Discover Alone reaches one million mapped places across Ireland and Britain
CARNDONAGH, Ireland, 17 October 2026 — Discover Alone, the free place-discovery website created by Rickie Doherty, now shows more than one million places, people and events across Ireland and Britain on its nearby map. Doherty began the project in Donegal after hearing people say they did not know what was around them. The larger map is intended to make an ordinary afternoon out easier to plan without an account or a fixed itinerary.
The live home page reports 1,087,615 entries. These include places, people and events, rather than a promise that every point is a publicly accessible attraction. A visitor can start with a town name or their current location and choose a search distance from a tenth of a mile to 25 miles. Map filters help narrow the results to places such as castles, beaches, mountains and playgrounds, or to places with their own pictures.
Selected place pages include Explorer Tom, a playful guide who gives tips and tells short stories about the place at hand. Tom's writing is being added and improved place by place. The map also has public source links for checking a record, nearby places for continuing a walk or drive, and a way for visitors to add a missing place or share a local story. The aim is to help someone get from “I wonder what is nearby” to a real place they can choose for themselves.
Discover Alone makes access cautions visible. A map point is a clue to investigate, not permission to enter private land. The site asks visitors to check access, close gates and leave no trace; it also warns that some pictures may show a nearby or incorrect place. These notes matter when a record comes from a historic inventory or a contributed photograph rather than a managed visitor attraction.
The project grew from a Donegal starting point into a map spanning all 32 Irish counties and the rest of Britain. It remains free to browse without registration. An account is optional for people who want to keep a personal list or add material. The site also offers short local stories and Tom's food and drink picks in Donegal, alongside the wider map.
Doherty said the idea came from a simple complaint: people kept saying they did not know what was around them. Discover Alone puts the overlooked places on a map, then lets each person decide what is worth a closer look.
The free map is available at Discover Alone map