Abstract

Cemetery Restoration: The Impact of GIS on Jewish Graceland Cemetery
Track: State and Local Government
Authors: Alfred Weiss

Cemetery personnel face various management challenges such as monument conditions and land use maintenance. Having endured decades of physical neglect, the use of GIS has greatly assisted in the restoration of Jewish Graceland Cemetery located in Chicago IL. Problems such as immensely overgrown brush, monument wear, and possible tree hazard impacts against tombstone monuments were solved using GIS. A priority list for the removal of dangerous tree limbs that could damage tombstones was created. Moreover, GIS gave a visual temporal advantage to understanding monument conditions and inventory control throughout the cemetery. Various tools such as density, distance, and geoprocessing were used for geospatial analysis. The findings concluded that numerous tombstones were in risk of being damaged by canopies from aging trees while some tombstones have degraded due various factors. In short, this compare and contrast study analysis can be used in numerous situations beneficial to a variety of audiences.