Commemorating soldiers – with an iPhone
New mobile applications aim to help bereaved families share stories of loved ones who passed, easily locate their gravesites on Mt. Herzl.
The "Olamim" (Eternity) platform is a website which allows family and friends to set up a commemorative page for a fallen soldier. Moreover, the platform allows family members to link the memorial page to a QR code - barcodes which can be scanned by smart phones - placed on the tombstone, thus allowing any visitor at the cemetery to scan the code and immediately receive information on the deceased.
The platform, which costs NIS 399, is based on QR stickers, which can be created per commemorative page and placed on fallen's grave.
The website's inventors claim the application provides notifications and updates for Memorial Day and remembrance ceremonies for individual soldiers, as well as aiding visitors in navigating to the gravesite.
Another application, "Remembering Them All", offers a similar service in regards to the three thousand graves at the Mt. Herzl Military Cemetery.
The application works by scanning the physical tombstone and loading the personal information of the soldier buried within.
"Remembering Them All" is based on the Defense Ministry's memorial website and pictures taken by volunteers from local Jerusalem schools. It uses 'augmented reality' technology which allows the user to simply point a smart phone at a tombstone, while the application finds the relevant information on the Defense Ministry site.
The application is the initiative of the CEO of Otzarot (Treasures), David Ansbacher, whose company focuses on educational tourism projects.
It was partially funded by Yossi Ackerman, Elbit's former CEO, who commemorated his father in the application – Israel Ackerman fell while serving on reserve duty.
