In the cemeteries of Offenburg, the city now offers a new digital service. From now on, it is possible to search for graves online using a mobile device.
The cemetery administration of the Technical Operations of Offenburg provides its visitors with a new digital service: the convenient online search for graves. According to the city of Offenburg, thanks to an innovative collaboration with PBSGEO GmbH from Cologne, users can now quickly and easily find the desired gravesites using their smartphones.
No tedious search
Instead of laboriously searching through many graves, the new platform offers a virtual tour of all 13 cemeteries in Offenburg, according to the announcement. After selecting the desired cemetery, the screen shows an overview of the entire facility. The search for a specific gravesite is done by entering the family name. The platform then shows all people with that surname buried in the selected cemetery. By selecting a name from the list, the gravesite is displayed on the overview map.
Visitors who are at the cemetery can use their smartphones to retrieve their location via GPS signal for better orientation, according to the city of Offenburg. The color coding on the map shows which grave is occupied (red), still available (green), or already leveled (gray).
With data protection
Hans-Jürgen Jäger, head of the cemetery department, emphasizes that data protection is maintained with the digital grave information. The names of the deceased are, after all, also on the tombstones, which anyone can freely read. If necessary, graves can be anonymized, the city further announces. The digital cemetery plan not only makes the work significantly easier for citizens but also for the cemetery administration. Among other things, it simplifies communication with the trades working in the cemeteries, such as undertakers, stonemasons, or gardeners.
The previously tedious manual entry of graves on large paper plans is a thing of the past. Changes, such as leveling old graves or creating new ones, had to be manually crossed out, corrected, or entered on the plans. Now, changes can be made easily and quickly with a mouse click, promises the city.
Information about changes
The program also provides valuable information about upcoming changes to the gravesites, allowing for early planning.
To facilitate the use of the digital cemetery plan on-site, signs with QR codes will soon be installed. This will allow visitors to simply scan with their smartphones and start their virtual tour.
INFO: The digital cemetery plan can be accessed via the website of the Technical Operations of Offenburg at www.tbo-offenburg.de.
Source: baden online, April 25, 2024, https://www.bo.de/lokales/offenburg/neuer-service-so-funktioniert-der-virtuelle-friedhofsrundgang#
