Castlegar

For rapid location and directions to landmarks in Castlegar, Galway; the following coordinates can be input in forward-thinking  Sat -Nav applications ( where input can be by coordinate, and not just the less reliable address).

With the Longitude  ( an imaginary but agreed line running East to West, and vice versa), we see that the Parish is divided between the 8 degree and 10 degree range, with -9.0000 decimal longitude running through the South west corner of the Racecourse by complete accident - between Feeneys and Leonards on the Tuam road, and areas of Sylaun bog intersecting the river Clare.

With the Latitude (North or South of the Equator), its obvious too that Castlegar is in the lower half of the 53 to 54 latitude degree range.

You may notice links throughout this site which reference Co-ordinates.

Whats the point?

Such references weren't much use to the majority of people in the past, but today they can be put into

• GPS devices such as the likes of  SatNav
• Various map utilities not unlike Google and Yahoo maps

Give me an example!

Go to http://maps.google.com/ (open in a new window).

Copy and paste the decimal coordinates for Anglingham Quarry from the table above ( 53.317259 , -9.063521 ) , into google maps search bar, and click the "Search Maps" button.

Physical addresses, are notoriously inaccurate. Proper Coordinates, are consistent to somewhere near fifty feet, and dependant upon human input. Even hand-held devices can vary.

Example re-worked from Wikipedia;

The Castle in Castlegar has a decimal latitude of 53.298283 , and a longitude of -9.02140. So, a vector drawn from the center of the Earth to a point 53.298283 North of the equator and -9.02140 West of Greenwich, will pass through this place.