Galway County Council has digitally mapped over 25,000 memorials, monuments, and gravestones, as part of a community-focused project across the entire county.

The interactive map enables community volunteers and heritage professionals to view and capture data and images in real-time on their mobile devices.

Using the ArcGIS system devised Esri Ireland, a market leader in geographic information systems (GIS), it also means that relatives can search for burial records and ancestors’ graves – and many graveyards can be explored in 3D.

The map is leading to an upsurge in community engagement across more than 50 local groups. It is also being used by historians, archaeologists, genealogists and health researchers, as well as schools.

There are 235 council-owned graveyards throughout Galway with ancient monuments and gravestones that provide invaluable insight into family ancestry and social history.

Previously, community groups in Galway have endeavoured to capture this culturally significant information, using pen and paper to manually note memorial inscriptions.

But now Galway County Council’s interactive map, accessed through the Graveyard Memorial Search App, enables volunteers and heritage professionals to view and capture data and images in real-time on their mobile devices.

It provides aerial photography of each graveyard, allowing users to zoom into pictorial maps of graveyards on their devices, and accurately identify each gravestone and record data pertaining to it.

The online map provides a streamlined, cloud-based process for collecting, validating, managing and sharing memorial data.

It has made the process ten times faster and delivers more accurate and consistent data, which will help to preserve Galway’s graveyard heritage for future generations.

Already, data on over 35 graveyards is available via the app, providing citizens with easy, online access to ancestry information.

With over 30 further graveyard surveys planned or in progress, Galway County Council, with support from the Heritage Council, is rapidly expanding the amount of information available via the app.

The technology can also be replicated by other county councils and used by all kinds of community groups going forward.

Barry Doyle, GIS Manager, Galway County Council, said that the secret to the success of the project is its simplicity.

“Everything is done in one efficient, seamless process where the data is stored and accessed centrally in the cloud. With this ArcGIS process we are enabling community groups to achieve their heritage objectives,” he said.

“Digitising Galway’s graveyard heritage has been a powerful way to enable people to learn about the local and national heritage that can be found in graveyards,” added Galway County Council Heritage Officer Marie Mannion.

“People can now search for and find photographs of their family’s memorials online and form a stronger connection with their past. It’s an incredible resource for everyone.”

Pictured: Galway County Council Heritage Officer Marie Mannion, Athenry Heritage Centre manager Alan Burgess, Galway County Council GIS Manager Barry Doyle and Jack Ffrench of Esri Ireland at the Athenry Heritage Centre to announce that Galway County Council has digitally mapped over 25,000 memorials, monuments, and gravestones across the county.