4:08pm UK, Friday October 31, 2003

Generations of dead in a cemetery in southern France have joined the information age.

A new computerised system maps the way to graves and enables people to leave electronic condolence messages.

Graves are stored on computer

People arriving this week at the cemetery in Saint Andre de la Roche, near Nice, found an interactive screen giving precise locations and personal details for the 4,000 deceased.

"Until now visitors spent hours walking round and round. It was a real headache to work out where you were," said Honore Colomas, mayor of the town.

"The system is very simple. All you do is type the name of the deceased or the tomb and a detailed map of the cemetery with arrows appears on the screen," he said.

The £10,000 touchscreen-based system is floodlit.

Visitors can read biographies of the deceased, type in messages of sympathy and also find contact details for local taxis or funeral parlours.

Florists are also said to delighted by an innovation that makes it easier to turn up at the right place with deliveries.