Baltic Environmental Atlas |
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This interactive map service presents environmental factors that primarily have an impact upon the loads of nutrients entering into the Baltic Sea, such as land use and population distribution. The data represents that status approximately at the end of the 1990ies.
The service has been developed by GRID-Arendal, a UNEP affiliated environmental data and information centre within two EU projects: Baltic on-line interactive geographical and environmental information service (BOING) and BALANS. BOING is a strategic demonstration project under the Information Society directorate of the Commission of the European Communities to improve accessibility to environmental information on nutrient pollution and eutrophication in the Baltic Sea Region. The BALANS project has developed a seamless landcover characteristics database for the Baltic Sea drainage basin.
The technical solution is based upon ESRI's ArcIMS (Internet Map Server).
Please examine and browse the map and comment on anything that can be adjusted!
The process of creating this map is further described in a report (available upon request).
It is also possible to access and manipulate this map using an ArcIMS client, such as ArcExplorer (free download from ESRI).
Data
Some of these thematical datasets used are available from the Baltic Sea Drainage Basin GIS, Maps and Statistics Database, except the elevation theme -- that is from USGS GTOPO30
More information about the BALANS landcover dataset can be found on the BALANS website.
Links to detailed information about each dataset:
Land cover
This theme is prepared from the final delivery of the BALANS data. A generalized version of the data was used for this theme: forest classess merged into a single forest class and the minimum unit for each area is 25 ha for all land cover classes except for water (minimum 10 ha).
More information about BALANS and the land dataset can be found on the BALANS website.
Arable land
This theme is prepared from national statistics and land cover classification for the region. The status is roughly the state in the early 1990ies.
Pasture land
This theme is prepared from national statistics and land cover classification for the region. The status is roughly the state in the early 1990ies.
Wetlands
This theme is prepared from the BALANS land cover classification. The percentage of wetland area was calculated per 4.5 km.
Population Density
The population density is calculated from population data, collected at the smallest administrative unit possible; down to the municipality level -- and then interpolated over the surface using various algorithms.
Elevation
This theme has been calculated from a global model of the topography of the Earth. To read more about the dataset, GTOPO30, follow this link.
Technical Details
The address to this interface to the Baltic Environmental Atlas is http://maps.grida.no/baltic.
It is also possible to access this service using an ArcIMS compliant client, such as ArcExplorer (free download). Then you type in "http://maps.grida.no" as the server name, and either type in "grid_baltic" as the service name, or pick it from the list.
This mapservice was created using:
- Arc/Info
- ArcView
- ArcIMS
- ColdFusion Server
- GIMP
The development started off as a Master's thesis project at Uppsala University, Sweden. The report is available for viewing & download. The solution in the thesis project was based off a different technical platform, but with the same objectives and data.
Hugo Ahlenius can now be reached at: Nordpil - custom map design, charts, diagrams and visual communication.
Feedback
Please use this form for your comments and suggestions
http://maps.grida.no/baltic
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