{"id":726622,"date":"2025-01-12T19:59:16","date_gmt":"2025-01-13T03:59:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/?post_type=arcnews&#038;p=726622"},"modified":"2025-01-12T14:31:01","modified_gmt":"2025-01-12T22:31:01","slug":"remote-sensing-3d-mapping-help-find-answers-in-tulsa","status":"publish","type":"arcnews","link":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/arcnews\/remote-sensing-3d-mapping-help-find-answers-in-tulsa","title":{"rendered":"Remote Sensing, 3D Mapping Help Find Answers in Tulsa"},"author":5752,"featured_media":0,"menu_order":0,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"sync_status":"","episode_type":"","audio_file":"","castos_file_data":"","podmotor_file_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[331,475152,461441],"tags":[424992,163382,20422,472171,12662],"arcnews_issues":[491292],"class_list":["post-726622","arcnews","type-arcnews","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-3d","category-archeology","category-equity-social-justice","tag-arcgis-dashboards","tag-arcgis-online","tag-arcgis-pro","tag-arcgis-survey123","tag-remote-sensing","arcnews_issues-winter-2025","arcnews_sections-news"],"acf":{"short_description":"To try to identify victims of the 1921 Tulsa race massacre, investigators are using GIS to make a 3D model of Oaklawn Cemetery\u2019s Section 20.","pdf":{"host_remotely":false,"file":"","file_url":""},"flexible_content":[{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"It\u2019s been over a century since a mob descended on Tulsa, Oklahoma\u2019s thriving Black neighborhood of Greenwood and went on a killing and burning spree in 1921. In 18 hours, more than 1,000 homes and businesses were destroyed, and an estimated 30\u2013300 people died. The names and burial places of the victims are still mostly unknown.\r\n\r\nAn important discovery in July 2024 brought the number of named victims to three. Through a painstaking investigation that employed innovative techniques for remote sensing and 3D mapping, the Tulsa graves investigation team located and identified the remains of C. L. Daniel in an unmarked grave at Oaklawn Cemetery."},{"acf_fc_layout":"image","image":727722,"image_position":"right","orientation":"horizontal","hyperlink":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"Traditional archaeology, forensics, and genealogical methods also helped identify Daniel. The Georgia native and US Army veteran of World War I was likely about 25 years old when he died during one of the most violent racial attacks in American history.\r\n\r\nMarkers for two other known victims, Reuben Everett and Eddie Lockard, are found near Daniel\u2019s grave. Everett, Lockard, and other documented victims are included in a 2001 report from the Oklahoma Commission to Study the Tulsa Race Riot of 1921.\r\n\r\nOver the decades, many have contributed to efforts to identify those murdered after a coverup took shape. Much remains to be done.\r\n\r\nFor current residents of Greenwood and descendants of those lost in the massacre, identifying the victims is an opportunity to rebuild family and community connections. The investigation has also ended years of silence. For too long, it was dangerous to discuss the massacre in public.\r\n\r\n\u201cThis is something that my grandparents left this earth never realizing could ever happen,\u201d said Brenda Nails-Alford, a descendant of race massacre survivors and entrepreneurs from Greenwood, also known as Black Wall Street. \u201cThey lost friends and neighbors that they never saw again. And here we are today talking about the race massacre openly and looking for victims as well.\u201d"},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"<h2>An Excavation of Hope<\/h2>\r\nTulsa mayor G.T. Bynum launched an investigation in 2018 to look for the graves of unnamed victims, based on the state commission\u2019s report. The current investigation focuses on locating and identifying 18\u201321 of those victims.\r\n\r\n\u201cAt the most human level, for all of us who have worked on this search, we just wanted to find these victims and reunite them with their families,\u201d Bynum said at a news conference in July 2024.\r\n\r\nThe limited records that do exist to document the number of deaths include about a dozen death certificates, funeral home records, and a paid city invoice. These indicate that at least 20 adult males and one stillborn infant were buried in a segregated area at Oaklawn Cemetery known as Section 20, explained Dr. Kary Stackelbeck, state archaeologist from the University of Oklahoma and a member of the graves investigation team."},{"acf_fc_layout":"image","image":727732,"image_position":"left","orientation":"horizontal","hyperlink":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"Few records exist for this part of the cemetery overall, which isn\u2019t unusual for segregated cemeteries, according to Stackelbeck. Researchers estimate that around 1,000 people\u2014including some victims of the massacre\u2014were buried here over the course of 30 years, she said.\r\n\r\nMultiple layers of fill dirt were added to this western part of the cemetery over the years to make way for new burials. Those layers have made it more challenging to locate unmarked graves.\r\n\r\nAs work continues, investigators are mapping the location of each grave using geographic coordinates. These won\u2019t be just any maps. The project team\u2019s digital archaeologist, Dr. Alex Elvis Badillo, director of the Geospatial and Virtual Archaeology Laboratory and Studio at Indiana State University and a digital solutions specialist at Stantec, is building a geographically accurate 3D model of Section 20."},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"<h2>Archaeology Moves into the Digital Realm<\/h2>\r\nThe digital processes developed for this project offer a novel, modern framework for archaeology, Badillo said. GIS is the unifying technology.