All of Ireland’s geospatial data, all in one place
The Public Service Data Strategy 2019 – 2023 identifies GeoHive is as the State’s geospatial data hub. It is designed to incorporate authoritative 3rd party data, to enable public service bodies, businesses and citizens to find this geospatial data, explore it and use it to better understand all aspects of life in Ireland.
GeoHive was developed by Ordnance Survey Ireland in 2015 has just recently been enhanced and extended with new services, new features and new content, GeoHive aims to make all of Ireland’s geospatial data accessible, all in one place.
GeoHive has evolved to become the state’s Geospatial Data Hub with the support of public sector stakeholders. Most recently, representatives from over twenty public service bodies took part in a beta review process, providing feedback in a structured questionnaire – and much of this feedback is now being incorporated into the platform’s ongoing development roadmap.
The improved GeoHive Map Viewer, offers a simple-to-use interactive map that allows users to find data relating to specific locations. New functionality enables users to draw on maps, measure distances and swipe between different views to get a deeper understanding of individual sites or entire regions.
The GeoHive Data Catalogue makes is easier to find and use environment, energy, health, and housing and zoning data, among other data categories. Users can also take advantage of the Themes section of GeoHive to access a wealth of online web apps, story maps and dashboards created and maintained by different public service bodies.
The GeoHive platform is built around a federated approach to data sharing. Each public service body still owns and maintains its data, its content and its web services; organisations can simply use the GeoHive platform to make these resources are more accessible to a wider number of users.
In this way, GeoHive supports the principles of the Government’s ICT Strategy by enabling public service bodies to “build to share”, think “digital-first” and use “data as an enabler” for more innovative uses of data within government. It helps to “improve governance” by ensuring that all public bodies have the same approach to sharing geospatial data and will inevitably “increase capability” in the public sector by making better data available to everyone.
Historic Maps & Townland viewer
For users particularly interested in OSi Historic Mapping, we have developed the Historic Maps & Townland viewer which enables users to search for Townlands, view historical features, and choose from a set of historical and current basemaps. It also allows users to overlay our historic mapping services over our most up-to-date maps available, and use transparency and swipe functionality to understand change over time.
Please click the link below for a user guide on the Irish Townland and Historical Map Viewer.
We have also developed two new interactive dashboards which allow users to explore how the Irish landscape has changed over time.
The National Irish Historic Maps dashboard shows our historic mapping services in a single view, and allows users to pan and zoom to their area of interest.
The National Irish Imagery Dashboard shows our national imagery in a single view, and allows users to pan and zoom to their area of interest.
