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How to use Fógra

Fógra shows planning and construction activity near a point you choose, plus delivered public infrastructure nearby. Here's what everything on the map does.

Setting your point

Tap anywhere on the map, search a place (e.g. “Salthill”), or hit 📍 Use my location. Whichever you choose, the crosshair marker and the faint circle around it show exactly what area is being searched: everything shown is within that circle.

The search box

One box searches everything. A place name (“Salthill”) moves the map there; a planning ref, street, or keyword (“solar”, “creche”) searches Fógra's own records across the whole city and county. If what you typed could be both a place and something in the applications, Fógra offers both options and you pick. Keyword results replace the radius view the same way the county view does (see below); tap ← Back to my area to return.

Radius

The 1 km / 2 km / 3 km buttons control how far out from your point to search. The count on the right (“X of Y within r”) tells you how many match your current filters out of the total found in that radius. If more than 500 applications fall within the radius, an amber banner appears: Fógra keeps the 500 newest and drops the rest; reduce the radius to see everything in a smaller area instead.

The Filters sheet

Tap Filters to control what shows on the map and list. It has four data sources, each with its own on/off switch and a count of how many items it currently contributes:

  • ePlanning (Council): everyday council planning applications.
  • An Coimisiún Pleanála (ABP): appeals and strategic cases.
  • Construction (BCMS): has its own Build stage sub-filter (Commenced / Completed).
  • Delivered: has its own Type (bus, cycling, greenway, health, etc.) and Stage (Announced / Funded / In progress / Delivered) sub-filters.

Below the sources, Planning status is a shared filter for the Council and ABP items (Pending / Under appeal / Granted / Refused / Withdrawn); its coloured dots are the same colours used for the map pins, so it doubles as the map's legend. By default, long-decided grants and long-since-commenced construction (over a couple of years old) are hidden to keep things current; a “+ Include N older items” link appears whenever there are any to bring back.

Category is a shared filter across all three planning/construction sources, grouping items by kind of change (New housing, Extension & renovation, Commercial, and so on), derived automatically from each item's AI summary. Whenever any filter differs from its default, a Reset all filters link appears at the top of the sheet.

Reading a card

Each item in the list is a card. From top to bottom:

  • A coloured status pill (council/ABP items) or a construction badge (BCMS build stage), plus a distance from your point.
  • A category chip (e.g. “Extension & renovation”). Tap it to narrow the whole map/list down to just that category; tap it again to restore all categories.
  • For council applications with an open observation window, a green “Observations open” countdown to the deadline.
  • Received/lodged and decided dates, and the source authority. Where a council application has been appealed, the card also shows when the appeal was lodged and its outcome once decided.
  • A Source → link to the official record (BCMS construction notices have no public per-notice page, so construction-only pins don't carry one).

Map symbols

  • Circles are planning applications and construction notices, coloured by status/build stage; the selected one is drawn larger with a dark outline.
  • Shapes/footprints are ABP appeal sites (their real site boundary) and delivered-infrastructure areas or routes (lines for cycleways/bus routes, filled shapes for regeneration areas). Muted/dashed styling means “announced” or “funded” but not built yet.
  • Rounded squares are delivered-infrastructure points (a single site, like a new playground or bus shelter).

Tap any symbol to select it (highlights the matching card) and see a quick preview popup.

“All of Galway” county view

Next to the radius buttons, All of Galway lets you browse every item of one category (e.g. every “New housing” application) across the whole city and county, not just near a point. It replaces the radius view until you leave it: the radius buttons stop applying (they grey out), and the map zooms out to fit the whole result set (capped at the 500 most recent). Tap ← Back to my area to return to your point and radius.

Sharing and jumping to the map

Every card has Map and Share links. Map pans the map to that item and opens its popup. Share creates a link to that exact tile (its coordinates plus its id): on a phone this opens your device's share sheet; on desktop it copies the link to your clipboard (you'll see “Link copied”). Opening a shared link takes the recipient straight to that item, even if filters would normally hide it.

Export View

Export View downloads a CSV of exactly what the list currently shows: the same items, in the same order, after your radius and filters are applied. Useful for a submission spreadsheet or your own records.

“Filters hiding N items”

If your own filter choices are hiding items compared to the default view, an amber pill above the list says how many. Adjust opens the Filters sheet so you can see and change what's hidden; Clear resets every filter back to its default in one tap. This is separate from the defaults themselves (like older grants being hidden): the pill only counts what you've changed.