science

Geographical centre of Ireland

Geographical centre of Ireland is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Geographical centre of Ireland rather than just read about it. In short: The Geographical Centre of Ireland, according to an investigation and calculation carried out by the Official Irish Government Mapping Agency, Ordnance Survey Ireland (OSI) published on the official OSI website on 24 February 2022 is near the village of Castletown Geoghegan, County Westmeath. The exact location lies at the Irish Transverse Mercator (ITM) coordinates 633015.166477, 744493.046768, and at Latitude: 53…

Key takeaways

Geographical centre of Ireland belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Geographical centre of Ireland to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Geographical centre of Ireland from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

The Geographical Centre of Ireland, according to an investigation and calculation carried out by the Official Irish Government Mapping Agency, Ordnance Survey Ireland (OSI) published on the official OSI website on 24 February 2022 is near the village of Castletown Geoghegan, County Westmeath. The exact location lies at the Irish Transverse Mercator (ITM) coordinates 633015.166477, 744493.046768, and at Latitude: 53.4494762 and Longitude : -7.5029786. It sits in the townland of Adamstown within a National Monuments Zone, on the location of an ancient graveyard and near the remains of Kilbride church. This investigation to identify the exact geographic centre of Ireland assumed a calculation that would take in the whole of the mainland Island of Ireland but exclude the islands of which there are approximately 8,000 mapped islands, outcrops etc. It is however based on current data and based on current coastal data and any coastal erosion or accretion historically or in the future would change the data and change the exact location calculated. Various locations have claimed in the past to be the geographical centre of Ireland using various methodologies (though sometimes without any updated references or supporting academic methodology). OSI have determined that the most appropriate methodology to use currently is the one published in February 2022 and which determined the location to be just outside Castletown Geoghegan. Although at times the Hill of Tara was also regarded in a similar manner, in Irish mythology the Hill of Uisneach, which is about 17.7 kilometres west of Mullingar and two kilometres from the village of Loughanavally, was generally considered to be the ceremonial and ancient spiritual centre of Ireland. It is also the nearest of all the alternative historical locations, and the location calculated by the OSI as the geographical centre is approximately 5 kilometres south east of the Hill of Uisneach.

References

Ordnance Survey Ireland website Blog : https://osi.ie/blog/where-is-the-centre-of-ireland/ Archived 2022-03-04 at the Wayback Machine 24 February 2022

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Geographical centre of Ireland

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Geographical centre of Ireland claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Geographical centre of Ireland before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Geographical centre of Ireland ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Geographical centre of Ireland

In research: Geographical centre of Ireland appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Geographical centre of Ireland in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Geographical centre of Ireland is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Geographical centres, Geography of Ireland, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Geographical centre of Ireland outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Geographical centre of Ireland in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Geographical centre of Ireland means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Geographical centre of Ireland out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Geographical centre of Ireland in simple terms?

Why does Geographical centre of Ireland matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Geographical centre of Ireland?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Geographical centre of Ireland.