French dead go digital in electronic cemetery
Thu Oct 30, 8:29 AM ET
PARIS (Reuters) - Generations of dead in a cemetery in southern France have joined the information age, thanks to a new computerised system that maps the way to graves and enables people to leave electronic condolence messages.
People arriving this week at the cemetery in Saint Andre de la Roche, near Nice, found an interactive screen giving precise locations and personal details for the 4,000 deceased.
"Until now visitors spent hours walking round and round. It was a real headache to work out where you were," Honore Colomas, mayor of the town near the Rivera coast, was quoted as saying in Thursday's Le Parisien newspaper.
"The system is very simple. All you do is type the name of the deceased or the tomb and a detailed map of the cemetery with arrows appears on the screen," he said.
The touchscreen-based system cost 15,000 euros (9200 pounds), is floodlit. Visitors can read biographies of the deceased, type in messages of sympathy and also find contact details for local taxis or funeral parlours.
Florists are also said to delighted by an innovation that makes it easier to turn up at the right place with deliveries.
Thu Oct 30, 8:29 AM ET
PARIS (Reuters) - Generations of dead in a cemetery in southern France have joined the information age, thanks to a new computerised system that maps the way to graves and enables people to leave electronic condolence messages.
People arriving this week at the cemetery in Saint Andre de la Roche, near Nice, found an interactive screen giving precise locations and personal details for the 4,000 deceased.
"Until now visitors spent hours walking round and round. It was a real headache to work out where you were," Honore Colomas, mayor of the town near the Rivera coast, was quoted as saying in Thursday's Le Parisien newspaper.
"The system is very simple. All you do is type the name of the deceased or the tomb and a detailed map of the cemetery with arrows appears on the screen," he said.
The touchscreen-based system cost 15,000 euros (9200 pounds), is floodlit. Visitors can read biographies of the deceased, type in messages of sympathy and also find contact details for local taxis or funeral parlours.
Florists are also said to delighted by an innovation that makes it easier to turn up at the right place with deliveries.
