Mapping Ireland digitally is going to take until the end of 2005 and according to the company undertaking the task, Navigation Technologies, it is one of the most challenging land areas they have ever experienced.
Navigation Technologies is about to open a new base in Newry, Co Down. From here, teams of field researchers will have the task of expanding the existing Irish mapping for both the Republic and Northern Ireland and thereafter to maintaining and updating the Irish database.
Andrew Little, the company's European marketing director, says their data is not just a map. "It offers precise geometry and extraordinary detail about the environment as seen through the eyes of the driver. Each road segment features up to 150 attributes, things like street names, turn restrictions and speed limits, enabling the most precise information."
The Republic part of the island is challenging because there are over 50,000 defined localities for a total population of four million. This compares with Britain where the Royal Mail defines only 25,000 localities for 54 million people.
The problem is, apparently, that most of the road network was in place before the famine and mass emigration, meaning more length of road per head than almost anywhere in the EU.
Navigation Technologies cite Co Leitrim, where the roads are based on an original population of over 155,000. With its dramatically reduced population today of just over 25,000, there are only 12 inhabitants on every kilometre of road being mapped in the county.
Andrew Little says most of the car manufacturers and importers would like Ireland to be "on the map" in their cars. But he concedes that the high taxation motoring regime here, could make their system an optional extra. How much extra? He expects from just under €1,000 to €3,000 at the most expensive level.
Navigation Technologies was founded in 1985 in Silicon Valley, California and their Navtech maps span 40 countries in four continents.