Emmet Roche has created his very own Glastonbury map – and it’s been viewed over 1million times (Picture: Getty/SWNS/Google)
Emmet Roche has never been to Glastonbury, nor is he en route to Worthy Farm as we speak ready for a weekend of festival fun in the sunshine (with a possibility of rain).
The dad-of-two, 46, is at home in Dublin – and yet he’s created a monster map of Glastonbury Festival 2024.
‘I grew up in a village which for a long time was home to the biggest musical festival in Ireland. I grew up seeing all this stuff and have always been interested in the behind-the-scenes logistics of how it works,’ Emmet tells Metro.co.uk.
Before Glastonbury thought of making a nifty interactive map filtered by type of attraction – be it a specific stage, toilets, food trucks – in 2024, Emmet had already done it last year.
His map can be downloaded onto Google Maps and shows you where all of the various points of interest and facilities are at Glastonbury Festival. It’s impressive, to say the least.
‘I used to work for a travel company but I got laid off at the start of Covid, so I became a stay-at-home dad to two small kids,’ Emmet said, explaining how last year he took a certificate course in digital mapping.
Emmet’s map is very extensive (Picture: Google)
How to use Emmet’s incredible Glastonbury Map
Once launched in Google Maps, it will look like this:
It’s quite something (Picture: Google)
Browse and enjoy. If you leave Google Maps and go back on, it will have disappeared.
To re-launch the map, just go to the ‘saved’ tab on Google Maps, look at the right-hand corner which says ‘maps’ and it should be there.
Hurrah!
‘For one of the projects we had to recreate a map. For some reason, I chose to do the Glastonbury Festival map and have it all properly geo-located and stuff like that.
‘Once I had that done I felt like it was insane to just lose it so I figured I might as well put it together for something that people might be able to use. So that’s what I did.’
He added: ‘I always liked to help people. As a product manager in a travel company I was always very focused on the end user and how they’re going to experience things. That’s why I tried to make this as accurate as possible.’
When Emmet published it ahead of last year’s festival after weeks of work -and without such a sophisticated official map from Glastonbury at the time – it boomed, gaining over 100,000 likes on X within 24 hours. Now he says it’s been viewed over 1million times.
‘When I put it out I knew some people would like it but I was blown away,’ he said. ‘It was a lot bigger than I needed to do for the project. It took a long time. It really showed me how big the actual site is.’
As for 2024, he says: ‘The hard work was already done for this year, it was just some bits to move around. And they always change a few bits and pieces.’
This comes as Glastonbury Festival opened its doors for the first day of the festival (Picture: OLI SCARFF/AFP via Getty Images)
Emily Eavis opened the site to revellers for 2024 this morning (Picture: Leon Neal/Getty Images)
Last year Emmet made a point of including information he says was not on the official map at the time, including accessibility points for disabled people – which currently features on the official 2024 Vodafone x Glastonbury app.
‘Some people actually contacted me afterwards and said it was great because when they spoke to the stewards, they weren’t always too sure where the disabled toilets were and stuff like that,’ Emmet recalled.
‘They have the new app this year which is much better, so I don’t know if my map is still as useful as it was,’ he admits.
Indeed, the new Glastonbury map on the official app has experienced a glow-up this year, including map pinning and filters for food stalls, as well as directional navigation.
The official press release also said there were ‘revamps’ to its accessibility features, as it wrote: ‘There are also a number of revamps to the Search & Accessibility features, helping fans easily search artists, find Glastonbury’s many accessible campsites and viewing platforms, and locate areas such as Deafzone and the Sensory Calm Space.’
Dua Lipa is set to headline the festival on Friday evening (Picture: Kevin Winter/Getty Images for iHeartRadio)
But this was a year too late for Emmet, and while Glastonbury seems to have caught up to his tech for 2024 – his map is still a work of art.
Alongside compiling official information, Emmet got all the data through people within the festival. Plus, he’s a nerd.
‘I’m a real nerd at this,’ he says. ‘I’d look at satellite images and some pictures from the ground, then you can figure out where things are from looking at that. It’s just the way my brain works.’
Now Emmet knows every nook and cranny of the 1,000-acre Glastonbury Festival grounds – is he tempted to go?
‘That’d be nice, alright. Maybe when the kids are a bit older.’
If you appreciate Emmet’s public service, buy the man a coffee.
The official Glastonbury 2024 mobile app – powered by Vodafone – is now available to download on Apple iOS and Android.
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