National Land Survey of Iceland Precision, Usefulness, and Innovation

Magnús Guðmundsson8. May 2011

Iceland

Statistic• Island in the North Atlantic

Ocean,103.000 km2

• Capital, Reykjavík, in the South West• Population 315.000, mainly near

Reykjavík and along the coast• Average temperature in summer 10 °C• Glaciers and mountains cover around

70% of the country• Volcanic activity, earthquakes and,

Geysers

The National Land Survey of Iceland• Established in 1956 as a

Governmental institute under ministry for the environment

• Main roles are Geodesy, GIS and Remote Sensing

• Responsible for mapping of 103.000 km2

• 29 employees• Located in Akranes,

45 km north of Reykjavík

National Land Survey of IcelandOrganizational chart from 1st. January 2011

The main tasks of NLSI in accordance with law on land surveying and base-map production No 103/2006.

• To advise the Ministry for the Environment in NLSI´s fields of expertise;

• To develop and maintain geodetic- and vertical reference systems for the whole of Iceland;

• To make, maintain and disseminate digital layers on a scale of 1:50.000

• To register and disseminate information about spatial data in Iceland;

• To make and use standards in the field of spatial information;

• To provide access to data preserved by the institute;

• To cooperate professionally with universities, institutes, businesses and international organizations.

INSPIRE in Iceland

• New SDI law is presently in the parliament

• Ministry for the Environment is responsible

• This law is necessary so INSPIRE can be successfully implemented in Iceland

• Responsibility of executing the law will be in the hands of the National Land Survey of Iceland

Database 1:50.000

Topographical database 1:50.000NLSI maintains a topographical database in

1:50000 scale with the following layers:– Roads (GPS measured with < 5m accuracy)– Height information (contours,DEM)– Water– Land cover– Buildings– Place names – Administrative Boundaries

GeodesyMain projects:• GPS – measurements • Gravity measurements• Height measurements• Establishment of • Vertical reference net

• Geodetic reference netISNET2004Approximately 150 points

Harmonised Geographic Information for Europe

EuroGeographics databases• NLSI is participating in and

delivering data to the EuroBoundaryMap project, EuroRegionalMap and EuroGlobalMap wich are updated every year.

EuroBoundaryMap

38 countries

1:100,000 and 1:1 million

EuroRegionalMap32 countries 1:250,000

EuroGlobalMap38 countries 1:1 Million

Arctic SDI • 1/6 of the earth’s

landmass!• More than 30 million

km2!• 24 time zones!• 30 different indigenous

peoples• Over a dozens languages

A joint circumpolar initiative

Arctic SDI - background• 2008 – letter from the Nordic

Directors of Mapping Institutes• 2009 – endorsed by the Arctic

Council• 2010 – all arctic mapping

agencies participating, kick off meeting in Brussels in October 2010

• Apríl 2011. Project plan accepted by 9 Mapping Agencies on a meeting in Reykjavík

Future Vision• NLSI has a leading role and supports cooperation in order to secure

availability and access to reliable spatial information about Iceland. It promotes its use in diverse and efficient ways, not least as regards environmental matters. NLSI is a proactive knowledge-based institute under constant development, with precision, usefulness and innovation at the basis of its operations.

More info on the home page www.lmi.is

• IS-300 Akranes • Iceland • Tel.: (+354) 430 9000• Fax: (+354) 430 9090 • lmi@lmi.is • www.lmi.is