Navteq, a global provider of digital maps for vehicle navigation, has completed a detailed digital map of the entire Republic of Ireland stretching from Dublin to Galway and Donegal to Kerry.

The new Navteq map, which is fully detailed, includes all public roads in the republic and every kilometre was driven and field verified by teams of Navteq geographic analysts.

It covers 95,369 kilometres of road linking over 44,000 cities, towns and villages and enabling navigation systems to give drivers turn-by-turn directions to and from addresses throughout the country.

Developing an addressing system in the republic was particularly challenging, as not only are there no postcodes outside of Dublin, but there are also thousands of tiny townlands with no street names.

"We had to work out how the townlands would fit into navigation system software, which normally requires a street name and the name of the town to establish the destination," said Graham Ward, Navteq country manager. "It was decided the townland name would be treated as a 'street name' linked to the nearest, larger postal town."