Frequently Asked Questions

At present, the headquarters of Tailte Éireann - Surveying is located in the Phoenix Park, Dublin D08 F6E4. The office is closest to the Castleknock Gate entrance of the park, near Farmleigh House. To see a map of our location please click here.

Dublin Bus

See Dublin Bus Route 37 Here.

Take the number 37 Bus originating in Baggot Street/Wilton Terrace as far as the Castleknock, Phoenix Park Main Gate bus stop. Alight the bus and walk through the park gates and keep going until you come to a roundabout. Turn right at the roundabout, and Tailte Éireann - Surveying is about 400 metres down Ordnance Survey Road.

Trains

See the Irish Rail timetable Here.

Departing from Connolly Station in Dublin City Centre, go to Ashtown Station, the nearest train station to Ordnance Survey Ireland. Exiting the station go towards the Navan Road, and cross the Navan Road at the Halfway House Roundabout. After 100m you will see the Ashtown gate of Phoenix Park. Enter the park, turn right after about 150m and continue on this road (the North Road) for about 500m. Go straight through the small roundabout and continue for about 400m; Tailte Éireann - Surveying is on the right hand side.

Map of our location

Tailte Éireann - Surveying has quite a large number of products available to purchase online.

Land Registry Compliant maps, Ortho Photography and Environmental Reports are available to download straight to your PC from our online store.

Historic maps, including the first edition Ordnance Survey dating from the 1830’s is available to view here.

Paper products, like the Dublin Street Guide, the Discovery Series and Adventure Series, and our extensive range of Tourism and Leisure products can be purchased from our online store.

Topographic maps produced by Tailte Éireann - Surveying are protected under the terms of the Copyright Acts. Anyone wishing to reproduce this material, or use it as a basis for their own publications, must obtain a licence for which a fee may be payable.

For more information on our copyright policy please see here.

Should you identify a building that has been omitted or misplaced on one of our Maps please report it Here.

The process of correcting any omissions or errors usually involves the deployment of field staff to survey the road or area in question. In some cases this work may fall under our normal update schedule for that area and hence may take up to a year to appear in our mapping. If the matter is urgent please state the reason for the urgency and we will deal with the matter appropriately.

No. Topographic mapping produced by Tailte Éireann- Surveying does not depict legal property boundaries nor do we show property ownership on our mapping.

We only show the existence of physical features on the ground at the time of survey, which are surveyed to our specifications and accuracy standards. Although some property boundaries may be coincident with surveyed map features, no assumptions should be made in these instances.

Physical features on the ground change over time, and for this reason, We have a continuous mapping revision programme. In the event that there are changes to the physical features on the ground, this may involve our surveyors visiting your property so that the mapping can be updated and amended. However, such revision will not affect legal land ownership and title deeds of a property and registered title will not change unless authorised by Tailte Éireann - Registration. 

In property disputes i.e. land which both parties claim ownership, the courts look to Tailte Éireann to help. In all cases the signed 6” Boundary Sheet is accepted in court as a legal map. We have been subpoenaed to court on numerous occasions to comment on our mapping.

The Society of Chartered Surveyors Ireland (SCSI) provides a searchable database of Land Surveyors who can act as Expert Witnesses and prepare evidence for court. More information available here.

PRE 1824

One of the earliest known maps of Ireland was produced by Baptista Boazio in 1599. This predates the establishment of the Ordnance Survey by more than 200 years. At the end of the Cromwellian Wars in Ireland, the victorious soldiers had to be paid, so it was decided to pay them with the land confiscated from the native Irish. William Petty undertook a survey of the forfeited land; this became known as the “Down Survey” because it was plotted down and reproduced on paper.

Grand Juries, who were the forerunners of today’s County Councils, also commissioned maps of their areas. So, it can be seen that Ireland was very well mapped before the establishment of the Ordnance Survey.

Historic 6” (1:10,560) 1824 – 1846

Early in the nineteenth century it became obvious that the local taxes which were based on townland units in Ireland were inequitable. On the recommendation of the Spring Rice Committee, a survey of all Ireland at a scale of six inches to one mile was authorised by Parliament in 1824.

Historic 25” (1:2,500) 1888 – 1913

After the Great Famine 1845-49, many Irish landlords were forced by economic pressure to sell their properties and an “Encumbered Estates Court” was established in 1849 to deal with the flood of land transactions. The Judges found the six inch map too small for the precise area calculations required and eventually the Ordnance Survey was asked to supply estate maps which were replotted at 1:2,500 from the six inch field books and then field revised.

Post Independence

With the outbreak of the First World War in 1914, and the uprising in 1916 followed by the War of Independence, little mapping was carried out until the 1960’s, due to limited financial and human resources. Advances in technology from 1960’s on allowed OSi to engage with confidence in countrywide remapping programs again.

1:1,000 mapping was started in the early 1960’s. Statutory and administrative boundaries were transferred on to it from the 25” county series.

Rural areas were remapped by photogrammetry at 1:5,000, starting in the early 1990’s. Statutory and administrative boundaries were transferred on to it from the 25” county series.

For users particularly interested in Tailte Éireann - Surveying Historic Mapping, please visit our Historic Maps and Townland Viewer here.

The National Historic Maps dashboard shows our historic mapping services in a single view, and allows users to pan and zoom to their area of interest.

The National Aerial Imagery Dashboard shows our national imagery in a single view, and allows users to pan and zoom to their area of interest.

Our single mapping database that feeds into The National Map and to all our digital and paper products is updated by theme; currently, the development of houses and buildings trigger localised and regional updates. Also, queries from customers are often resolved by updating the mapping in any particular area.