Omak Cemetery Web Mapping Application

City of Omak is a small rural city of about 4,700 residents in north-central Washington State. The city had a GIS-based cemetery management system, but the software running it was no longer supported by modern computer operating systems, and the city was forced to take the system offline. Office staff resorted to using paper maps, making it difficult to locate information quickly and to synchronize the maps with cemetery site records. Relying on paper records also left the system vulnerable to human error (such as misreading someone’s handwriting) and to all the risks involved with storing important information on paper—risks posed by natural disasters, for instance. The city reached out to FLO for help, and we migrated the records from a cumbersome cemetery management system to a user-friendly web map and web application that allows staff to easily track and manage all grave information from any device. 

To ensure that the new web application provided the City with access to all current burial data, FLO extracted and converted the old GIS data and created new GIS polygon layers delineating the cemetery blocks and graves. 

We then cross-referenced these with photocopies of the paper records and other data, allowing us to capture any updates and verify the current state of the geometry. At the same time, we established a new set of data fields and standardized several values so that entry was simple and consistent.

To make the cemetery information editing process as straightforward as possible, we connected the new digital cemetery data to Esri’s Survey123 application. This tool seamlessly connects to ArcGIS data to make it easy to edit the information using a simple form-based approach. The mobile-friendly form guides the user on the required information, streamlining data entry and standardizing input where possible. All cemetery information remains editable within the web map as well, for users who are comfortable with that approach.

City staff fully own the final web application because the GIS data, application, and Survey123 tool were built and hosted in the City’s ArcGIS Online account. As it runs over a web browser, staff can be assured that the data and tools will be accessible regardless of operating system changes and that Esri maintains the hosting environment and applications automatically. The result is that the city has an easy-to-use application that can be accessed with various devices from the office and field and can be kept up to date with all staff able to see the latest state of the data at all times.