GOOGLE EARTH has its eye on Westport, Co Mayo, where a computerised redesign of the town by local transition-year students has been praised by the internet mapping company.
Google Earth senior associate Daniela Brica was among a panel of judges which has selected Rice College secondary students as the winning team in the inaugural "town of tomorrow" contest.
Some 27 teams from Rice College, Carrowbeg College and Sacred Heart Secondary School in Westport entered the competition.
The idea for the contest arose when Google Earth said in January that Westport had the most realistic, photo-accurate town model in the world. Ms Brica, Google Earth's "3-D captain" for Europe, had found the three-dimensional model while surfing the web and was struck by its quality.
The model had been designed by a Westport-based company, AMT3D, as a commission for the local town council.
The students were provided with Google sketch-work software to work on a new design of the town centre. The winning team from Rice College pedestrianised Shop Street and covered it with a glass roof.
"We also designed a youth centre, which will of course be fitted out with consoles, and we remodelled the Royal Theatre for arts and drama," said Cian Tracey (16), one of the winning students.
Ms Brica said that the winning entry showed "a level of technical excellence and detail that was superb . . . embracing the theme of the competition and executing the design in a professional, clear-cut and methodical manner".
Denise Horan, editor of competition co-sponsor The Mayo News, paid tribute to the students.
"Not only do you live in what is probably the most beautiful town in Ireland, but you also live in the only town in Ireland that is 3-D-modelled," "Ms Horan said.