\r\n\r\nOne way the project is unique is that it combines the use of ArcGIS Pro, ArcGIS Online, ArcGIS Survey123, and ArcGIS Dashboards with other geospatial technology, including GPS and a total station, an instrument that measures distances and angles. Employing all this together enables researchers to identify target areas for excavation with great precision.\r\n\r\nHistoric aerial imagery and maps, ground-penetrating radar data, and excavation data from previous years are organized and accessed in a geodatabase. Compiling this information in one place makes it possible for the team to survey above and below the ground before digging.\r\n\r\nFilled-out Survey123 forms help the team recognize spatial patterns that reflect the likely burial routines used in Section 20. Working with local volunteers, the team also used Survey123 to complete a headstone survey in the same area. In the future, the headstone library might become available to the public in some form as a historical record."},{"acf_fc_layout":"image","image":727742,"image_position":"center","orientation":"horizontal","hyperlink":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"The headstone library and forensic records are also cataloged in the geodatabase. This dynamic archive will support and expedite work as it continues in future phases\u2014though public and\/or private funding will be necessary to keep the project moving beyond its current phase.\r\n\r\nIn addition to using traditional 2D maps in the excavation workflow, the team employs structure-from-motion (SfM) photogrammetry to document the excavation in 3D. This technique takes a series of 2D photos to create accurate and measurable 3D representations of the world. One advantage of this method is that the reconstructed 3D model is wrapped in a photorealistic texture that closely mimics real-world objects.\r\n\r\nTo reconstruct the excavation in 3D, the team mounts a camera on a drone and uses a digital single-lens reflex camera to take pictures throughout the excavation process. The photos are then georeferenced using spatial data from the total station. From there, the team employs photogrammetry software to make the 3D models. There is one model of the entire cemetery, as well as models of the excavated trenches and areas where heavy machinery was used to remove large amounts of dirt that covered the burial plots.\r\n\r\nEach burial plot is carefully documented using SfM photogrammetry methods. The result is a 3D geodatabase where the digital burials are shown within a large trench under a digital representation of the cemetery surface. Each 3D model retains its real-world coordinates and can be viewed and measured in ArcGIS Pro or ArcGIS Online.\r\n\r\nLastly, to make it easier to collaborate across teams, a dashboard built with ArcGIS Dashboards has been essential, according to Badillo. The dashboard allows team leaders to review files in the geodatabase\u2014clicking through drone imagery, for example, to see the project\u2019s progress over time or images of excavated trenches.\r\n\r\n\u201cThe dashboard is typically the most useful to people who are not specialists in GIS,\u201d said Badillo. \u201cSo I try to put a lot of effort into developing the dashboard and even the web scene. They can very quickly look at it, but if they need me to, I can open it up on the iPad and show them right there in the field to help with decisions.\u201d"},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"<h2>Reconnecting Fragmented Threads of Local History<\/h2>\r\nFinding the graves of massacre victims is one of many stages of the investigation. Identifying those exhumed could take much longer\u2014perhaps decades. It requires matching DNA samples to those of a living relative who has submitted DNA for ancestry analysis or other purposes."},{"acf_fc_layout":"image","image":727752,"image_position":"right","orientation":"horizontal","hyperlink":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"Intermountain Forensics is the laboratory assisting the city with DNA analysis and helping create genetic genealogy profiles. The project leaders\u2014Stackelbeck and forensic anthropologist Dr. Phoebe Stubblefield from the University of Florida\u2014have also welcomed Nails-Alford, a community liaison, as a member of their team. Nails-Alford enriches their work in ways that are both personal and meaningful.\r\n\r\n\u201cShe leads us in our morning prayer and our ending day devotions,\u201d Stackelbeck said. \u201cShe has excavated with us. She has screened dirt to look for artifacts. She has helped us monitor the backhoe work while we\u2019re looking for the graves. She has done all of that.\u201d\r\n\r\nBeing on-site and learning about investigation strategies has given Nails-Alford a greater appreciation for the complexity of the work required to identify victims.\r\n\r\n\u201cMy great-grandmother is buried here at Oaklawn somewhere, but I may never know where,\u201d she said. \u201cWe\u2019re already giving a family the opportunity to know who their loved one was and to give them that opportunity to memorialize them in the way that they see fit. And for us to be working towards giving other families that opportunity means so much to me.\u201d"}],"references":null},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v25.9 (Yoast SEO v25.9) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Remote Sensing, 3D Mapping Help Find Answers in Tulsa | Winter 2025 | ArcNews<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"To try to identify victims of the 1921 Tulsa race massacre, investigators are using GIS to make a 3D model of Oaklawn Cemetery\u2019s Section 20.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/arcnews\/remote-sensing-3d-mapping-help-find-answers-in-tulsa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Remote Sensing, 3D Mapping Help Find 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