New Website and Blog
UPDATE: We are now blogging over on our new website – I have yet to figure out how to set up a permanent redirect from here, but all future posts will be over there. If anyone has any suggestions as to how you can redirect from here please comment either below or on our new site.
Here’s the link to our new site: http://www.mooregroup.ie/blog/ or our new website splash page is here: http://www.mooregroup.ie/
At the foot of the Splash Page you’ll find a presentation of recent finds. The new resource centre can be found at the menu at the top.
New Website
Finally, our new website has been realised (almost). We won’t migrate the blog fully until we’re satisfied that all the small, inevitable, glitches are repaired – comment counts aren’t working, moving between pages is slow for some reason, all that sort of niggly stuff – so we’re still blogging here for a little while longer.
One of the main new features is the Resource Centre, the aim of which is to build an open-source, membership based, comprehensive tool and source of relevant information to anyone undertaking a range of activities or projects on the Island or off the shore of Ireland.
The Centre will address the areas of planning, cultural heritage, coastal and marine issues, the natural environment and biodiversity and related issues. Stage 1 involves growing and developing the resource and we are calling for submissions from our readership.
Specifically the resource will provide links and collate lists, catalogues and text-based narratives describing where and how to find and view resources relating to natural and culturally designated areas, Planning Legislation and Policy, Development Plans and strategies, European Directives, relevant publications and journals, links to other related projects and links to other related web sites.
To get it started we’ve added a few of our earlier blog posts which we think could be useful jumping-off points. We’ll add more over time. First up, next week we’ll update with an introduction to planning in Ireland. We welcome comments on the website, but don’t be too harsh – it’s still a work in progress.
When on Google Earth 100
Please note that our blog has moved to our new website: This post and all subsequent comments can be viewed at: http://www.mooregroup.ie/2010/08/when-on-google-earth-100/
Moore Group is delighted to present When On Google Earth 100 after Declan solved Ferhan’s When on Google Earth 99 (which was Erebuni Fortress in Yerevan, Armenia). Started by Shawn Graham back in January 2009, the game owes it’s origins to a geological game (Where on Google Earth) which has been around for a little longer. Shawn has a near complete list of the previous winners here.
The Rules of When on Google Earth are simple:
Q: What is When on Google Earth?
A: It’s a game for archaeologists, or anybody else willing to have a go!
Q: How do you play it?
A: Simple, you try to identify the site in the picture.
Q: Who wins?
A: The first person to correctly identify the site, including its major period of occupation, wins the game.
Q: What does the winner get?
A: The winner gets bragging rights and the chance to host the next When on Google Earth on his/her own blog!
The Facebook group is here: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=84104363322
So here’s When on Google Earth 100…
Galway Races
From Samuca’s Photostream
The Moore Group and Moore Marine offices are closed for the Galway Races on Thursday 29th and Friday 30th July and Bank Holiday Monday. We will be back as usual on Tuesday, hopefully richer, unlike last year.
When on Google Earth 95
As Declan solved When on Google Earth 94 (WhenonGE) at Ferhans Blog, here’s WhenonGE 95…
Here’s the rules again:
Q: What is When on Google Earth? A: It’s a game for archaeologists, or anybody else willing to have a go!
Q: How do you play it? A: Simple, you try to identify the site in the picture.
Q: Who wins? A: The first person to correctly identify the site, including its major period of occupation, wins the game.
Q: What does the winner get? A: The winner gets bragging rights and the chance to host the next When on Google Earth on his/her own blog!
Be the first to correctly identify the site below and its major period of occupation in the comments below and you can host your own!
For a list of previous WhenonGE’s see Electric Archaeologist here … or join the Facebook group here….
New Flickr Gallery
We’ve added photos of Gareth Allen’s ‘Bestiary’ to our Flickr in preparation for our new website which will feature a Gallery page. Gareth was commissioned by Moore Group to produce a set of five illustrations. Taurus is cropped above as our header image. The collection reached the final of the Illustrators Guild of Ireland Awards in 2002. As well as having his illustrations used by Dubliner Magazine, the Irish Times and the Labour Party, Gareth has had a number of exhibitions and corporate commissions. The collection is based on the idea of the medieval BESTIARY, an ancient compendium of beasts, both mundane and fabulous, accompanied by a text. You can see them here..
