Using Burial Search

This page addresses how to use the public-facing website BurialSearch.com. For information on how to change Burial Search settings, see Burial Search settings.

Finding your Burial Search site

Quick search

Advanced search

Owner search

Available spaces

Veterans list

Contact information

Navigating the map

Printing the map

Accessibility controls

Navigating to a space

Direct URLs for spaces & burials

Finding your Burial Search site

There are 3 ways to find your Burial Search site:

1. Go to burialsearch.comand use the search feature to find your cemetery by name or location
2. Use the full URL of your Burial Search site
   1. For our demo cemetery, this is https://burialsearch.com/1/Guardian+Angels+Cemetery. Your cemetery will have a similar pattern: burialsearch.com/###/Cemetery name
3. Use the shortened URL of your Burial Search site
   1. For our demo cemetery, this is https://burialsearch.com/1. Your cemetery will have a similar pattern: burialsearch.com/###

Quick search

The quick search is at the top of a cemetery's Burial Search page, just underneath the header. Visitors can input a first, last or maiden name, then click "Search" to see a list of matches. Spelling needs to be accurate for all Burial Search searches.

The quick search only matches the beginnings of names. Searching "will" will return results like "William" and "Willoughby", but not "Fitzwilliam" or "MacWillis".

Advanced search

The advanced search is at the top of a cemetery's Burial Search page, just underneath the header. Click on "See advanced search" to access it. Spelling needs to be accurate for all Burial Search searches.

The options that are available as advanced search filters match what CIMS administrators have chosen to display as burial information. See the "Burial information" section of "Burial Search settings" to change what information from CIMS is displayed to the public and thus searchable.

Unlike the quick search, the advanced search will search for matches within a name. Searching for "ma" will return results like "Mary" and "Mason" as well as "Thomas" and "Amanda".

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  By clicking on "See advanced search", visitors can access the advanced search feature. By adding filters such as birth year, burial year and more, visitors can further refine search results.

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  In this case, we are searching for a first name containing "ma" with a burial year of 1985.

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  The results returned from this search include "Marcella" as well as "Thomas", as the advanced search will return names that match the search term at the beginning, middle or end of the name.

Owner search

Owner search allows for searching by owner or co-owner name. This feature is most useful for cemetarians wanting to reassure customers that they do have a record of their space purchase, and said purchase is viewable on a public website they can access themselves.

The owner search is at the top of a cemetery's Burial Search page, just underneath the header. Click on "See advanced search" to access it. Spelling needs to be accurate for all Burial Search searches.

To display the owner search, this option needs to be turned on in CIMS. See the "Search by owner" section of "Burial Search settings".

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  By clicking on "See advanced search", visitors to BurialSearch.com can access the "Owner search" option.

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  A list of relevant results will display; website visitors can navigate around the map to see where these owner spaces are located (CIMS Professional only).

Available spaces

When first navigating to a cemetery's Burial Search site, a section might be displayed titled "Considering our cemetery for your burial needs?"; this is a special preset search that will display a list of all of a cemetery's available spaces. This feature is most useful for CIMS Professional clients, whose visitors will be able to see available spaces displayed on their map.

This section is optional, see the "Preset searches" section of "Burial Search settings".

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  This optional section will allow visitors to see a list of all available spaces in a cemetery.

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  Each page of results will show 10 available spaces, highlighted on the map (CIMS Professional only). Showing the space type and space cost is optional.

Veterans list

When first navigating to a cemetery's Burial Search site, a section might be displayed titled "Looking for our veterans?"; this is a special preset search that will display a list of all of a cemetery's veterans. This feature is most useful for holidays like Memorial Day, when outside organizations may want to plant flags or otherwise honor veterans.

This section is optional, see the "Preset searches" section of "Burial Search settings". For information on the display of veteran names in the veterans preset search list, see the "Name display" section of the "Burial information" section of "Burial Search settings".

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  This optional section will allow visitors to easily see a list of all of a cemetery's veterans.

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  10 veterans will display per page of search results, highlighted on the map (CIMS Professional only). A veteran's branch/rank/war can be displayed with their name.

Contact information

We highly recommend each cemetery include basic contact information, including the cemetery location and a contact phone number.

See the "Header & footer" section of "Burial Search settings".

The footer contains useful information for visitors, such as the cemetery's physical location and contact information.

Navigating the map (CIMS Plus & Professional only)

Similarly to Google maps, the Burial Search map can be controlled with basic mouse gestures. Click, drag, and move the mouse around to move the map left to right and up and down. Using the scroll button on a mouse will zoom in. For tablets, dragging with a finger will move the mouse, while pinching with two fingers will zoom the map in and out.

