Mapping Good Hope Cemetery

Keisuke Nozaki, GIS Specialist

Western Illinois University GIS Center

Good Hope, IL

• A village in McDonough County

• Population: 415, Area: 0.29 square miles

McDonough County Genealogical Society

• A list of cemeteries in the county

McDonough County Historical Society

• Dr. Gil Belles recorded GPS coordinates of the cemeteries and

installed markers

McDonough County Cemetery Map

• The WIU GIS Center created a map with the help of Dr. Gil Belles

Good Hope Cemetery

• Approximately 500m x 100m, 1250 tombstones

• Collect GPS points for each tombstone (accuracy < 1m)

• Integrate purchase records and lot information

• Take photos for each tombstone

• Create GIS database and publish online map

Good Hope Cemetery - Photo

AssetsMap of lots/owners Residents for each lot

Blueprint layout of cemetery Purchase records for each lot

Data Collection

• Approximately 1,800 points

• 1 minute per point = 30 hours field work

Data Dictionary

Photo Attribute

• Automatically create a link for each photo (one photo for one field)

• Choose File Name for Attribute Type in Data Dictionary Editor

• Created four photo fields so that multiple sides of the tombstones

could be documented if necessary

Tombs

• Entered name, date, and veteran’s status using the paper

records

Lots

• Entered owner, lot #, section, source, and purchased status

using the paper records

Publish to ArcGIS Online

• Tombs and Lots are stored as feature layer

• Create a web map to set labels and symbols

• Used Web App Builder for ArcGIS to customize widgets

Web App Builder for ArcGIS

• Query Widget

• Basemap Gallery Widget

Query Widget

• Simple and robust search

• Ask users

Testing Website

• Review by the village of Good Hope

• Launch after their approval

Conclusions

• A great way to maintain assets

• Useful for genealogical research

• Simple enough for non-GIS users

• Time and cost

Questions or Suggestions?