About Storymap

Storymap is the brainchild of two Dublin filmmakers, Andy Flaherty and Tom Rowley. Just back from working abroad, unemployed and in between film projects, the lads became annoyed with all the negative press the city was receiving. The bleak tales of recession, the gloomy accounts of unemployment and the notion that Ireland’s best and brightest had emigrated was completely at odds with what the lads were experiencing being back in their hometown.

“We wanted to do something to get people as excited about the city as we were. While loads of great people have left the country, you only have to walk into any gallery, gig or any of the fantastic spoken word or comedy nights to see that Dublin is a ridiculously fun and vibrant city with wonderful characters and a flourishing art scene. We wanted to bring the charm and character that had been pushed aside by the Celtic Tiger and bring it centre stage” – Andy

The lads came up with Storymap, a web based multimedia project that revives Ireland’s age-old tradition of storytelling and tries to capture the personality of Dublin city through its stories and storytellers. These stories are filmed being told where they happened and integrated into a live map to create a charming and layered collective vision of Dublin city made by the people of the city.

“Walking around the city - everyone has their own stories that they remember on certain streets, stories that flavour their personal experience of the city, that they tell on to friends. We thought it’d be exciting to pool those stories in one place, like one big pub where everyone shares their stories, creating a sense of what the city means to Dubliners. It’s a simple idea, but with complex possibilities, and we’re only just at the beginning of it.” – Tom

The site is expanded by a story a week to create a ‘Storymap’ of the entire city – a vision of the city as lived across nationalities, generations and centuries. The site is developed by Tercet, and was built through funding by DCEB.

The lads are always looking for new stories, so if you have one, whether it’s a drunken adventure, a historical anecdote or a good ghost story, get in touch with the lads at Story@storymap.ie and get on the map.

‘Taps into the Irish gift of the gab by creating an online map which tells the many tales of our capital city’ – Irish independent

‘A brilliant interactive, storytelling archive.... and they have sourced a crew of fascinating characters from all walks of life’ – Irish Times

‘Storymap.ie brings Dublin absolutely alive... a brilliant idea’ – Tom Dunne, Newstalk FM

‘City streets come alive to the sound of spinning yarns…An internet initiative is putting the tradition of storytelling back on the map’ – Irish Examiner