LISBON — The Columbiana County GIS Department gained a new tool this year to search underground for cemetery graves, utility lines or even forensic evidence, utilizing ground penetrating radar (GPR) and computer software.

“Pretty cool stuff,” Commissioner Tim Weigle said Wednesday.

According to Weigle, the $30,000 piece of equipment arrived two weeks ago. He and GIS Specialist Gabe Durrant of the county GIS Department ventured out to the county cemetery on County Home Road to try out the system, using the quick start guide.

“We’re pretty confidant we found some voids or openings in the ground where we weren’t sure if there were graves or not,” Durrant said.

A void or opening means something is under ground that isn’t normal, an anomaly other than dirt and rocks. The GPR, which resembles a push lawn mower with a tablet mounted on the handle, was run across the ground where definite graves were located. Then the GPR was taken across the area which wasn’t marked. Durrant said the anomaly looked the same, something different than normal.

“There’s a lot more it can do that we don’t know yet. That’s what the training is for,” he said.

Besides using it for cemeteries to look for possible graves, he explained the sheriff’s office could use the battery-powered GPR for forensic purposes and the engineer’s office could use it to look for buried cables, water or sewer lines or other underground utilities.

Durrant will attend two full days of hands-on training in New Hampshire for the particular GSSI model the county purchased to learn what the GPR can do and how to interpret the findings on the screen. Weigle said the machine has on board GPS and will give coordinates for whatever is found. The software that comes with the system can integrate the information with the county’s mapping.

“If there’s anything that’s not normal to the ground, (the screen) will show an upside down V,” Durrant said.

The idea of purchasing the GPR came up as a result of the cemetery work Durrant had been doing to catalog cemeteries in the county. At St. John Church in Summitville, there was a question about an old road possibly being built over top of some graves. Durrant started trying to work with a Youngstown State University professor, but there wasn’t a lot of availability.

Durrant knew his former professor at YSU was using GPR and when Weigle mentioned about the graves, that got the ball rolling and the decision was made for the county to buy it’s own GPR.

The GIS office opened in July 2022. GIS stands for geographic information system. Durrant is a one-man department and has created mapping for the Columbiana County Emergency Management Agency and Environmental Protection Agency at the East Palestine train derailment scene, polling locations for the county Board of Elections, the land abutting the Kensington Solar project to show the possible impact to the area, a system for the city of East Liverpool to map and track housing inspections and nuisance complaints and the Oakdale Cemetery in Leetonia.

The interactive map created for Oakdale Cemetery shows each grave, the names with date of death and date of birth for the occupants, military service and even links to the website Find A Grave. Go to leetonia.org and click on Oakdale Cemetery and the link for the online map. The legend for the map shows the symbol for mausoleums, occupied graves, available graves, purchased graves and unavailable grave areas, any buildings in the cemetery, roads and sections.

The office also has a large format printer/scanner used for maps, blueprints and surveys.

Durrant said he started an association of county GIS personnel so they can share ideas. Known as the County Geospatial Association of Ohio, the group now has 68 counties involved and has a website at cgaohio.org.

To learn more about the county GIS Department, visit the Columbiana County GIS Department social media page or visit the website at https://columbiana-county-gis-data-columauditor.hub.aragis.com/.

Durrant can be reached at 330-424-9511 extension 1162 or via email at gdurrant@columbianacodev.org.