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Faculty of Humanities & Social Sciences
Enhanced Irish-language placename and mapping tools launched in DCU

Enhanced Irish-language placename and mapping tools launched in DCU

An enhanced Irish placenames database and a new Irish-language mapping service has been launched in Dublin City University.

The new version of the Placenames Database of Ireland encompasses a number of major enhancements to its public-facing website logainm.ie. The website has been completely redesigned, making it more user-friendly, more easily-navigable, and more visually attractive.

Speaking at the launch, Dr Ciarán Mac Murchaidh, Head of School, Fiontar DCU, said that “Technological advancements in recent years have enhanced public access to lots of different types of information. In a country of two languages, it’s important that every effort is made to ensure that as much information as possible is available in Irish, as well as English. This is particularly important, not only for students and teachers, but also for people across the world who are interested in exploring their Irish heritage.”

Fiontar is Dublin City University’s Irish-medium teaching and research unit.

The website has been enhanced by the inclusion of Ordnance Survey Ireland (OSi) maps, using English and Irish versions of OSi's MapGenie Web mapping service.  The Irish-language version, MapGenie ?ire, is a completely new map product. It uses map data from OSi and official Irish-language forms of placenames from the Placenames Database of Ireland. 

According to OSi Chief Executive Colin Bray, “MapGenie ?ire has been made possible through collaboration between Fiontar in DCU, the Placenames Branch, and Ordnance Survey Ireland. The three organisations have worked together on a matching project since late 2010 to link the dataset of the Placenames Branch with the dataset of OSi. This allowed OSi to produce an Irish version of MapGenie based on toponymic data from the Placenames Branch. The project has also involved an upgrade to MapGenie which now resides on a resilient cloud based infrastructure. I want to congratulate everyone involved for their contribution to this very important project.”