Objecs adds NFC to headstones

By Sarah Clark • nfcworld.com • 4 March 2010, 14:08

US firm Objecs has launched a new range of wireless-enabled memorial products designed to enable detailed information about the deceased to be stored in an NFC tag attached to a gravestone. Anyone with an NFC phone who then visits the grave will be able to access the information by simply touching their phone to the headstone.

The products are sold under the brand name RosettaStone and are available as a palm-sized stone tablet or as a coin-sized stick-on polymer tag called a Data Tag that adheres directly to a headstone. The text and photo associated with each Data Tag is uploaded and managed by the buyer to an online data archive site included with the purchase.

"The benefit of having a Data Tag on a headstone goes beyond the technology," says John Bottorff, founder of Objecs. Each tag has a unique ID number that serves the same purpose as a database primary key and simply having a unique ID number on a grave marker carries a number of advantages, particularly for anyone using web-based genealogy and memorial sites. "This unique ID number creates a common reference between the physical world and the digital world in ways that first and last name by itself can not," he explains.

"We firmly believe that the RosettaStone product group is yet another exciting addition since it provides tremendous value to those who are interested in long-term record archive and historical reference," adds Christopher Hill, founder and CEO of funeral planning service FuneralResources.com.

A word from NFC World's publisher:

Get the latest thinking on the current state of play and the future of the market. The NFC Market 2012, our new research report, is available now for delivery today.