The popular Apple iPhone BillionGraves app is now available for Android users. Individuals or groups can collaborate to create a map of cemetery content using GPS-enabled smartphone cameras.
Today AppTime, the creators of MobileTree (http://mobiletree.me) released its innovative app, BillionGraves, for Android smartphones and tablets. The app allows volunteers to quickly collect photos of all of the headstones or grave markers in a cemetery and share them with family historians and genealogy buffs via the web (http://BillionGraves.com). The images collected using smartphone technology include GPS data that maps the precise location of an ancestor’s final resting place.
“It’s a team effort to give researchers access to the resources you have in your backyard,” says Rob Moncur, the head developer for the website. “When volunteers map their local cemeteries and post the photos to BillionGraves, anyone will be able to access complete headstone records and locate potential ancestors, whether they have the means to travel or not.”
A BillionGraves app has been available for the iPhone for a month and the Android app was developed in record time. BillionGraves has already received international attention on the iPhone. Availability on Android opens the opportunity to a broader set of volunteers to participate in this historic project to map one billion grave markers around the world.
The BillionGraves Android app requires a true GPS system, so some older phones or tablets may not be supported. “We want to be able to make the records on the site verifiable,” says Joey Gates, a designer on the project. “The names and dates recorded get verified by the photo, and the photo’s location is verified by the GPS data when taken with an Apple or Android smartphone.”
Upon launch, the BillionGraves app is free for download in the Android Market and the Amazon Appstore for Android. Registration on BillionGraves.com, which allows volunteers to transcribe the photos, or do research is also free. To learn more about the project, visit http://BillionGraves.com or the project’s blog, http://BillionGraves.blogspot.com.