Irish Examiner view: Leading the way on seabed mapping

Infomar project aims to map Ireland’s marine territory, estimated to be 10 times greater than land

Ireland is set for another world first with plans to map the entire seabed, all 880,000sq km of it, by 2026.

Between 1825 and 1846, teams of surveyors criss-crossed Ireland to create a unique record of the Irish landscape. The resulting maps — at a scale of 6in to 1in — charted the country in a degree of detail that had never been seen anywhere before.

Now, Ireland is set for another world first with plans to map the entire seabed, all 880,000sq km of it, by 2026.