The Silk Road was a network of trade routes that provided a bridge between the East and the West in the pre-modern period. But more than that, the Silk Road was a channel for the transmission of ideas, religious faiths, technologies, and artistic forms and styles, with far-reaching impact in many cultures linked by these routes. Employing digital technologies, this pilot project explores the path of transmission of Avalokiteśvara (Bodhisattva of Compassion, one of the most popular Buddhist deities) on the Silk Road. By focusing on one class of data to populate the GIS (Geographic Information System), this project can (1) create a database with a new, interactive presentation, and (2) produce some key resources for a long-term project on the Silk Road. An interactive presentation using the Silk Road as a spatial template allows for comparison of representations of this cultic deity across geographic areas and over time, in turn generating new understanding of how the cult of Avalokiteśvara spread throughout Asia. The template can also be used as a prototype for developing a long-term project that invites collaboration with scholars who have studied other aspects of the flow of ideas and goods via the Silk Road, ranging from history to movements of peoples, other religions, technology, and material culture of all kinds.