20 | MAY 13 • 2021
T
rying to locate the gravesite of
a loved one at Clover Hill Park
Cemetery, a 60-acre cemetery with
more than 15,000 burials, could make an
already emotional situation even more
stressful. Until last year, visitors to Clover
Hill had to rely on their memory or a ceme-
tery employee to help locate a gravesite.
Now visitors can get driving or walking
directions directly to a plot in the same
way they would get directions from Google
Maps or a similar platform. A computer,
cell phone or kiosk located at the cemetery
entrance can be used to access this infor-
mation.
The technology utilized by Clover Hill
allows users to search the database with as
little information as the last name of the
deceased. Users are then able to locate the
burial site on a map and get directions.
They can also see the area with a 360-degree
ground view, including images of surround-
ing graves and landscaping and the ability
to read the headstones.
“We wanted to make a strong commit-
ment to our families by using this tech-
nology. When people are here initially, it’s
usually very traumatizing and emotional,
and they tend to forget or not pay attention
to how they got there,
” said Kim Raznik, the
executive director of the Clover Hill Park
Cemetery. “There are also those who haven’t
been to the cemetery before and don’t know
how to find their relatives or friends.
”
She described the software as “an unbe-
lievable tool in helping families navigate
the cemetery in person or virtually.
” Raznik
told the story of a recent visitor who was
convinced the gravesite of a loved one was
somehow moved. After locating the site on
the kiosk and printing out directions, they
discovered that the woman was looking on
the wrong side of the cemetery.
Raznik said that as far as she knows,
Clover Hill is the only local cemetery using
this but declined to discuss the cost of the
project, which was approved by the board of
directors in 2019.
To get all the necessary data online,
Clover Hill hired a company to do some-
thing called ESRI mapping. It’s what cities
use to map their communities, and it
provides a longitude and latitude point for
every gravesite and interfaces with Google
to provide turn-by-turn directions.
Additionally, more than 500,000 pictures
were taken to offer 360-degree views of
every inch of the cemetery grounds. For a
week-and-a-half in August 2019, Cemetery
360, a California-based company, walked
the grounds of Clover Hill, snapping a pho-
tograph every 5 feet.
Having these images online is particular-
ly useful for family members living out of
state or those unable to get to the cemetery,
allowing them to make a virtual visit.
“While I prefer to go to the cemetery,
it’s nice to know I can see my daughter’s
gravesite online for the times when I
can’t physically get there,
” said Lisa Ziff
of Bloomfield Hills. Ziff’s daughter Shay
passed away in April 2019.
SALES AID
The software is also a valuable sales tool
by allowing users to view available burial
sites without visiting the cemetery or see
examples of headstone options by search-
ing within the cemetery. This has been
especially helpful early on during COVID
when people were not leaving their homes.
Although the software wasn’t a response to
the ongoing pandemic, its usefulness has
been an unintended benefit.
Raznik doesn’t know how they could
have managed without it during the height
of COVID when the cemetery saw a 50%
increase in burials. Families needing to
select a plot or order a grave marker could
do so online.
Established by Congregation Shaarey
Zedek in 1918, Clover Hill has approximate-
ly 200 burials per year. It’s the final resting
place for many of Detroit’s most prom-
inent Jewish leaders, including Mandell
“Bill” Berman, Al Taubman, William “Bill”
Davidson, Max M. Fisher, David Hermelin
and Rabbis Morris Adler and Irwin Groner.
“The cemetery has a garden-like, park-
like feel to it,
” Raznik said. “We want it to
be a serene place, and this helps make that
happen by taking away the stress of trying
to find a loved one.
”
For information, visit cloverhillcemetery.org.
OUR COMMUNITY
New mapping system at
Clover Hill makes fi
nding
gravesites easier.
A Guiding
Hand
JENNIFER LOVY CONTRIBUTING WRITER
A cemetery 360
image that allows
viewers to read
grave markers.
ESRI mapping documents
the location of every
gravesite, by longitude and
latitude and interfaces with
the cemetery’s database.