In Wales, QR codes offer info to explain unexpected gravestones

The HiPoints system in Wales is helping passersby to learn more about confusing Canadian gravestones at St Margaret's Church, Bodelwyddan, using QR code technology.

Wales has already taken a leading role in linking real-world locations with relevant information on the web, with the city of Monmouth recently becoming a self-anointed ‘Wikipedia town‘. Now the HiPoints system aims to help passersby learn more about confusing Canadian gravestones at St Margaret’s Church, Bodelwyddan, using QR code technology. Some 80 graves memorializing Canadian soldiers can be found outside the UK church, which often baffle visitors passing through the site. The soldiers died while stationed in Denbighshire during World War I due to a flu epidemic that swept the region. The church is now employing HiPoints, which consists of placards containing QR codes that bring up an explanation for the graves when smartphone users scan the images. There is also information about each of the soldiers and related images. The organizers believe the scheme could also engage a younger audience with sites of historical interest. The placards constitute part of a larger scheme organised by community-based information project History Points, which is placing similar QR codes around the country. Are there other ways physical locations can be connected with the online world? Spotted by: Murtaza Patel