Platform provides information and resources about the candidates and their policies
Jon Hawkins and Dermot O’Kane at the launch of the new election hub. Photo: David Murphy
A digital mapping system created by software firm Esri Ireland is being used by Waterford City and County Council ahead of the upcoming local and European elections on Friday, June 7.
The resource provides information on the elections for 127,000 citizens in the region and was built using Esri’s dedicated technology.
The election hub shares insights on existing representatives and candidates running in both races, as well as information about the six electoral areas in the county. It also advises visitors on voting and registration.
Users can enter their Eircode to access updates on their electoral area and current representatives, including local councillors and TDs.
The system also provides directions for citizens to their allocated polling station ahead of election day, while interactive maps are available to download.
Esri Ireland also reported that the platform is updated daily with information from the register of electors and is available in both Irish and English.
The councils involved in the rollout of the new initiative indicated that the technology is improving the accuracy of the electoral area. They can now note if homes have been assigned to the wrong electoral area or if a voter has entered the incorrect Eircode.
Waterford City and County Council plan to display online dashboards on the hub following the elections to update voters on the results of each count.
Esri Ireland head of sales Dermot O’Kane said the platform will demystify the voting process for members of the local community.
“It also helps local candidates to better connect with households in their electoral areas,” he said. “Our system is flexible and can scale as the council’s capabilities continue to grow.”
Jon Hawkins, Waterford City and County Council’s geographic information systems project lead, said that configuring the hub was a straightforward process.
“It was an intuitive and responsive solution to build,” he said.
“Waterford City and County Council needed to make information about elections more accessible to members of the public, help them find their polling stations, and remove other barriers to participation.”
Esri Ireland is part of the Esri Global Network, a private software company which employs almost 10,000 people across the world.
The company’s Irish office is located in Dublin.
