Page 10 - Green knowledge 2025

Photo: Iver Daaland Åse, Kartverket
Clearer land-use view with National base map
In February 2024, Norway received its first national base map for land-use analysis,
developed by NIBIO, the Norwegian Mapping Authority (NMA), Statistics Norway (SSB)
and the Norwegian Environment Agency (NEA). In 2025, the parties signed a cooperation
agreement securing the management and further development of the map.
The base map provides a common, quality-assured
data foundation for analyses and land-use account-
ing at all levels, making it easier to make knowledge-based
decisions about land use.
This agreement marks an important step towards
knowledge-based management of Norway’s land and
natural resources. By combining data, a better over-
view and insight is gained, allowing to make smarter
decisions.
As part of the collaboration, digital mapping solu-
tions are also being developed to give users access to
up-to-date information. NMA distributes the base
map via geonorge.no, and NEA is responsible for
ecosystem classification.
“The base map gives us, for the first time, a compre-
hensive overview of ecosystem distribution. The map
will form a cornerstone of the natural capital
accounts, which is the tool we need to monitor devel-
opments in nature,” says Torfinn Sørensen from
NEA.
The base map integrates information on land cover,
land use and ecosystems from several national
sources into a single view. This provides authorities
with a tool to establish local and regional land-use
accounts and gives a clearer picture of the conse-
quences of land conversion and changes. NIBIO has
daily responsibility for implementing the coopera-
tion agreement and serves as secretariat for the
steering group, while SSB and NIBIO share produc-
tion responsibility for the dataset.
The collaboration lays the foundation for further
innovation in digital mapping and land manage-
ment, providing decision-makers with an updated
tool for managing the country’s land down to the
municipal level.
Purpose: Collaboration: Contact: Ensure a unified, up-to-date and quality-assured national base map for land-use analysis, providing
better decision-making support for land use across Norway.
Norwegian Mapping Authority, Statistics Norway and the Norwegian Environment Agency
Research Scientist Linda Aune-Lundberg, Division of Survey and Statistics.
Email: linda.aune-lundberg@nibio.no | Phone: +47 995 78 533
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