The Blue Dragon.. He look angry
From NASA’s Earth Observatory website here’s a zoomed-in pic of a recent phytoplankton bloom off the west coast.
‘Late May 2010 brought peacock-hued swirls of blue and green to the North Atlantic. The iridescent waters formed a giant arc hundreds of kilometers across, extending from west of Ireland to the Bay of Biscay. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer on NASA’s Terra satellite captured this natural-color image on May 22, 2010. The vibrant colors are from tiny organisms, phytoplankton, that grow explosively in the North Atlantic—from Iceland to the shores of France—in the spring and summer.’
A complete image can be viewed here on NASA’s website.
Hiatus
Things have been a little quiet here lately. We’ve been extremely busy with a range of projects and blogging has been lower on our list of priorities for the past few weeks. We’re also on the cusp of launching our new website, to replace our existing site which is now a little dated. One of the main features of the new site will be an environmental, archaeological and planning ‘hub’. Designed around and using ‘Buddypress’ (probably), it will provide our readers and experts in the range of relevant disciplines, with a user friendly, social networking style hub/arena to help other users understand the planning process, development guidelines, guides on where to go for further information and general tips. There will be special feature pages and news items as well as links to other sites of use. The idea is for it to be a moderated, open source tool for everyone, limited only by our time and the time of the moderators. Once its’s up and running we’ll add items over time and hope that others will assist in developing it. A clearer idea of the site will emerge in the coming weeks. So, check back over the next few weeks for updates.
We’re also migrating the blog to the new website, but I think there’ll be no need to update feedreaders or subscriptions – as far as I know you’ll be automatically redirected. All earlier posts and comments will be available on the new site as well.
Draft Landscape Conservation Area for Tara Skryne
Just in from Meath County Council via the IAI:
Draft Tara Skryne Landscape Conservation Area
Notice is hereby given pursuant to Section 204 (4) of the Planning and Development Act, 2000 that Meath County Council has prepared a Draft Landscape Conservation Area for Tara Skryne. The Draft Landscape Conservation Area comprises of a written statement and a boundary map. A copy of the Draft Landscape Conservation Area will be available for public inspection at the following locations from Tuesday 4th May 2010 to Wednesday 16th June 2010 during normal office hours:
• Planning Office, Abbey Mall, Abbey rd, Navan, Co. Meath;
• Navan Town Council, Watergate St, Navan;
• Navan Library, Railway St, Navan.
• Dunshaughlin Area Office, Drumree Rd, Dunshaughlin
Copies of the Draft Landscape Conservation Area are available for purchase from the Planning Department, Abbey Mall, Abbey Rd, Navan, Co. Meath.
Please contact Lynda Thornton @ 046-9097566 or lthornton@meathcoco.ie
MAKING A SUBMISSION
Meath County Council hereby invites any interested parties to make submissions in respect of the Draft Landscape Conservation Area to the undersigned before 3.30 pm on Wednesday 16th June 2010. Any submissions or observations so made will be taken into consideration by the Council before the making of the Landscape Conservation Area for Tara Skryne. Submissions or observations in electronic format can be e-mailed to planningsubmissions@meathcoco.ie before 3.30pm on Wednesday 16th June 2010. Please make your submission by one medium only i.e. in hard copy or email. This will avoid the duplication of submission reference numbers and will streamline the process. Your assistance on this issue is appreciated. All submissions must be clearly marked submission to Draft Landscape Conservation Area for Tara Skryne.
The deadline for receipt of all submissions is Wednesday 16th June 2010.
Ireland as a National Monument
Here’s the Republic of Ireland mapped in National Monuments. The term “national monument” as defined in Section 2 of the National Monuments Act (1930) means a monument “the preservation of which is a matter of national importance by reason of the historical, architectural, traditional, artistic or archaeological interest attaching thereto” (link).
On the suggestion by Stan, here’s a (rough) overlay showing the outline of Ireland in the context of the National Monuments:
Moore Groups blog 