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INTRODUCTION
The
'Historic Irish Place Names Online' project (HIPNO)
is a digital cartography project initiated in early 2001. Its primary
purpose is the provision online of accurate maps of the territorial
divisions of Ireland: provinces, counties, baronys, parishes, and
townlands. Later phases of the project will enhance this data with
topographic detail, archaeological site locations and some other
features. It is expected that the project will take approximately
five years to complete.
The
project is designed in a phased structure which is detailed below.
PHASE
1: Mapping territorial divisions
This,
the largest phase, involves digitising copies of maps created by
the Ordnance Survey during the nineteenth century. These will be
cleaned of extraneous content, merged into larger digital maps,
and finally redivided into separate parish, barony and county maps.
As this process involves a lot of time and access to both hard copy
versions of the maps and the appropriate hardware and software,
the phase has been split into 32 sub-phases, one for each county.
The maps produced by Phase 1 of the project will be released online
county by county and will be available in the following forms:
- Province
maps, showing all counties and all baronys
- County
maps, showing all baronys and parishes
- Barony
maps showing all parishes and townlands
The
provincial and baronial maps will be 'clickable'. That is, clicking
on a given parish or barony or county will bring a map of the relevant
territorial unit on-screen. It is expected that this phase will
not be completed until approximately Winter 2003 or Spring 2004.
PHASE
2: Adding first level of topographical detail and archaeological
sites
This
phase will run in parallel with the later stages of Phase 1 so as
to increase functionality as soon as possible. Work on this phase
will be easier to share between project workers, but involves a
great deal of data validation. It is expected that all major rivers
and lakes, cities and major towns, and all mountain ranges will
be added, the mountains marked out with contour lines and colouring.
The location of all hillforts, megalithic sites, stone circles,
ogam stones and ringforts will also be added at this stage. All
sites will be linked to a database so that by 'hovering' the mouse
pointer over the site marker, a window containing basic site details
will appear on screen. It will also be possible to click on the
site marker to view the site's full details. This phase will begin
during the Autumn or Winter of 2002, and be completed by Winter
2004 or Spring 2005.
PHASE
3: Completing topographical detail and archaeological sites
The
third and final phase will involve adding all other archaeological
site types to the maps, and also all minor rivers, lakes, streams,
and full contour lines. The location of beaches, bogs and possibly
some other features will also be included, as will the location
of all towns and villages. At this stage, some additional features
and other suggestions resulting from user feedback may be added.
The final phase is expected to reach completion by Winter 2005 or
Spring 2006.
This
web page will shortly provide access to a copy of the initial project
plan, information on current progress, and a listing of current
and past contributors.
The
HIPNO project is a wholly voluntary effort and receives
no financial support from governmental, academic or other sources.
DISCUSSION
GROUP HOMEPAGES
LINKS
DOCUMENTS
& DATABASES
Page
last updated 20 October 2001
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