ION Technical Content
Chasing Dead People With GPS
| Abstract: | Over the last 20 or so years we have been working on our family history and documenting our roots. Much of the research has been done at genealogical libraries while more comes from family legacy data. More yet was gained from the Internet. All of that did not fill in the full picture and much more was needed. After pulling together the sum of the data into Genealogy software, we documented the “dead ends”. From the database and the presentation of the software we were able to define the probable locations of the ancestors gravesites. In addition, we know of at least 40 communities in the state of Arizona that no longer exist. We have found the same in other states. If your Uncle Whiskers was buried in one of these towns you may not be able to find the town let alone the graveyard. We have an answer to the problem. We are using software and hardware to find a solution. Taking data from the legacy files, letters, photos, and the family oral histories we were able to find the area of interest. We loaded up the DeLorme 3-D TopoQuad software/database. After locating the same place and put the curser over the location we, recorded the Lat/Lon with the name, if one existed. Once in the field, we loaded the next graveyard Lat/Lon into the GPS unit and punched the “Go To” button and the GPS display shows “6.5 miles that way”. As we start off in that direction and we followed the arrow pointing directions. Several of the areas of interest were areas that neither of us had ever seen before. As we moved along the road, the GPS continued to show the way. At the next traffic light, we turned to the right and the GPS now indicated a left turn was needed. At the next intersection we turned left and looked 1-½ blocks from us and there was the cemetery we were looking for. This happened several times during the 3-week trip across the mid-west US. The savings in time and costs have been significant. |
| Published in: |
Proceedings of the 14th International Technical Meeting of the Satellite Division of The Institute of Navigation (ION GPS 2001) September 11 - 14, 2001 Salt Palace Convention Center Salt Lake City, UT |
| Pages: | 564 - 566 |
| Cite this article: | Nelson, Beggs, "Chasing Dead People With GPS," Proceedings of the 14th International Technical Meeting of the Satellite Division of The Institute of Navigation (ION GPS 2001), Salt Lake City, UT, September 2001, pp. 564-566. |
| Full Paper: |
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