How to change maps

To change maps, you have three options. If you want to see how a place looks on other maps, right-click/long-tap on that place and choose from a list of map suggestions. You can do the same by clicking/tapping on a marker. Or use the button at the screen's top right-hand corner. It gives access to all available maps unfiltered by any specific location.

How to search

You can search for townlands, towns and civil parishes. Use the button at the screen's top left-hand corner, start entering the name, and choose from the resulting list. The map display will change accordingly, and an orange marker will appear. Click/tap on it to get its Marker Menu, which a is pop-up menu with map suggestions and links for that location. If you want to remove the orange marker, reopen the search window and use the orange 'X" button.

How to use markers

To add or remove markers, use the button at the screen's top right-hand corner, scroll to the end of the list and choose an option under ‘markers’. Markers contain the first four letters of a placename. Hovering over a marker reveals the complete name. Clicking/tapping on a marker opens its Marker Menu, a pop-up menu with map suggestions and links for that location.

Markers can appear bundled together for display and performance reasons. Such clusters, shown as circles, have a number that will tell you how many markers they contain. If you hover over a cluster, a blue zone will indicate the area the cluster covers. Clicking/tapping on a cluster usually leads to a zoom-in and will ultimately result in a fanning-out of the contained markers when no further cluster breakup is possible.

How to rotate a map

To rotate a map, use the compass button at the screen's bottom left-hand corner. This button is only visible when a map image's original orientation differs from the current display or when north in the current display isn't at the top of the screen. Alternatively, use your keyboard and mouse: while pressing the SHIFT key, scroll the mouse wheel to choose your angle.

How to reuse and share

A map view can be bookmarked or added to your favorites like a web page, allowing you to pick up your work where you left it and create your own pool of starting points. To share a map display, copy what you find in the address bar and paste it as a link into an email, a social media message or a web page design.

Down Survey maps

After the Cromwellian Conquest of Ireland in the early 1650s, William Petty was appointed to measure and map forfeited, crown and church lands. His survey became known as the Down Survey because the data was not just collected as text and numbers but 'laid down' as maps. The Sligo map system contains five barony and 33 parish maps. They are all listed in the button's ‘Sligo 1657 Down Survey’ folder. Most of them have a different orientation than modern maps. To rotate them, click/tap the compass button (see How to rotate a map). The original sheet image (including Public Record Office certification, etc.) is available through the attachment button at the screen's top right-hand corner.

Ordnance Survey maps

Between 1829 and 1842, the Ordnance Survey surveyed the whole of Ireland at a scale of six inches to one mile. This first edition was later repeatedly revised on a county-by-county basis. County Sligo's 47 sheets of the first edition were published in 1837. You'll find them in the map system as a combined image under ‘Sligo 1837 (6" OS)’. The system also contains the accompanying overview map as ‘Sligo 1837 (6" OS overview)’. Both will be offered as map suggestions wherever you do a right-click/long-tap or click/tap on a marker inside the county. Alternatively, look for them in the button's ‘main maps of Sligo’ folder.

Open Street Map

Open Street Map provides the modern map image in the system. It covers the entire globe. So, wherever you do a right-click/long-tap or click/tap a marker, ‘Open Street Map today’ will be offered as one of the map suggestions. Alternatively, you can use the entry in the button's ‘main maps of Sligo’ folder. Open Street Map is also opened automatically as background and context with every Down Survey map.