to the cemeteries, what's the procedure and how long will it take for those cemeteries to become mapped?
Aleš is updating the data a few times a week, I don't know if he has a set schedule or not. I will have the app automated on my end to retrieve his data twice a day, process and format it, then upload to the app.
Steven, I notice that several of the boxes on cemetery pages do not have a shot for the GPS. Would I need to recreate the box to enter that for a cemetery?
You can just add the 'coordinate=' parameter inside the existing box and fill out the details.
+14 votes
Steve, this is great! I see the Louisiana Project has a lot of work to do to get many of our cemeteries included on the map!
by Joyce Rivette G2G6 Pilot (177k points)
Cameron Parish and Jefferson Davis Parish cemeteries have all had the coordinates added to them. And the team parameter deleted from them.
Thanks for that, Tommy!
+14 votes
This is great.  Incentive to get the cemetery category pages complete and correct.  Only issues that I noted were (1) the color coding did not seem to be fully functioning, (2) when zoomed in close enough to find individual cemeteries, the dots were too small to easily find and/or select, and (3) when zoomed in the highway exit numbers are a distraction.
by Kurt Kneeland G2G5 (5.2k points)

I've just updated the circle radius, so they should be fairly consistent now when zooming in. Color Coding should be updated as well, there was an error in assignment I had to fix.

I also updated the base map layer to a light version that should be free of any major distractions. If you want to check and let me know how it looks, I would appreciate it!

Also, if you find any errors, or want me to look at a specific place, let me the general area (city, state, etc.) so I can check it.

+14 votes
Recently I have been checking the cemeteries in the county I live in and have been renaming cemeteries to correct the name and location, checking the info box and setting up space pages.  

This map helped me catch a problem that I did not even know existed.  Two of the cemeteries have the same GPS coordinates on Find A Grave it seems so I will need to go there and get the correct GPS for each.  They are side by side with just a driveway between them but are separate cemeteries.

Thanks Steve for the map.
by Paula Franklin G2G6 Pilot (105k points)
+10 votes
Wow Steven!! That is truly incredible! Thank you for all of your work on this.
by Mindy Silva G2G Astronaut (1.1m points)
+11 votes
I was going to ask what you used to program, but I see you used leaflet. Very cool. Is there a  wikitree api?
by Janice Sutherland G2G6 Mach 7 (71.7k points)

Hi Janice, yes I am using Leaflet. Current tiles by Jawg, map data by OpenStreetMap, and of course our own WikiTree Contributors for cemetery data laugh

There is no API for this app currently.

Maybe a way to create a map that can pick up flickr pictures. I know ESRI maps can, I have not tried that using leaflet. But then everyone would have to add photos to flikr.
+13 votes

For those interested, here is a list of categories, that are missing location:

  • Missing CIB Cemetery template (9167 cemteries in Error section with text Error: CIB Cemetery template is missing.
  • Missing the coordinate in the template (18334 cemteries in Hint section with text Hint: parameter "coordinate" is prefered.)

https://wikitree.sdms.si/Categories/CIBCemetery.Errors.htm

See if you can help.

by Aleš Trtnik G2G6 Pilot (793k points)
Since Steven reminded me on category locations and I had to change a few things about it, I also updated Categories display on https://wikitree.sdms.si/maps

Categories are now clickable, you can color them based on parent category, location or affiliation. You can adjust visibility on the left-hand menu under Layers/Category.

Fantastic!  After getting the coordinates added to all of our local cemeteries that are not on the map, I was wondering if there is a way you could provide a list of the missing cemeteries and you did just that.  You're the tops Aleš 

I added another way to check the locations. When you are looking at Color by Location or Color by Parent on https://wikitree.sdms.si/maps, a line is drawn connecting all the same categories. If those lines are too long, they indicate an error in the cemetery coordinate. It is less likely but possible, that parent category is wrong.

I also started geolocation of Location categories. We have quite a few errors. I will correct them slowly, but anyone can help.

https://wikitree.sdms.si/Categories/CIBLocation.Errors.htm

I also added display of locations on https://wikitree.sdms.si/maps with visual hints for errors.

 Aleš, what does this string mean:

  • Warning: Category "Napierville,_Québec" automaticlly added by parameter "location".
I've updated a few cemeteries in the province of Quebec and they all come up with the message above. Am I doing something wrong?

It means that Category:Napierville,_Québec is automaticaly added by the CIB template based on location or parent parameter and there is no need to add it separately as [[Category:Napierville,_Québec]]

Oh! I see. Thank you!! smiley I'll go correct all the one's I've done this to.

+12 votes
I noticed a large number of cemeteries near me are not on the map. I might go out next month and try to add at least a couple of graves from each to try and kick start things.
by Dale Byers G2G Astronaut (1.7m points)

That would be great Dale! Remember to use the CIB Template for cemetery categories so we can map them!

