Cemetery to be GPS-Enabled

Residents of New Zealand will now be able to trace their ancestors' cemetery through the initiative introduced by the Upper Hutt City Council. The council has finalized arrangement to use readings obtained from GPS designated for that purpose to record the exact locations of all 4782 plaques and headstones in the cemetery.

The idea was conceived by Graeme Chamberlain, an officer at the Upper Hutt geographic information system, who wanted to launch a new service for the community. Happy about the benefits his idea will offer the community he stated that council workers from the local swimming pool, closed for maintenance, spent a few weeks taking readings and photographing the headstones.

"It's a useful tool, particularly for some of the historical stuff. People will be able to use it for family tree genealogy, maybe if they've lost track of a relative or couldn't make the funeral,"

he concluded.

In addition to determining the precise locations of the plots, users will be able to see detailed photographs of each headstone on the council's website, where it will link with existing cemetery records. People would be able to print out a map with the names arranged in rows and cut down on long searches for ancestors or people of interest.