GeoDirectory website offers Bird’s Eye view of buildings

Internet users can now view buildings online from 360 degrees and in colour on a new website.

GeoDirectory, a company jointly established by An Post and Ordnance Survey Ireland, has teamed up with Microsoft to provide this new capability.

GeoDirectory provides a database with the details of building addresses for Ireland. These details include the postal addresses and mapping coordinates of the buildings. Microsoft’s Live Maps solution offers free advanced mapping, 2D and 3D imagery as well as the new Bird’s Eye View capability for some of Ireland’s city and town centres.

Combining GeoDirectory’s address database for Ireland and the global mapping, aerial photography and ‘Bird’s Eye’ view capabilities of Microsoft’s Virtual Earth programme, users can now enter an address for a building and go directly to a 360 degree view of landmarks like Trinity College or the GPO in Dublin, the Shandon Steeple or City Hall in Cork, or the University of Limerick for example. You can even find your own home or workplace simply by entering the postal address.

GeoDirectory General Manager, Dara Keogh says this new capability will have many uses for both businesses and consumers. “We are delighted to partner with Microsoft to bring this exiting new capability to the Irish market for the first time. It makes finding an address on the map far more accessible. This innovation will be of interest to a diverse range of businesses and consumers as it has many uses from route optimisation for sales teams or delivery firms to ensuring the accuracy of postal addresses.”

GeoDirectory is responsible for managing a complete database of all 1.8 million buildings and over 2 million different addresses in the Republic of Ireland. The company records all new addresses and GeoCodes them – i.e. it gives each building a unique 8-digit identity number and x-y coordinates which accurately locates the centre point of each building to within one metre on the National Grid. This information acts like a fingerprint for each building in the country.

This recent technological development is currently being trialled in Dublin, Cork, Limerick, Galway, Navan and Wexford. It is expected to be rolled out to the rest of the country over the coming months.

Internet users are invited to experience this application for themselves by going  to http://www.geodirectory.ie/GeodirectoryMap.aspx, clicking on the map of Ireland and entering an address in any of the cities or towns listed above. Clicking on “Birds Eye” view allows you to view your own home or premises from different angles.

Log on to www.geodirectory.ie and experience Ireland from above, and from the side of course!
 
ENDS


Editors note:

GeoDirectory is a joint venture between An Post and Ordnance Survey Ireland.

GeoDirectory is Ireland’s only complete commercial and residential buildings database. Many different companies and organisations use the database in a diverse range of applications.

The Emergency Services use GeoDirectory for route optimisation, which can save valuable minutes in an emergency. Dominos Pizza use GeoDirectory for address location to ensure that delivery times are met. In the property sector, GeoDirectory is used by Daft.ie and the Property Registration Authority. In addition, utility companies, banking and insurance providers, and all local authorities use the database.

The GeoDirectory database is updated quarterly by OSi and An Post staff.

For further information please contact:

Dan O’Boyle
Wilson Hartnell Public Relations
Tel: +353 1 6690237
Mob: +353 87 1207842
Email: dan.oboyle@ogilvy.com