*Pictured with the 2025 Ireland eGovernment ‘Open Data’ Award, left to right, are Brídín Feeney, GIS Officer, Galway County Council, and Giles Newsome, CEO of iConnect101 and a member of this year’s judging panel. Photograph: Noel Hillis.
AN INNOVATIVE StoryMaps project, which has digitised the heritage of communities across Co Galway into interactive online experiences, has been named a category winner at the 2025 Ireland eGovernment Awards.
Galway County Council’s project received the Open Data Award, having been shortlisted alongside the National Cancer Registry of Ireland. The local authority’s Heritage and GIS sections, working in conjunction with community groups and academia, have so far created over 40 town and village StoryMaps showcasing the rich heritage of the County’s towns, villages, and townlands.
In addition, historical information relating to 1,000 townlands has been digitised, providing a valuable resource for communities, schools, heritage groups, Tidy Towns committees, academia, and the public.
By integrating mapping technology with text, images, and multimedia content, StoryMaps delivers location-based stories that can be accessed on any internet-enabled device, from desktop computers to tablets and phones.
Cllr David Collins (FG), Cathaoirleach of Galway County, said, “This project showcases and promotes knowledge of, and pride in, the rich heritage of our townlands, villages, towns, and other aspects of our heritage. It presents this heritage to local, national, and international audiences and serves as an extremely valuable resource”.
Liam Conneally, Chief Executive of Galway County Council, added, “This project is a fantastic example of how local history can be preserved and shared using modern technology and innovative research techniques. The partnership approach to developing StoryMaps shows how collaboration is central to preserving and sharing our local history”.
Liam Hanrahan, Director of Services for Planning and Economic Development, said the project places a strong emphasis on community engagement, presenting local heritage in a way that is easily accessible to the public, the Irish diaspora, and scholars at home and abroad.
Led by Galway County Council’s Heritage Office and GIS Department, the project was developed in collaboration with the Galway County Community Archaeology Project, University of Galway, Atlantic Technology University (ATU) Galway, ICAN (Irish Community Archive Network) Galway, Galway County Heritage Forum, The Heritage Council, and local Tidy Towns, heritage and community groups.
Bridin Feeney, GIS Analyst in Galway County Council’s ICT Department, said the project is about unearthing stories, local lore, and forgotten histories and presenting them in an engaging digital format.
Outlining the background to the project, she added, “Several community groups approached us wanting to develop a digital platform to showcase the heritage and history of their local areas but lacked the capacity or resources to do so. Working with these groups, our GIS team and Heritage Officer developed a framework to create StoryMaps for their heritage trails and townland research. Some communities had the knowledge but not the digital expertise, so we worked with them and trained them on the possibilities of StoryMaps and how they could reach their target audiences”.
Heritage Officer Marie Mannion said the primary goal of StoryMaps is to make heritage accessible to everyone. “We initially expected to train local communities and students on how to create StoryMaps and make this information available as open-source data. It has turned out to be much more than that,” she explained. “It has given people confidence in their skills and fostered a strong sense of pride in their communities. The StoryMaps are used by local residents, schools, academics, the diaspora, and many others. They have a myriad of uses, and we are only now discovering additional applications, including their use in ATU Galway’s Heritage Studies course”.
The Ireland eGovernment Awards celebrate excellence, innovation, and creativity in Ireland’s public sector and are recognised as the benchmark for digital government services. This year’s awards were presented by An Taoiseach Micheál Martin (FF) TD at O’Reilly Hall, UCD.
Giles Newsome, CEO of iConnect101 and a member of this year’s judging panel, said, “This submission proved very much the value of using GIS, open-source mapping data to deliver something very valuable from Galway County Council to the people of Galway and beyond. What has been done here is the creation and curation of very valuable content on interactive maps about places of interest, historic monuments, historic sites right across County Galway. A fantastic smart use of mapping technology.”
The StoryMaps project is available at www.tinyurl.com/StoryMapGalway.
