In March 2013, Graham Liddy of the Charts Special Interest Group (CSIG) set out from Richmond Harbour with the objective of creating an accurate tracklog of both the Royal and Grand Canals. As of the end of May, he has surveyed much of the canals as far as Landestown in Kildare on the Grand Canal and over the next few weeks will complete the surveying project to Shannon Harbour.
Up to this point, we have not had available to us accurate positions on the canals, the OSI charts are county by county and do not overlap, the IWAI charts are a stylised indication of where places and objects are located. Once the surveying part of this programme is complete, the mappers will create charts with accurate positioning for both waterways.
An addendum to the charts will be overlays, showing photos of specific places, pieces of history, information on people who have or have had an interest in the canals, places to visit for a day out as you travel the canal and much more. In other words, the resulting charts will be of benefit to a wide audience including boaters, walkers, cyclists, tourists, rescue services, local authorities and all who work and play along and close to the canal system.
Work has started on collating, researching and documenting information for the overlays in the Kildare area. We would welcome anyone who can lend a hand in researching and collating information and producing photos for the other counties along both the Royal and the Grand.
If you are interested in joining this exciting Irish waterways project, you can contact the Charts Special Interest Group at charts-info@iwai.ie.