Use of geological data
The geology is both 3- and 4- dimensional. It can give us surprises as we for example have to add new infrastructure underground or utilize important mineral resources. The soil surface is under constant change and movement. This may be small tremors or slow weathering processes we barely registers, but suddenly can result in events like rock- and mudslides that can affect our lives directly or indirectly.
In order to develop our society, exploit our resources in a sustainable manner, and live as safely as possible, we should make use the knowledge we have about the geology. The Planning and Building Act is to promote sustainable development for the benefit of the individual, society and future generations. Surveys show that the municipal sector, and regional planning authorities, which by law is responsible for this planning, do not utilize available geological information well enough. The main challenge for NGU is therefore still to acquire, organize and convey the geological knowledge society needs, so this can be translated into wise and uniform decisions for the benefit of the community.
The Geological Survey of Norway's network access solution, Geology of my municipality, is designed to provide various types of users a faster overview of the geological knowledge that exists for each municipality and the place where you live. The solution is especially adapted for the land-use planners were the geological themes are structured by subject areas that are known to plan context: Landscape, Resources and Security. The solution makes access to existing data from NGU databases and mapping services easier and more transparent.
Themes under subject area Landscape are bedrock and soils and upper marine perimeter in addition to the basic maps from Mapping Authority that is always turned on. Under subject area Resources, data on groundwater wells, gravel-/crushed stone resources, industrial minerals, natural stone and metals are made available. If detailed overview of attention areas for landslides or radon, this is obtained under subject area Security. The fuction Other lookup, gives an overview of the number of hits in several of the databases for the municipality that is selected. Furthermore, details about the different instances that are registered and display of literature, reports and printed maps published by NGU. Most of the map data is also available on the national GeoPortal Geonorge.