City of Suffolk Cemetery App- Find the dead and allow them space in Social Media
City of Suffolk Cemetery is a one app which allows even the dead to have their page at social networking sites. This app was launched recently by the The City of Suffolk’s Department of Parks and Recreation and spent $20,000 in the making. The app allows users to find grave sites with the accuracy of GPS technology and satellites.
You can use this app to search the records of those interred or entombed at the City of Suffolk Cemeteries. This app also allows you to view your loved one’s Living Memorials, Photos, Videos and Condolences shared by family and friends. All of this with GPS Navigation functionality to allow you to locate loved ones interred at the cemeteries.
It is to be noted that the GPS navigation is not survey grade and results will vary based on several factors including but not limited to available signal, your phone’s capabilities and current accuracy of electronic maps and database. GPS navigation is not available for mausoleum entombment.
The city collaborated with webCemetaries.com, a Virginville, Pennsylvania-based company that has been in business since 2005, and services customers in 20 states. Some of the city’s cemeteries date back to the 1800s, and are large enough that finding a specific grave site can be difficult. The app not only helps locate burial sites, but also provides a social media-like page that users can access and add to. Obituaries, pictures, remembrances, and tributes can all be uploaded to a deceased’s profile page. Anyone can submit information to a profile page, but there is a review process that prevents negative and inappropriate material from being posted.
A recent increase on interest in family genealogy is another factor that has been driving the success of apps like this, which seem to resonate more with younger, tech-savvy generations who are used to using social media for just about everything.
It is also valuable for the historians which enables them to more easily access information on historical figures as well as find and visit their grave sites. Other resources like Find a Grave and Ancestry.com have increased in popularity and use recently as interest in personal genealogy and family history increases.
The app should also help to remove the need to respond to up to 30 calls per week and associated research directed toward helping people find specific graves. This app can be had free from iTunes and is compatible with iOS phone, iPod Touch and Tablets, and requires iOS 8.4 version or later.
So go ahead and bring dead to live at Facebook. To submit a memory or photo of your loved one, please visit www.suffolkva.us/parks/cemeteries