There are several buttons to help users navigate the map in the upper-right corner of the screen:

Button image	Button description
Map controls button	The map controls button, when clicked, reveals mouse- and touch-friendly map controls for zooming and moving the map left/up/right/down. These controls are useful for users with mobility challenges.
Home button	To center the map on the "home" view of the cemetery, click the home button.
Print button	Clicking on the print button puts the website into "print mode". Users can change the map to the view they want, change print size and paper orientation, add notes, and then print out the Burial Search map.
Map settings/accessibility options button	The map settings/accessibility options button is useful for visitors with visual challenges; use it to change the map appearance with several available presets, or control map colors individually. Textures can be applied and font sizes enlarged to further aid visitors, among other settings.

Printing the map (CIMS Plus & Professional only)

There are two ways to print the map:

• Visitors can use the "print mode" (see Navigating the map, above) to print a single image of the map, as well as optionally add notes and specify paper size and orientation
• By selecting a space with burials, a "Print" button will appear alongside information about the buried person. Clicking on this brings up a print popup with 3 maps (CIMS Professional only); each of these maps can be individually manipulated (zoom, move map) to make it easy for visitors to find a specific grave.
  

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  Method 1: The print button is located in the upper-right corner of the screen (highlighted in red here).

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  Method 1 continued: Clicking the print button brings us into "print mode", where the map can be moved and zoomed in/out of. Notes can be added and other print options specified. Click "Print" to print or save the final result.

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  Method 2: A "print" button appears next to burial information for buried individuals. This button is meant to provide an easy printout so visitors can locate a space.

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  Method 2 continued: Each of the maps can be manipulated. Click "Print" to print or save the final result.

Accessibility controls

The new Burial Search was designed with accessibility in mind. CIMS partnered with a third party company who audited burialsearch.com and provided guidance on making the website and map as accessible as possible. As of August 2024, Burial Search is WCAG 2.2 AA compliant. Visitors with visual challenges can use the map settings/accessibility options button in the upper-right corner of the map to manipulate map colors and fonts (CIMS Professional only).

If you have any feedback about our accessibility solutions, please contact our team.

Navigating to a space

There are 2 ways to navigate to a space (CIMS Plus & Professional only). On desktop devices, only the first option will be visible. However, mobile devices will have 2 options, available to them by clicking "Navigate to space":

• Google directions are available on every device. Simply select the space of interest and click the "Google navigation" button.
• Walk to space will use a device's GPS to help users literally walk to graves. This feature is most useful if a visitor is within cemetery boundaries and has enough signal to use GPS. Click "Navigate to space" then "Walk to space" from the popup that appears.
  • Click "Navigate to space"
  • Choose "Walk to space"
  • A popup will appear as Burial Search asks your device's permission to use its GPS. If the signal is strong enough, this popup will minimize
  • Two oblong shapes, one white, one blue, will appear at the bottom of the screen; align these shapes, then walk forwards. Your distance from the targeted space is displayed within these shapes. GPS is generally accurate within 15 feet.

Walk to space is available only on mobile devices with GPS capabilities.

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  Mobile devices can navigate to a space using either walk to space or Google directions.

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  If walk to space is chosen, your device will first make sure it has a strong enough GPS signal to work.

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  If GPS is acquired, the instructions will be minimized. Click "Instructions" at the top to view them again. Line the shapes up at the bottom, then walk forwards. In this example, the cemetery is quite far away; ideally, one would use the walk to space feature inside cemetery grounds.

Direct URLs for spaces & burials

Seen here highlighted in red, the direct URL is a useful way to guide website visitors to a specific space without their having to search.

A URL is the same thing as a link. Direct URLs can be a great way to send information to customers. If a member of the public calls in, inquiring where their loved one is buried, email or text them a direct URL. Likewise, if you have CIMS Professional and are using Burial Search as a sales tool, you can send potential customers direct URLs to available spaces that might interest them.

Navigate to a space; beneath any burial information, space messages and media will be box with a URL inside. Click or tap to copy this link to your device's clipboard so that it may easily be pasted into a text or email.

For example, note the difference between https://burialsearch.com/1/Guardian+Angels+Cemeteryand https://burialsearch.com/1/Guardian+Angels+Cemetery/18428; the latter takes you directly to a specific space with burial present.

See also

What is Burial Search

Burial Search settings