In addition to being a valuable and insightful proxy of community, cemeteries such as Parker Cemetery have the advantage of being ubiquitous. They are virtually everywhere, found in nearly every community. Communities too small to have ever had town halls or any public buildings, too small to have ever had post offices or libraries or their own newspapers still have their own cemeteries, and often more than one. In that regard, cemeteries often constitute the only record, evidence or testimony of a community’s existence. Cemeteries are the surviving, remaining monuments to communities that are no more.
Th e Parker Cemetery digital historic preservation project uses state-of-the-art technology, including unmanned aircraft systems, high-resolution, Real Time Kinematic Global Positioning Systems, Total Station methodologies, innovative field data collection methods, geophysical prospecting methods and cloud-based GISci technologies to collect, analyze, archive and disseminate digital historical data. Th is intercollegiate and collaborative eff ort between Eastern Illinois University, Southern Illinois University, Lake Land College, the Central Wabash Valley Archaeological Association, the West eld Library and the Clark County Historical Society permitted students to interact among and between respective disciplines, culminating in a unique interdisciplinary and integrative student learning experience with university faculty and affiliated professionals.
Steven M. Di Naso is a geospatial scientist and instructor in the Department of Geology and Geography, Eastern Illinois University. He is the co-coordinator and co-manager of the GISci and GIS Special Projects Labs, and served as a director of the Geographic Information Sciences Center at EIU from 2010 to 2014. He has more than 25 years of experience in applied geographic information science and technology and is an authorized ESRI ATP/CTP GIS instructor. He earned a B.S. in geology from EIU and an M.A. in geography from Indiana State University, where he is pursuing a Ph.D.
Steven Di Naso, geospatial scientist and instructor in the Department of Geology and Geography at Eastern Illinois University, details new technology being used in the restoration of the Parker Cemetery. Di Naso and his students have used state-of-the-art technology and field data techniques to collect, analyze and map this historic burial ground. Once this research has been completed, an accessible, online database will be created to aid in historical and genealogical research, as well as provide a permanent record of the cemetery.
