Plaque Guide - About Us
Plaque Guide provides biographical portraits of plaques that have been erected by cities across the world to commemorate the fantastic achievements of their previous inhabitants and the positive and lasting contribution they have made to our present day welfare and happiness.
Starting with London's famous Blue Plaque Scheme as the pilot, Plaque Guide is an innovative marriage of Geography and History brought to life in a very modern way.
Founder - David Coughlan
Prior to founding Plaque Guide in 2010, David worked for the Research Council developing document exchange web services. David then took a year off to develop his London Blue Plaque idea and after entering his prototype website in the 2009 GeoVation Challenge. David won 3rd place and was awarded seed funding by Ordnance Survey in January 2010 to develop his idea further.
"Achieving a podium in Lowther Lodge's lecture theatre in such exalted company and surroundings was naturally a huge honour and confidence-booster. I feel very proud and privileged to be on the receiving end of the GeoVation network's invaluable support, funding and encouragement in developing my humble little dream into an exciting new public service."
prize from Peter ter Haar, Director of
Products at Ordnance Survey.
Solution Partner - geo.me
geo.me, a UK startup specialising in location-centric web services, were fellow GeoVation 2009 finalists. Following the event, David Coughlan collaborated with geo.me to design the production Plaque Guide website. The healthy and agile working relationship that has developed between Plaque Guide and geo.me is a testament to the spirit of collaboration fostered by the GeoVation Awards.
Plaque Guide - Quotes of support
"The standard of entries was fantastic and the scope of them far-reaching and varied. Each of the finalists can and
should be proud of getting to the finals and being able to showcase their geo-vision."
Gary Gale. Director of Engineering at Yahoo.
"We launched GeoVation because we believe that geography can play an important part in addressing some big
challenges. It's very exciting that such brilliant ideas have now been given the means to bring their projects to life. Our team are all looking forward to helping them to succeed over the next few months."
John Abbott. Ordnance Survey.
"You may say that Stephen Fry supports your idea."
Jo Crocker. PA to Stephen Fry.
"It's a lovely idea! I liked it a lot."
Jerry Brotton. Professor of Renaissance Studies, School of English & Drama, Queen Mary, University of London.
"Congratulation for your work which is absolutely amazing!"
Gabrielle Mulas-Thorogood. Présidente Association Corse du Royaume-Uni Pasquale Paoli.
Plaque Guide - Acknowledgements
GeoVation - Sponsor and Supporters
Ordnance SurveyIdeas in Transit
Technology Strategy Board
ESRI UK
GeoVation - Mentors
Chris Parker, Head of Innovation at Ordnance SurveyIan Holt, Senior Research Scientist at Ordnance Survey