Cathy Wallace

Take Photos of Gravestones with Your Smartphone! If headstones could talk, they would have a lot of stories to tell. But they can't, so BillionGraves is the next best thing. As gravestones deteriorate, those stories are quickly fading away. We need to capture them before it's too late. BillionGraves' goal is to preserve cemetery data and make it readily available for genealogical research to honor our ancestors and loved ones. Then, even if a loved one's gravestone is damaged or worn by time, the invaluable information recorded at their final resting place will still be available. BillionGraves is the world's largest GPS-linked cemetery data resource. As you take photos with the BillionGraves app, each gravestone is automatically marked with a GPS location. The data is then made readily available at BillionGraves.com for free for millions of families around the globe for generations to come. ______________________________ Getting Started Download the BillionGraves app to your smartphone from your app store. Create a free account on the app or at BillionGraves.com. In the app, click on "take pictures" to begin taking photos in your local cemetery. The GPS coordinates will automatically be recorded. Go up and down the rows, taking pictures of each gravestone until you have completed an entire section or the entire cemetery. Keep moving at a quick pace. If you take 1 photo every 15 seconds you will have taken almost 250 photos in an hour! When you are finished, connect to Wi-Fi and tap on the "X" in the corner of your screen. When the orange button that says "upload" appears, tap on it to submit your gravestone photos. Repeat! :) ______________________________ Photo-taking Tips Stand to the side to avoid casting a shadow. Remove weeds, grass, or other debris that may block gravestone information. Be sure the names and dates are inside the photo frame. _______________________________ Linking Photos with the BillionGraves App If a gravestone has data on more than one side (for example, parents on one side and children on the other side) there is a way to link them together. Just click on the chain icon in the corner of your screen between each photo that you would like to link (front side, chain icon, backside). You can use this linking feature for obelisks that have data on four sides. You can also use it to link a large gravestone with a family surname on it to nearby smaller gravestones with the family member's first names on them. _________________________________ Find a Cemetery to Document Go to BillionGraves.com/Volunteer to find a cemetery to document. Click on the cemetery you are interested in. A map will appear. The orange dots on the map indicate where GPS-linked photos have already been taken. If there are areas with gravestones that have no pins, then your service is needed to photograph that section of the cemetery. __________________________________ Upload Your Photos When you are finished taking photos for the day, you can upload your photos right at the cemetery, if you have unlimited data. Or you can wait until you connect to Wi-Fi to upload them. From the app's camera screen, click on the "X" in the corner of your phone screen. An orange button that says "upload" will appear. Tap on it. (If you have already closed the app's camera screen, you can get to the "upload" button by tapping on "Photos" from the main screen of the app.) ___________________________________ Option to Transcribe After you tap the orange upload button a pop-up will appear that says, “Would you like to transcribe your own images?” You can select “yes” or “no”. &nbsp;If you select “yes,” you will have 14 days to transcribe the names and dates from your own images using the BillionGraves website before they are released to the public queue. If you select “no,” then other volunteers will transcribe the data from your photos. If you really want to transcribe your own records, go ahead and do it, but if you have the option, we would rather have you take more photos. We already have many transcribers just waiting for new pictures. ____________________________________ Finish Uploading The number of photos you took will start to go down. Leave the app open until all the photos upload. If the upload is interrupted by a phone call or other event, the app may stop. To restart the uploading process, just tap "cancel" and then tap "upload" again. Your photos will be sent to the BillionGraves database to help families find their ancestors and bless generations to come! ____________________________ Contacting the Cemetery Manager It is polite to let the cemetery manager know you will be documenting graves if one is available (some cemeteries have been abandoned). If the cemetery you plan to document is on private property, ask permission. Other than that, you do not need to contact anyone when you arrive at the location. You can simply download the app and start taking photos! _____________________________ Verification for Service If you need verification for your community service hours, send an email to Support@BillionGraves.com. Include your name, county, cemetery, and the email address that you use to login to BillionGraves. For more information about community service hours go to &nbsp;https://bit.ly/BGServiceHrs ______________________________ Large Groups Are you planning to lead a large group (25 or more people) to photograph a cemetery? Send an email with the date and time of your event, approximate group size, and cemetery (if known) &nbsp;to Volunteer@BillionGraves.com, and we'll provide you with some additional resources. _______________________________ Questions? If you have explored these resources and still have questions or need help, send us an email at Volunteer@BillionGraves.com. We will be happy to help you! Thanks a Billion!

BillionGraves is the world's largest GPS-linked cemetery data resource. As you take photos with the BillionGraves app, each gravestone is automatically marked with a GPS location. The data is then made readily available at BillionGraves.com for free for millions of families around the globe for generations to come.

BillionGraves

You are invited to photograph the gravestones at Brampton Cemetery to honor and preserve the memories of those who are buried there and make the gravestone information readily available for genealogical research.