Some interesting news from D.C as the Arlington National Cemetery has released an interactive map (ANC Explorer) available through its website and through a free smartphone app (iOS, Android, and BB). Using geospatial technology, visitors to Arlington can now search the database for markers of family and loved ones or search for notable, historical grave markers.

About the service from Boston.com…Officials say the new app makes it easier for people walking the cemetery to locate a loved one’s burial place. The app can be downloaded at the cemetery’s visitor center. The database has been the subject of a painstaking review and even now is not 100 percent complete. Katharine Kelley, the cemetery’s director of accountability, said that about 99.4 percent of the nearly 260,000 gravesites, niches and markers have been verified.

According to the official announcement, In the future, ANC Explorer will offer features such as emergency and event notifications, restroom and water fountain locations, shuttle stops, and self-guided tours – see more at www.arlingtoncemetery.mil/ancexplorer.

From the US Army:

Today, Arlington National Cemetery released an application that enables family members and the public to find gravesites and explore Arlington’s rich history.

ANC Explorer allows users to use a smart phone or common web browser to locate gravesites, events or other points of interest throughout the cemetery; generate front-and-back photos of a headstone or monument; and receive directions to these locations. This free app is now available on Arlington’s website, the iTunes store, and Google Play and is loaded on new kiosks in Arlington National Cemetery’s Visitors Center. “This is just the beginning. In the future, ANC Explorer will offer features such as emergency and event notifications, restroom and water fountain locations, shuttle stops, and self-guided tours,” said Maj. Nicholas R. Miller, Arlington National Cemetery chief information officer. The information in the app is a compilation of Arlington’s accountability effort. The effort led to the first-ever review, analysis and coordination of almost 150 years of varying records. As part of the accountability effort, the Army photographed 259,978 gravesites, niches and markers using a custom-built smart phone application and instituted a rigorous process to review each headstone photo with existing cemetery records and other historical documents. The end result was the creation of a single, verifiable and authoritative database of all those laid to rest at Arlington that is linked to the Arlington’s digital mapping system. “ANC Explorer is another milestone in our transformation. There isn’t a national cemetery that is as technologically advanced as Arlington – both in day-to-day operations and how it connects to its families and visitors,” said Kathryn A. Condon, executive director of the Army National Military Cemeteries.

For additional information and the link to the ANC Explorer app is available at www.arlingtoncemetery.mil/ancexplorer.