Using the Irish Townland and Historical Map Viewer
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​What is this resource?

Tailte Eireann (Surveying) has a really nice application called ​the Irish Townland and Historical Map Viewer, which will allow you to search for townlands by name and view them on different underlying maps and even compare them with modern aerial photos. 

How do you use this application?

The app is a little bereft of instructions, but thanks to a swift and helpful response from the OSI, I can pass on some pointers to get you started. 

• Firstly, choose your base map by clicking on the leftmost square icon in the top right hand corner of the screen.  Can I recommend you choose the aerial photographs?  This will help you recognise the modern landscapes that are usually all you can see in the mapping function of most of the software tools we all use for recording our family history. 
• You can zoom in using the classic "+" & "-" signs, but one of the best features is that you can search for a place e.g. townland, using the search box top left.
• Next, click on the stacked squares icon at the top of the bar on the left of the display.  This will bring up a list of historic layers - I recommend choosing the Historic 6" First Edition Colour, which is pictured above on the left.
• Finally, click on the slider icon (the double rectangle containing back-to-back arrows on the left of the map window) and the screen should now have a grey bar bisecting the images, like the one pictured above.  Move this left or right to compare the old map with the modern one or aerial image.  This is brilliant for seeing where farms have long been established versus newer ones that might have appeared in a townland, or for seeing how the growth of towns and villages may have swallowed up previous houses and farms.

Read on...

• Townlands
• Irish Maps & Gazetteers​

(c) Irish Geneaography - 2024