Hi Dale, I thought the same thing for cemeteries around me. What I discovered was that we did have categories for many of them on WikiTree, but the category information box or lat/longs were missing from the category page. Once those are corrected, the cemeteries can appear on the map. So if you haven't already, you might check for that first!
Steven, sorry but I do not add templates for anything to profiles because I just do not understand them and have no interest to learn.
Dale, this is a template for Categories - but I understand your hesitation. They can be tricky to learn at first.
+12 votes
Is it possible to find the cemeteries which contain an ancestor (or close relative) of a WikiTree ID?
by Peter Roberts G2G6 Pilot (688k points)
edited by Peter Roberts
This. If you could use the same functions as the My Connections button in the category, and see where those people related/connected to you were buried, that would be incredible! (or on your watchlist)
This app is only mapping the cemeteries based on coordinates provided, and does not retrieve the contents of the categories themselves.

I believe WikiTree+ can map cemeteries based on watchlist or profile manager, so I will look into adding some extra features.
+7 votes

This is great! But, I am having trouble putting several Haverhill cemeteries on the map. Notably these:

Saint Patrick's cemetery.

Linwood cemetery

Walnut Cemetery

There are others missing as well. Is there a way I can make them pop up on the map? I tried changing the address on the categories and so far nothing has changed.

by Chris Ferraiolo G2G6 Pilot (753k points)
Those three don't have the "coordinate=" field populated with the latitude/longitude.  You can get the lat/lon by finding the cemetery in Google Maps and then right-clicking on it and copying the coordinates. Then paste them in as the coordinates in the cemetery profile.  I added coordinates to a half dozen or so yesterday but they haven't appeared on the map yet, so it's not instant.

Hey Chris, as Ben noted, there has to be coordinates in the CIB Template so that we can map the cemetery.

In regards to updates, unfortunately, the map cannot be instant. The data has to be scraped and processed by Aleš, which he is doing a few times a week. So I would say to check back every few days to check on updates.

Okay. I'll see about getting the map coordinates in the meantime. =D
+10 votes
Incredible. Great job. Half wonder if there would be an appropriate way to let cemeteries know about the work going on here. Wikitree may end up providing competition to the other two major cemetery sites.
by Ben Molesworth G2G6 Pilot (160k points)
Hey Ben, the Cemeterist Project has actually been in contact with a few different cemeteries, cemetery associations, and historical societies. Typically they will link out to data at the competitor sites, but a few have really enjoyed our site and have now started providing links to our cemetery categories as an alternative.

It's a small step in the right direction!
+7 votes
Very much appreciated. I just wish it wasn't super slow on my mobile device.
by Steven Greenwood G2G6 Pilot (117k points)
Hey Steven G - Unfortunately, processing thousands of data points (38,000+) on an interactive map can be a quite a resource challenge. I am working on a few tuning options for the next release, so I will also look into mobile tuning!
+8 votes
https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Category:All_Saints_Churchyard%2C_Salhouse%2C_Norfolk

is a cemetrery that is yet to go on your app. Just completed profile number 250. The other Salhouse churchyard is showing. Let me know if you need any thing else
by Stuart Hague G2G2 (3.0k points)

Hey Stuart - the coordinate= parameter is currently blank. You can get the coordinates from Google using this method, or you can copy/paste the coordinates from the FindAGrave map.

Thanks Steve. Found out the GPs coordinates but cannot find the coordinate field to input it in.

When you open the category in Edit mode, there is a coordinate= parameter. Just place the coordinates there:

coordinate= 52.6833600, 1.4063280
+8 votes
Love it! Hopefully in the future we will be able to add individual coordinates to the profiles and be able to see them in the map.
by Pam Fraley G2G6 Pilot (150k points)

This is already partially available through WikiTree+ Maps.

As an example, see:

There are also Ancestor, Descendant, and Nuclear Family Maps

Oh wow, that would be crazy. In addition to being a whole different level of data that Steven would have to process in the app, you would also have to have six digits on your GPS coordinates in order to be sure to be that accurate, and not be laying flowers on someone else's grave. http://wiki.gis.com/wiki/index.php/Decimal_degrees

+4 votes
For me. the World Map is completely blank.
by Doug Laidlaw G2G6 Mach 3 (38.4k points)
Can you provide your device type, browser, etc.?
+6 votes

I'm having trouble ensuring my relations buried in a cemetery on the map are listed in the cemetery listing. Is there a reference guide for adding the information correctly in the biography? See my attempt here: Hilary Codville - WikiTree Profile but does not show up on the map list here: Category: Mount Hermon Cemetery, Québec, Québec (wikitree.com)

by Pam Murray G2G Crew (380 points)

Hi Pam, the answer is actually on the Category page, but can be easily missed:

Profiles are placed in this category with this text [[Category:Mount Hermon Cemetery, Québec, Québec]] .

So on the Profile, go into edit mode, and paste the category text presented (brackets and all) at the very top of the profile, on it's own line. As an example, see this profile.

thank you. I tried to find the answer myself but I didn't see how to add the reference. Updated and now I can update others.
+6 votes

I've added Kress Cemetery, Kress, Swisher, Texas but it hasn't showed up yet. I'll add the rest for Swisher County, Texas that are missing once I know I did it correctly.

by Sharon Bart G2G6 Mach 1 (13.2k points)
Yes, I want to make sure that I did it right before doing the others but I suppose I could add them anyway there aren't very many.
+5 votes
This is great!  I see that there are cemetery pages that I need to work on to get the cemeteries on the map.
by Michelle Enke G2G6 Pilot (407k points)

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