Mapping the Forgotten
- 5 hours ago
- 5 min read
How LiDAR revealed what the land refused to give up
There was no clear map of the cemetery, and from the ground, it did not fully appear as one.
What existed at the Westview site was fragmented, a maintained section with visible headstones surrounded by dense overgrowth, where the landscape offered little indication of what lay beneath.
The objective was clear: to help identify graves before cleanup efforts began. Local nonprofits, Keep Knoxville Beautiful and Knox Heritage, were preparing to restore the site, but first needed a way to understand what remained hidden beneath the vegetation.
When the team arrived on site, it became evident that this would not be a typical survey. The expectation was to find headstones concealed beneath the canopy.
That proved difficult. However, the data revealed something much more subtle and ultimately more meaningful.
A CEMETERY WITHOUT A MAP
The Westview Cemeteries are not unusual in their condition, but they are significant in what they represent.
Like many historic cemeteries across the American South, these sites were not always managed with the permanence and clarity expected of modern burial grounds. Over the decades, ownership blurred, and without a clear source of funding or responsibility for care, stewardship began to fade. As it did, portions of the cemetery slipped from public awareness, their boundaries softening as they were gradually absorbed back into the landscape.
At Westview, three adjoining parcels tell that story clearly. One section remains maintained and recognizable as a cemetery. The others have been overtaken by vegetation, making it difficult to determine where burials begin or end.
Markers that once identified graves were often made from wood or simple stone, materials not intended to last a century. As those markers disappeared, so too did the most visible signs of burial. What remained was far less obvious: subtle changes in the terrain that are nearly impossible to detect without the right perspective.
Mission Snapshot
Platform: IF1200A heavy-lift UAVPayload: GeoCue TV515 LiDARCoverage: ~40 acres mapped (≈50% dense forest canopy)Flight Time: ~30 minutes
Flight Setup
65 m altitude
65 m line spacing
40% overlap
Objective
Locate unmarked graves beneath vegetation using terrain-based LiDAR analysis.
LOOKING FOR HEADSTONES, FINDING THE GROUND INSTEAD
To better understand the site, the University of Tennessee’s GIS Outreach and Engagement Lab deployed the IF1200 equipped with a GeoCue TV515 LiDAR system. The mission was planned using a 65-meter flight altitude and matching line spacing, achieving approximately 40 percent overlap and allowing the team to map the area efficiently in a single operation.
The initial goal was to locate headstones beneath dense vegetation.
That proved to be far more difficult than expected.
“We were not able to see the headstones under the vegetation,” Michael Camponovo, GIS Outreach Coordinator and GIST Director at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, explained.
“But once we got out there and knew where to look, they were there.”
Instead of identifying markers directly, the team began to notice patterns in the elevation data, subtle but consistent variations that did not align with natural terrain.
At first, those patterns were questioned.
“I thought it was noise in the data… there was no way we could see those depressions,” Camponovo said. “Tim thought they were graves. He was right.”
READING THE LANDSCAPE
Using a multidirectional hillshade generated from a one-centimeter elevation model, the team began carefully analyzing the terrain.
“We processed the data in LP360, generated a one-centimeter elevation model, and used a multidirectional hillshade to pick up micro-topography. At that point, it wasn’t automation, it was visual interpretation, just zooming in and looking for depressions in the ground,” said Tim Kane, Pilot in Command and Data Analyst.
VERIFYING WHAT WAS FOUND
What emerged was a pattern of depressions, some barely visible, others more pronounced, that aligned with the expected size and shape of graves.
The contrast across the site was striking. In the maintained portion of the cemetery, depressions measured less than an inch and were nearly impossible to distinguish without context. In the forested areas, those same features became far more pronounced, in some cases dropping as much as 18 inches.
These differences are likely influenced by a combination of maintenance practices, environmental conditions, and burial materials.
LiDAR did not confirm the presence of graves. It indicated where to look.
Using GNSS equipment and GeoPDF outputs, the team navigated to the mapped locations and conducted field verification.
What they found reinforced the patterns observed in the data. Depressions approximately six feet long and two feet wide appeared consistently across the site, and in many cases, headstones were present, hidden beneath layers of vegetation.
“We had walked the site before and missed them completely. Even knowing there were graves there, we still didn’t see them until the data showed us where to look.”
BEYOND THE KNOWN BOUNDARIES
One of the most significant findings extended beyond the expected limits of the cemetery.
The data revealed clusters of graves located well into the surrounding woods, separated from the main burial areas and with no visible markers indicating their presence.
Without LiDAR, there would have been no reason to search this area. The discovery reshaped the understanding of the site, suggesting that the cemetery exists as a broader, less defined landscape than previously assumed.
UNDERSTANDING THE LIMITS
While the results were impactful, they were not universal.
LiDAR did not directly detect headstones, nor could it identify every burial location. Its effectiveness depended heavily on site conditions.
WHERE STUDENTS STEP IN
Projects like this extend beyond research.
Ellie Bernstein, an undergraduate student involved in the project, contributed as a visual observer, assisted with ground control, and documented the mission through photography.
“This project was the first time I felt like my work with UAVs had real weight. Classwork doesn't always feel like it has stakes, so being part of something with genuine implications for a local community was incredibly meaningful,” said Ellie Bernstein.
“The moment I fully understood this project's importance was while walking alone through the graves and thinking about how this work would serve and honor the people who lay there. It changed how I think about this kind of research, the responsibility it carries, and the tangible good it can do for a community.”
IMPACT ON THE GROUND
For Keep Knoxville Beautiful and Knox Heritage, the results had immediate value.
Instead of sending volunteers into dense woods to search blindly, they were able to focus their efforts on areas identified as high-probability burial locations.
“Now we can actually get their volunteers to the places that we think are most likely to be the most promising grave sites,” said Camponovo.
This shift allowed for a more efficient and respectful approach to cleanup and preservation.
Following the survey, volunteers removed approximately 8,000 pounds of illegally dumped waste from the site, with efforts now focused on restoring access and preserving the cemetery for the community.
MORE THAN A SURVEY
What this project revealed was not just a set of coordinates, but a deeper understanding of a place that had gradually faded from record.
The technology did not uncover everything. But it uncovered enough to change how the site is understood, and how it will be cared for moving forward.
In a landscape where history had become difficult to see, the data offered a way to bring it back into focus.
