The 2018 Dublin aerial dataset, together with additional data capture within the Republic of Ireland during the summer of 2018, brings Bluesky’s ambitious plan to capture the whole country to virtual completion. Since 2015 Bluesky has captured almost 95 per cent of the total area, of 25 centimetres and 12.5-centimetre resolution aerial photography. Detailed height models, Digital Terrain Models (DTM) and Digital Surface Models (DSM) at 2 meters and 25-centimetre resolutions respectively, are also available as is Colour Infrared (CIR) imagery which provides a valuable tool for vegetation studies and other effects of human activity on the earth and its environment.

Bluesky data is already in use within government departments, local councils, utility companies, engineers and environmental consultants across Ireland. Earlier this year the Department for Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) awarded Bluesky a three-year contract to supply geographic data with applications expected to include rural farm payments and forestry. Bluesky data is also helping organisations such as Limerick and Waterford Councils, environmental consultancy company RPS Group and Kilgallen consulting engineers. Several counties are also already making use of the WMS now offered by Bluesky Ireland.