QR codes have now made their way onto Canadian gravestones

QR codes headstone

QR codes headstoneQuick response codes are making their way onto headstones in countries around the world.

Funeral homes across the United States and in Europe have been announcing new features that allow QR codes to be added to grave markers, and this smartphone friendly memorial technique has just become available in Canada.

These barcodes give an interactive quality to the headstones that mark a buried individual in a cemetery.

These QR codes can be scanned by individuals with smartphones or tablets in order to view a tribute webpage that provides more information about the deceased individual. This can be helpful to individuals who would like to memorialize their loved ones with more than a name and a date.

The QR codes can also help gravesite visitors to learn more about the deceased person beneath.

The concept for the QR Memories program makes it possible for people who are visiting a deceased person’s grave to learn more than just a name, and date of birth and death. With a very simple, free reader app for QR codes, these visitors can view tributes and stories that have been posted by the deceased person’s family. There may even be videos or photos posted, or a book of condolences, where visitors can share their sympathies for the surviving family members.

This type of service has been available in the United States in several cemeteries since last year. However, it is only just recently that the QR codes have made their way to Canadian sites. The first Canadian funeral home to have offered the smartphone friendly service is Remco Memorials Ltd.

The marketing specialist for that company, Adam Reeson, explained that the use of QR codes in this marketplace is only just getting started. He said that “I think it will take a number of years before it becomes mainstream but it is certainly starting to gain momentum.”

The QR codes are small and subtle, but provide families with a considerably larger amount of space in which to make a tribute for their deceased loved one. Many are beginning to include not only obituaries, but multimedia, historical and heritage information of the family, comments from friends and family, and even the name of favorite charities, should mourners choose to make a donation in memory of the individual.

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