Hadleyville Cemetery Assignment 3

GEOG 336

Charlie Krueger 

Hadleyville Cemetery Map – Field Assignment 3

Introduction

The issue that Hadleyville Cemetery is facing is that there are no records that contain the information of who is buried in those plots. Some of the headstones have become worn and illegible from weather and just the age of the stone. Some of these date back to the 1800’s which is why some of the lettering on the headstones are not even legible. This will create issues when others are set to be buried in the cemetery and the plot has already been taken. With no records of the plots relatives of the deceased cannot go and find the plot were their relatives are buried which is a concerning topic.

When the GIS map is constructed others will be able to hover or click on an interactive map and this will bring up the information of the person who is buried here. This will be better than a simple map because people will be able to see the headstones of their ancestors without going to the cemetery. Or if people are looking for the headstone to go visit the cemetery it will be very simple to find using a GIS map. Along with these advantages of GIS this map will allow the record keepers to easily add information once other burial sites are in use. Keeping a running record will make sure that this issue never happens again and that the map is always up to date.

When collecting data, the class used some simple methods and some that were more complex. Some members or the class took pictures of the headstones using cellphones and others used higher resolution cameras. There were different cellphones that were used like some IPhones and others were Androids. This was to gather the images of the headstones so that later they could be placed into the interactive GIS. Another piece of equipment that was used during the data collection period was a survey grade GPS unit. This level of GPS unit is very accurate and this was necessary because with this information the position of the headstones will be placed on the GIS map. Each of the points that are recorded through the GPS would then be able to be placed onto the map allowing a very accurate position of the headstones. One of the simpler methods used for the data collection was that of just a notebook and a pencil. Recording what was on the headstone was very important and that is what was done with the notebook. With the recordings the class could make sure to not miss any of the headstones and make sure that the information written down was the correct information because more than one person wrote down the data. The final method that was used was a drone flyover that gave a survey of the land and took multiple photos of the cemetery. There were three different types of drones that were used the Inspire, Redline, and Phantom. These photos showed things that could not be seen from the ground and were taken with different filters that help determine the number of plots at the cemetery.

The overall objectives of the methods being used are to gather data so that an accurate GIS map can be created of the Hadleyville Cemetery. The methods will help construct the map that will contain photos of the headstones, location of the plot, and information about the individual who is buried there.

The attributes that will address the problem that the cemetery has are location of the burial sites. Deciding whether or not the space is occupied by another individual already. The name and information about the individuals who are at those burial plots. An overlay of the whole cemetery that might help with future planning.  

Study Area

The Hadleyville cemetery is located on County Road HH (Section 04, Twn 25N Range 9W) in the Town of Pleasant Valley in Eau Claire County. The cemetery is about 1.5 acres total and host 120 burial plot locations. The cemetery is right off of the road side and is not that large. The data was collected in the Fall of 2016.

Methods

The class used two key geospatial tools when conducting the survey of the Hadleyville cemetery. The first geospatial tool that was used was the survey grade GPS unit. This unit was used to have pinpoint locations of the burial sites so that they could be used on the GIS map. The next important geospatial tool that was used was the drone that flew above the cemetery and took photos. This drone has a very accurate that the class used to determine all of the plots in the cemetery and also took photos in different resolutions so that objects that may have been missed in the walk around were picked up and not forgotten.

The class only had so much time at the cemetery for the collection of the data. During this time groups split up and made use of the time by taking down information of the gravestones and taking pictures of them. Certain groups were able to use the survey grade GPS unit and mark where burial plots were. The accuracy of the data was balanced fairly well with the time that was given to the class.

The data that was recorded was taken down by different methods but all added with the creation of the GIS map. Data was collected in a manual process and in a digital method. The data that was collected by the GPS unit was recorded with a handheld device that stored all of the information on it. The other digital method was that of the drone which collected data and stored it to then be extracted later. The manual process was when students took to hand writing descriptions of the burial sites in notebooks. A pure digital approach is not always the best way to handle the collection of data. Data can be scrambled or not to standard when take back to the lab to analyze it. Not being able to always check data in the field can allow someone to not know what was collected. Also a digital approach can take more time than a traditional approach like writing down the information of the headstones.

The hard copy data was transferred towards the GIS map by creating an Excel sheet and laying out each burial plot. The class gave a number to each burial plot and then listed things like Y.O.B., Y.O.D., First Name, Last Name, if the headstone was standing or not, and if it was legible or not. There were other attributes that the class agreed were important for the GIS map. Some of the data normalization issues that occurred were how to group the rows of headstones because it seemed that most had their own way of grouping the headstones. Along with the grouping of the headstones the class seemed to have missed the fact that some of the burial plots were shared by other family members making there two graves in one site.

There was a combination of the drone data with the survey data that was taken with the cameras and with the notes. This was by using the drone data to see all of the burial plots the class could figure out a sensible grouping pattern and also make sure that no plot was left out of the mapping. The images were then used as the basemap for the GIS maps and with those high defination photos picking out the burial plot became much easier. Though there was a need for the different resolutions to pick up on the hidden headstones

Results/Discussion

            This is the link to the table of the attributes that were assigned to each headstone of a burial plot. Link: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1ZKxitEIuMgc3c7i5og779SUMgq-ipBHBw8nQix83jAY/edit#gid=0

Figure 1. Rough Organization of the Cemetery

            Here is the organization that the class agreed upon. This shows how the rows were not all straight or together so clustering them was the best option.

            The data collection methods did not all transfer to the GIS as smoothly as others. The data that took the most was probably all of the information of the headstones because there was no simply way of getting it into a GIS format. The remedy was to just work through the data and enter it by hand. When the data was all placed into the spread sheet above the link could then be made to the GIS map. Taking the spread sheet and loading it into the GIS map and then making sure that the points would all line up and the info was accurate the transition was made. See the GIS map below.

Completed Cemetery Map

            

Here you can see the information that comes when clicking on a burial site. In this case H10

There could have been refining in the organization of the class. There was somewhat of a plan that was laid out but no one really followed it and small groups just seemed to work together then. If the whole class would have taken the time to figure out a plan, then the accuracy would have been higher and it would have cut down on the time of data exchange between members of different groups. If groups would have communitcated better when collecting data the class would not have come into problems when deciding how many sites were in a row or the confusion about the doubled up graves.

Conclusion

The methods that were used for this survey worked decently well to the overall objectives of the project. Even though there were some spot were a different method would have helped to speed up the survey process.

The mixture of data that was used in the survey helped in the end. With having both the drone data and the notes taken from the class this was all the information that was need to create a map of the cemetery. The GPS data did not work so instead of panicking the class just wrote down all of the information of the burial plot and plotted the points on a piece of paper. Then the makeshift maps were used with the drone data to create the GIS map.

The potential sources of error are negligible because of the fact that most of the cemetery was covered more than once by a different group. So if both groups made the same mistake then there may be an issue but that is not likely. Yes, the original solution had nothing and now there is documentation of the burial plots and a GIS map to pair with it.

The overall success of the survey was excellent. The survey had few mishaps that did not slow down the group much and the results show this. This GIS map will be able to be updated and changed as the cemetery is changed. There will no longer be a question if a burial plot is taken or not because with the map it will show where the free plots are. The record keepers can even use this map to make notice of plots that get bought but are not yet in use.