This GIS layer was produced by the North Central Florida Regional Planning Council (NCFRPC) under contract with FDOT District 2 in early 2005, and by the Northeast Florida Regional Planning Council (NEFRPC) under contract with FDOT District 2 in early 2006. This is one of many layers that fall into the general category of "sociocultural" GIS data.
Data development is a component of the Efficient Transporation Decision Making Process (ETDM). The primary objectives of the ETDM initiative include:
- Effective/timely decision making without compromising environmental quality. - Integrating review and permitting process. - Early NEPA reviews and approvals - Full and early participation - Meaningful dispute resolution
For more information about these initiatives an on-line search using keyword 'ETDM' will provide a number of resources. A listing of relevant documents and resources is included under: <http://fdotenvironmentalstreamlining.urs-tally.com/Library/default.htm>.
A note about data scale:
Scale is an important factor in data usage. Certain scale datasets are not suitable for some project, analysis, or modeling purposes. Please be sure you are using the best available data.
1:24000 scale datasets are recommended for projects that are at the county level. 1:24000 data should NOT be used for high accuracy base mapping such as property parcel boundaries.
1:100000 scale datasets are recommended for projects that are at the multi-county or regional level. 1:125000 scale datasets are recommended for projects that are at the regional or state level or larger.
Vector datasets with no defined scale or accuracy should be considered suspect. Make sure you are familiar with your data before using it for projects or analysis. Every effort has been made to supply the user with data documentation. For additional information, see the References section and the Data Source Contact section of this documentation. For more information regarding scale and accuracy, see our webpage at: <http://geoplan.ufl.edu/education.html>
Northeast Florida Regional Planning Council NEFRPC 6850 Belfort Oaks Place Jacksonville, FL 32216 (904) 279-0880 Fax (904) 279-0881 <http://www.nefrpc.org/> info@nefrc.org Keith Joiner KJoiner@nefrc.org
The methods used in creating this layer were very consistent. The shapefile had one author and all listed sources were consulted to verify locations of features. This included field visits to many of the sites in question.
Many cemeteries from the past have not been located due to lost records, lack of maintenance, lost grave markers, or a combination thereof. Of the sources that were consulted, the majority of the listed cemeteries has been demarcated. There are still several small family burials that have been lost in time, as well as possible larger ones. Some cemeteries that were once thought lost are located in this layer.
The existing data from Geoplan and the FDOS included about 40 cemeteries for Alachua County. The SCE map, using additional local sources, contains over 108 sites. Gilchrist County showed a bigger improvement. This layer can benefit significantly from the SCE mapping effort. Cemeteries were a major emphasis for several reasons: they appear to be important for FDOT planning purposes; there is a great deal of information available for some counties, such as Alachua; existing maps do not reflect the available information. Methods to locate cemeteries are very different from most other layers - the standard data sources, such as parcel data and the yellow pages, are not generally helpful. Aerial photos and a variety of local sources tend to be very useful. Most counties have individual experts or historical societies that can provide critical information. Only a small portion of all burial areas have been located, and the smaller, private cemeteries may never be well-documented. But most of the larger cemeteries associated with churches and towns or otherwise recorded can be mapped.
ALACHUA: Layer was created by using the geocoded point layer, buffering to 100m, and creating a polygon shapefile to be used for editing. New features were added when necessary to make the complete shapefile as it now exists.
GILCHRIST: Layer was created by using the geocoded point layer, buffering to 100m, and creating a polygon shapefile to be used for editing. Added fields: ACCESS, SOURCES, ALTERNATE, RESOLVE, CONFIDENCE, and others required by SCE specifications. Deleted unnecessary fields. ACCESS tells the user how accessible the site is. SOURCES indicate the main sources helpful in verifying the cemetery location. ALTERNATE indicates other names used for the site. RESOLVE was used to differentiate polygons that were verified and finished. 0 means the site is incomplete, not located, or not verifiable. 1 means site is complete. CONFIDENCE is the author's level of confidence that the cemetery is correctly located on the map or in existence.
The 2005 cadastral GIS databases were obtained from the following counties: Baker, Clay, Duval, Nassau, Putnam, St Johns.
Each cadastral dataset was projected to Albers Conical Equal Area (Florida Geographic Data Library) as defined by GEO Plan.
2 existing FGDLsource layers were used as references. These were gc_cemetery_sep05 (geocoded points), and par_cemetery 04 (polygons)
The geocoded points gc_cemetery_sep05 were buffered by 1/2 mile and all parcel polygons that fell within the buffer were analyzed to find the correct polygons. The DOR attributes used for the analysis purpose were Owner Name, and DOR Code (7600).
The existing FGDL polygons par_cemetery_04 were buffered by 1/2 mile and all parcel polygons that fell within the buffer were analyzed to find the correct polygons. The DOR attributes used for the analysis purpose were Owner Name, and DOR Code (7600).
The existing locations that were not located in the DOR parcels were field checked to verify that they do not exist . These locations are not part of the final dataset..
After all of the existing locations as defined by FGDL were verified, other sources were used to find any missing locations. Following are the other sources that were used: yellow pages, Florida Tombstone Transcription Project (<http://www.rootsweb.com/~cemetery/florida/florida.htm>), lat-long.com, local funeral homes, Putnam County GIS Department, Duval County GIS, St Johns County GIS Department, loval historical societies, local churches.
All of these sources were analyzed, located and their coincidental parcel polygons were added to the cemeteries layer and attributed.
GeoPlan received this data, via CDROM, and performed the following: -Reprojected to the FGDL Albers HPGN map projection. -Restructured the attribute table to fit the SCE Data Specification Document Standards. -Merged datasets together to create one FDOT District-wide shapefile. -Added FGDLAQDATE field based on the date FGDL acquired the data from the source. -Added DESCRIPT field based on 'NAME'