Albany Rural Cemetery Explorer and Grave Finder (Apps)

Background:

Albany Rural Cemetery (ARC), located in Menands, New York, is one of the oldest examples of the American rural/garden cemetery movement. Incorporated in 1841, it remains an active cemetery after 175 years. In addition, it continues to be much more than a place of burial. It also offers visitors historical, architectural, and sculptural memorials, as well as amazing natural beauty. ARC attracts thousands of visitors who come to pay tribute to historical figures and loved ones who are deceased, and to enjoy the beautiful landscape, streams, waterfalls, and array of funerary art and architecture. It is also a special haven for bird-watchers, walkers, runners, cyclists, and dog-walkers.

Technology Overview:

This technology is a software system for navigating ARC’s many historical, cultural, and natural features. The technology is based on a geospatial database that was created by digitizing all paper records associated with ARC. The software provides two main apps. The first is a grave finder app that helps visitors to locate a grave by typing either a name or known lot number on a map-based interface. The second app provides location-based themed tours by displaying biographies of buried persons. This information has been compiled by ARC group members, student assistants, affiliated faculties, and historians.

Advantages:

• Enables ARC visitors to quickly navigate to specific graves.
• Provides biographical information about persons buried in the cemetery.

Applications:

The primary application for this technology is to enable visitors to more easily navigate ARC and learn about the people buried there.

Intellectual Property Summary:

Know-how and Copyright

Stage of Development:

TRL 3 - Experimental proof of concept

Licensing Status:

This technology is available for licensing.

Licensing Potential:

This technology would be of interest to anyone interested in ARC and the individuals buried there, including:

• Educational institutions.
• Historical groups.
• Tourism companies.
• Nature groups.