More mapping info on tara

googlemapsmania one of the main mapping blogs on the web included my page in a post, thanks to them hopefully more people will hear about the threat to Tara.

They also had a link to LookAroundIreland. A site using interactive photo panoramas and googlemaps to show tourist and heritage spots around Ireland. Including Tara and Liafail. Also a fantastic panorama from the central chamber of Newgrange.

I don't know how long this has been around on www.archaeology.ie It is live Record of Monuments and Places map... you can zoom in anywhere in Ireland to see archaeological features on detailed map, highlight them with a box and then it will list what they are, unfortunately it doesn't actually give the name of the specific feature only the type like 'hilltop fort' or ''barrow.

They still don't seem to have a straight list of national monuments available on the web. the one on the OPW site was taken down because they said there were too many errors on it.

Aerial photos of Ireland are available at the National Parks and wildlife service website for Ireland, I don't know how much of Ireland they cover but I seen numerous areas which are better quality and more recent then googlemaps. It primarily shows special conservation areas with aerial photos overlayed with contours.

I've already mentioned Megalithmania and the Modern Antiquarian.

Megalithomania Reports on numerous archaeological sites in Ireland with additional geographic information. You can view notes, photos and then view it place marked in googlemaps and search to view other megaliths in the area.

The Modern Antiquarian uses a similar system Juliana Cope's online personal antiquarian guide. I also discovered their own downloadable kmls for googleearth, with all the sites marked with a photo popping up beside aswell. Even has google v4 and v3 version

Tara's Legendary view to the west. And other views of Rath Lugh.

I found a site called heywhatsthat.com that is supposed to, (using googlemaps), give you a panoramic view of the mountain peaks you can see from a particular point. It's also supposed to show you the visible field you could see from that point (the view shed). Now I thought this would be useful to map the legendary view across Ireland from the top of the Hill of Tara, I'm not sure it works properly, the site uses raw data from NASA/DEM and as ever its more refined for the US then the rest of the world. I would have expected to see a much larger red area, but maybe it to does give a good indication of the legendary view, and that Tara Hill has sight of a lot more land to the west then the east and that even if built further away that the motorway would have been more visible from Tara to the west. The NRA has said the didn't go west of Tara because of people homes , there was more archaeology there and the motorway would be even more visible from the hill of Tara.Link to Tara panorama.

The red is the visible field the Purple X marks Tara hill at elevation 505 ft above sea level (6 ft above ground)

It also shows contour lines but earthtools.org is better for that.

Wide contour

Close up contour

Recognise Rath Lugh's position in relation to Tara
Tara is the central hill and to the northeast protecting the northern approach is the Rath Lugh promentary fort jutting out into the Gowra river valley in between.

Source http://www.fallingrain.com/world/EI/0/Ross.html

Gabhra Valley from Rath Lugh April 2007 MNiB