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'''[[Image:Billiongraves twitter icon.png|right|200x200px|Billiongraves twitter icon.png]]BillionGraves''' consists of a [http://billiongraves.com website] and smartphone app by AppTime, LLC. Their goal is to get a billion graves (or more) put online, and made searchable.<br> | '''[[Image:Billiongraves twitter icon.png|right|200x200px|Billiongraves twitter icon.png]]BillionGraves''' consists of a [http://billiongraves.com website] and smartphone app by AppTime, LLC. Their goal is to get a billion graves (or more) put online, and made searchable.<br> | ||
<br>BillionGraves has | <br>BillionGraves has two major compnents to it, which are the keys to its success. | ||
Photographing headstones and | Photographing headstones in cemeteries and all the headstones in each cemetery. | ||
*Smartphones | *Smartphones, such as the iPhone or Android phones. | ||
*Tablet devices (two models of iPads, Android tablets) | *Tablet devices (two models of iPads, many Android tablets) | ||
Transcribing photographed headstones: | Transcribing photographed headstones: | ||
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'''How will crowdsourcing help?''' | '''How will crowdsourcing help?''' | ||
Crowdsourcing means that anyone can help with transcription. All you have to do is go to BillionGraves.com and click "[http://billiongraves.com/pages/transcribe/ Transcribe]." The online transcribing form is easy to use. With Find A Grave you could transcribe them yourself or... that is basically the only option. If you are good at taking lots of pictures, but only transcribe a little at a time then this feature is for you. You can even choose to only transcribe or to only photograph graves. It is kind of like a FamilySearch Indexing for cemeteries and graves. | Crowdsourcing means that anyone can help with transcription. All you have to do is go to BillionGraves.com and click "[http://billiongraves.com/pages/transcribe/ Transcribe]." The online transcribing form is easy to use. With Find A Grave you could transcribe them yourself or... that is basically the only option. If you are good at taking lots of pictures, but only transcribe a little at a time then this feature is for you. You can even choose to only transcribe or to only photograph graves. It is kind of like a FamilySearch Indexing for cemeteries and graves. | ||
==== A Worldwide Volunteer Effort ==== | ==== A Worldwide Volunteer Effort ==== | ||
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As of May 2012, almost 90 percent of the data on the BillionGraves website is from the United States, with a few cemeteries in Western Europe, Australia, and a few other places also represented. However, if you are traveling and are not in the coverage area of your data plan, take the photographs at any cemetery that might be near where you are, and upload them later at any location where you can access a wifi network. | As of May 2012, almost 90 percent of the data on the BillionGraves website is from the United States, with a few cemeteries in Western Europe, Australia, and a few other places also represented. However, if you are traveling and are not in the coverage area of your data plan, take the photographs at any cemetery that might be near where you are, and upload them later at any location where you can access a wifi network. | ||
There are perhaps hundreds of thousands of cemeteries worldwide, and most have never been documented in any way before outside the records that are or were kept by those that run the cemetery. And sometimes no such records exist either or were lost or destroyed for some reason. Some do not appear even on Google Maps or any other mapping site, you may just run across them. Go ahead, take the pictures, upload them from a wifi location, and also the app allows you to add the cemetery, if it is not on the site, when you are actually in the cemetery, so when the upload is done, it will also upload the cemetery information and GPS coordinates as well that you gather along with the photos. | There are perhaps hundreds of thousands of cemeteries worldwide, and most have never been documented in any way before outside the records that are or were kept by those that run the cemetery. And sometimes no such records exist either or were lost or destroyed for some reason. Some do not appear even on Google Maps or any other mapping site, you may just run across them. Go ahead, take the pictures, upload them from a wifi location, and also the app allows you to add the cemetery, if it is not on the site, when you are actually in the cemetery, so when the upload is done, it will also upload the cemetery information and GPS coordinates as well that you gather along with the photos. | ||
==== BillionGraves, a FamilySearch Affiliate ==== | ==== BillionGraves, a FamilySearch Affiliate ==== | ||