The virtual map of Vilnius cemeteries, created from data collected by drones, is becoming more and more relevant every year, especially during the traditional time of visiting cemeteries - during Vēlines.
The publicly available service is relevant both for Vilnius residents planning routes to visit the cemetery and for foreign residents. Now you don't have to wander around the cemetery for a long time looking for one or another grave - the exact coordinates can be found Vilnius city cemetery register.
All digitized Vilnius city municipalities there are 43 cemeteries under supervision, where burials are still taking place, says Justinas Jasiūnas, the product manager of the company "Vilniaus planas", which develops digitalization processes in the capital.
"In the past, information about the dead and their burial places could only be found in the paper logs kept by the companies managing the cemeteries. Even if you don't know exactly in which cemetery a person is buried, the search is now a hundred times easier - you no longer need to drive around the cemetery, wander among the graves yourself or sit for a long time in front of magazines," says J. Jasiūnas.
The specialist adds that the attendance of the cemetery register increases even tens of times as Halloween approaches, which is why it is a virtual product that provides great benefits to society.
The map is popular among foreign Lithuanians
Vilma Budėnienė, a representative of the "Funeral Services Center" who uses the virtual tool, says that even before the quarantine began, she received more and more requests from Lithuanians living abroad to take care of their relatives' graves or simply light a candle, because they could not always visit and take care of it themselves.
"Sometimes it was difficult to find out where their loved ones are buried - the applicants not only could not tell exactly where the grave is, but sometimes the surnames or names were not specified exactly.
In addition, if the cemetery is old, the inscriptions on the tombstones are no longer legible. At the moment, it is enough to simply find a grave in the Vilnius city cemetery register, so those who want to honor the dead apply more boldly, and our work has become easier", says V. Budėnienė.
According to the representative of the "Laidojimos služby centro", sometimes people who are single or have no relatives in Lithuania have to be buried. In this case, if the relatives live outside of Lithuania, after the burial, they are provided with accurate information about the grave site and its location.
Recorded every headstone
"During the creation of the map, the specialists of the "Vilnius Plan" had to use drones as well. In this way, orthophotographs of the cemeteries were created, according to which the cemetery plans were drawn, each tombstone was photographed separately.
Later, after all the burial register logs were digitized and entered into a database, they were linked to grave sites. This process lasted four years.
J. Jasiūnas remembers that only at the beginning of the work did he receive the support of those around him, that the system, which had been neglected enough and existed only on paper, would finally take on a new form. In addition, it is possible to search for the dead in the register in both Cyrillic and Hebrew characters, as not only Catholic, but also Orthodox, Karaite, and Tatar cemeteries have been digitized.
"You can find the graves of relatives even if you don't know the exact last name. In a frequent case, if the information is carved in Cyrillic characters on the tombstones, it is presented in Lithuanian in the registry journals - and everything is already connected in the system", J. Jasiūnas mentioned the search possibilities.
The virtual registry of the capital's cemeteries is constantly updated and filled, so if you notice inaccuracies about the deceased, residents are invited to contact specialists or send information about the updated tombstone.
The press release was prepared by UAB "Komunikaciniai projektai".
