10
January 2015
PHOTOGRAMMETRIC ENGINEERING & REMOTE SENSING
S
ummary
This project connected the living to the dead in ways that
enriched visitor experience and preservation of an historic
cemetery. The enumeration and documentation of the
physical locations of veteran’s gravesites in the Old section of
OHC secured a $25,000 donation to guarantee their regular
care and maintenance. UGA undergraduate and graduate
students were introduced to a local cemetery with historic
connections, statuary art, and how to apply geospatial
technologies. One group of UGA students used SfM to create
3D models of OHC monuments that are accessible online
(
).
Proprietary software would undoubtedly enhance the visual
quality of our final projects, but open software may be preferred
for initial access to geospatial technologies. For example,
educational institutions and non-profits organizations are
more likely to first explore new geo-spatial technologies with
freely distributed, open-source geospatial methods, software
and image/map data before committing financial resources to
purchase and learn proprietary software.
In our opinion, many local groups are in need of assistance
with basic geospatial skills. Technical skills required in this
project (i.e., rectification, digitizing, developing attribute
tables, simple queries, taking photographs) would be
considered novice-level skills for professional GIS or remote
sensing specialists. Sometimes, however, that is all that is
needed to benefit the communities in which we live.
A
cknowledgements
The Friends of Oconee Hill Cemetery approached us with the
seed of this project; we are especially grateful to Helen Mills,
Helen Constatino and Jane Begnaud. Brian Adler, Sexton of
Oconee Hill Cemetery, kindly provided access to paper maps
and shared his knowledge of the Cemetery. Larry Nackerud
and Lauren Ricciardelli, School of Social Work at the
University of Georgia, took over other aspects of the project not
included here with enthusiasm and a grand ability to provide
“volunteers”. UGA seminar class GEOG8550 in spring 2014
generated the 3D models displayed on the YouTube channel;
this class was taught by Dr. Marguerite Madden and Dr.
Deepak Mishra. Dr. Andrea Presotto provided thoughtful
comments from a different perspective.
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Cover photo courtesy of Kenn W. Kiser, morgueFile.com.
