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I'm also struggling with the street designation for cemeteries and feel I need to correct some of my cemetery edits. I've read all the guidance, emails, and q&A, but I'm stumped. Since we aim for completeness, I would think that including a road and town is important, but if on the hard copy map a cemetery appears to be in town and it's not, that is misleading. And, if a rural cemetery is a mile off a highway included as the street, this can cause the customer to pass by the un-named road it is on. |
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Many cemeteries are not on roads, especially the older, smaller, private cemeteries. Their geo referenced location is, however, very important for things like land use planning, site preservation (such as in the face of strip mining in Appalachia), family historians who can compare lat/ longs with land ownership plat records, etc. I have also found that road names and numbering change over time, so having an address is not necessarily useful for users. Queenofthedead Glad to see you Queenofthedead! It has been a little while.
(14 Oct '15, 18:44)
Erin Korris-... ♦♦
Thanks Q. Be advised, we no longer collect family cemeteries; The current guidance is to edit the existing ones.
(16 Oct '15, 02:56)
rockhound
(... unless the cemetery has historical significance) -Rockhound
(16 Oct '15, 03:04)
rockhound
If that's really the new guidance, I'm no longer interested in the project. One person's history is just as important as another and most local governments have laws and regulations in place protecting ALL burial sites from development and desecration. Removing tombstones and letting the vegetation grow does not un-make a cemetery.
(16 Oct '15, 10:39)
queenofthedead
California, for instance, says if 6 bodies are buried at one place, the site automatically becomes a "public cemetery" regardless of whether they are all from the same family and on private land.
(16 Oct '15, 10:46)
queenofthedead
In GENERAL, we don't actively collect small family cemeteries except those already in the database (confirming) or on the USGS topographic maps. I believe most small family cemeteries are "old" cemeteries which we collect. I agree that just because a cemetery is not maintained does not cause it to no longer be a cemetery. Keep in mind that the cemetery collection guidelines are general in nature. It is important to be sure to use the most authoritative sources you can find such as local, county, or state government sites, and USGS topographic maps or a combination of other sources.
(16 Oct '15, 11:22)
ElizabethMc ♦♦
Perfect Elizabeth..I've been pretty rigorous about finding the exact locations of the old cemeteries and checking to see if they were relocated or should be there.
(16 Oct '15, 12:29)
queenofthedead
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Trying to find an exact address or even just a town/city for a cemetery can be both difficult and frustrating. Unlike other feature types the USGS does not require a full address. Often, you may only be able to confirm the name of the cemetery along with cross streets (or roads) and the state. An entry may look like: Dixon Cemetery Highway O and Missouri Highway 28 Missouri Your placement of the point in the web editor adds spatial information that will help someone find the cemetery if they are using US Topo or The National Map Viewer (structures turned on). |
