Ross Keane was born and raised in Webster City. He's worked the last two summers as an intern for the City of Webster City, most recently creating digital records for more than 3,300 burial sites at Graceland Cemetery. Keane holds the GPS "stick" used for this work and a typical cemetery plot book to illustrate the new and the old in cemetery records. His internships have advanced a project the city couldn't have undertaken otherwise, and given a college graduate valuable experience for his resume.

Ross Keane never thought he’d work in a cemetery, but that’s where he was found recently, looking into a computer screen at Webster City’s Graceland Cemetery.

For centuries, cemetery records have been recorded in books, or on cards in small drawers resembling library card catalogs. Such records can be lost to fire or floods, or become brittle from use as they age.

But since the summer of 2022, Keane has been applying two new technologies to digitize the cemetery records at Graceland.

Fifty years ago, Global Positioning Systems — GPS — seemed like an impossibly obtuse concept useful only in nuclear war, or space exploration. Now, if you have a smartphone, you probably use GPS every day. Do you use a phone to keep track of children or elderly relatives? Have you found a lost pet using a digital collar or tiny, implanted transponder? Did you need directions in an unfamiliar city to find an Italian restaurant for dinner?

GPS makes it all possible.

Keane is a December 2023 graduate of the University of Northern Iowa with a degree in geography. His specialty is something called Geographic Information Systems — GIS for short. Before transferring to UNI, he majored in history at Iowa Central. But he quickly realized he didn’t want to be a professional historian, or teach history. Keane took an elective course in geography, enjoyed it, and discovered its close relationship to history.

In his own words, “everything in history has to happen somewhere.”

“Your smartphone GPS is accurate to about 7 to 15 feet, but that’s not good enough for this work,” Keane said.

Next, he brings out the GPS receiver he uses at the cemetery. It’s about 3-feet-long, and he calls it a “stick.” When in use, the stick uses data from 24 satellites to provide accurate coordinates for a burial site (Keane calls it an “internment,” a reference to the fact it can locate either a traditional or crematory urn burial) at Graceland Cemetery. It’s accurate to within about 2.8 inches.

Inserting the stick in the ground at an interment provides a precise GPS reading of its location. Then, GIS is used to correlate data associated with that grave with the GPS coordinates to form a new, paperless burial record. This includes the name of the deceased, birth and death dates, military service, if any, and the section, lot, and plot number at Graceland. As a final touch, Keane takes a photo of the headstone, if there is one, and adds it to the record. This gives genealogists or family members confirmation of what the burial site actually looks like in the cemetery. It takes less than five minutes per site to create a permanent record.

Since starting work at the cemetery at the end of August 2023, Keane has completed records for 3,300 internments. There are 14,000 known burials at Graceland, so while he’s made an important start on a big project, Keane won’t be the one to finish it.

Today, when someone wants to find a grave at Graceland Cemetery, a city employee consults the cemetery record books. They may or may not find the burial site that way. In case of any uncertainty, the only way to know is to walk out into the cemetery and locate it physically. This is time-consuming, but providing this kind of service is a top priority for cemetery staff, out of respect for the nature of the enquiry.

Keane is confident the new GIS records will be more complete, more accurate, and far easier to locate, taking just seconds on a computer.

Keane’s supervisor at the cemetery, Webster City manager of Recreation and Public Grounds, Breann Lesher, said, “Ross has a wonderful work ethic and has tackled this project with enthusiasm. Thanks to him, we’re off to a strong start on a project we’ve wanted to do for years. His passion for the task is inspiring.”

Most cemeteries that digitize their burial records hire a commercial firm that specializes in the work. Lesher asked such a firm for a quotation to complete the records at Graceland, and received a bid of $86,000.

“That kind of money just isn’t in the budget. Ross gave us a solid start at a fraction of the cost,” she said.

The cemetery project isn’t the GIS the only work Keane has done in Webster City. When he began his first internship, in 2022, he reported to Environmental & Safety Coordinator Brian Stroner. One of Stroner’s many responsibilities is managing the city’s GIS efforts.

“I wanted Ross to learn how cities work before he went out into the field, so we spent some time in orientation,” Stroner said.

Ultimately, Keane worked for the line, street and inspection departments.

Reflecting on his experience working with Keane, Street Department Superintendent Brandon Bahrenfuss said, “He located the underground electrical work we’re doing. Any electrical lines we’ve already put underground, Ross put it on a map grid.”

Using the stick to precisely locate the new underground lines, Keane recalled, “I’ve walked through a lot of backyards.”

Keane also located curb boxes — water shut-off valves between the water supply line and every home in the city. Today, the city uses old maps to locate these, but it knows some curb boxes aren’t found on any map.

The water line data is especially critical as the city faces an important deadline later this year.

Stroner explained, “The Iowa Department of Natural Resources has mandated we file a report on the type of water supply lines to every home in the city by October 16, 2024. The goal is to identify, and have plans to replace any remaining lead supply lines still in service.”

According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, lead exposure, even at low levels, has been linked to damage to the central nervous system, various learning disabilities, and impaired hearing in children. It has been shown to affect fetus growth in pregnant women, and can trigger premature birth. In adults, lead in drinking water may increase blood pressure, reduce kidney function, and affect reproductive health.

It takes an inspection to know if a home has a lead service line, but Stroner said, there are clues.

“It depends on the age of the home. If it was built before 1944, it’s highly likely there’s a lead water supply line. From 1944 to 1988, a variety of materials were used, the most common being copper or galvanized steel. After 1988, when lead was outlawed nationally, it was no longer used in new construction.”

It has long been known there are many uses of GIS in everyday work done in cities across the country. Bahrenfuss mentioned a few that have been used in Webster City.

“Whenever a new sign is installed, we GPS the location, the distance from the curb, when it was installed, etc., for insurance purposes.”

Similarly, new manhole covers, water hydrants and storm sewer inlets are documented as they’re installed.

“As soon as we did the work, Ross came along behind us to update our records. His work touched every department of the city.”

The city’s right-of-way inspector, Derrick Drube, knows how to use the stick and is creating better, more accurate records as changes are made to the city’s streets.

“I have a lot of confidence in the data we collect with GPS and GIS,” Drube said. “Actual experience shows it’s accurate to within 2.5 inches.”

Use of GIS is expanding rapidly across the country. In some cities, police departments have used GIS data to locate illegal drug production and use sites by analyzing wastewater samples, tracing the drugs to individual streets, blocks and houses in the process.

Those wishing to search Graceland Cemetery records on their own computers should be able to do so in the next two months, according to Stroner. The data for the burial sites processed by Keane will be searchable in the cemetery section of the city website https://webstercity.com.

There’s no immediate plan or budget to finish digitizing the remainder of the cemetery’s records, according to Lesher, but, thanks to Keane, at least we’ll know — for certain — where some of the bodies are buried.