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/en/natur-og-miljo/statistikker/arealbruk/aar
10504_om
statistikk
2017-02-02T08:00:00.000Z
Nature and the environment
en
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Land use in urban settlements1 January 2016

Content

About the statistics

Definitions

Name and topic

Name: Land use in urban settlements
Topic: Nature and the environment

Next release

Responsible division

Division for Housing, Property, Spatial and Agricultural Statistics

Definitions of the main concepts and variables

Land use - Land use describes built-up areas by socio-economic purpose, and covers for example areas used for dwellings, business, recreation or roads.

Land resource - Collective term for non-built-up areas classified by soil type. The land resource type describes the land surface (soil conditions and vegetation) and its suitability for cultivation and natural plant growth.

Built - up area / site - All types of buildings, structures and permanently sealed surfaces and associated areas.

Non - built - up area - Areas/regions without a permanently built-up surface, including cultivated land.

Urban settlement -  A cluster of buildings shall be registered as an urban settlement if it is inhabited by at least 200 persons. The distance between the buildings should normally not exceed 50 metres, but for some space-demanding building categories - such as apartment buildings, industrial buildings, offices / commercial buildings, schools, hospitals etc. - the distance can be increased to 200 metres. Adjacent built-up and constructed areas, such as parks, sports facilities and industrial areas, should be part of the urban settlement. Building clusters with at least 5 commercial buildings or 5 residential buildings are included up to a distance of 400 metres from the urban settlement core.

Standard classifications

Classification of land use and land cover

Administrative information

Regional level

Urban Settlements, Urban Settlements by size-group

Frequency and timeliness

Annual

International reporting

Not relevant

Microdata

The maps are stored as spatial data sets and can be used for other analyzes as required.

Background

Background and purpose

The first area accounting system of Norway was published in 1981. Aerial photos were used for interpreting land use and land cover. The method was time consuming and was abandoned after the test period.

The establishment of the National register of Ground, Addresses and Buildings (GAB) gave new possibilities for land use statistics. Methods were developed and statistics produced by Engebretsen (1989, 1993).

Automatic digital methods for the delimitation of urban settlements were conducted (Dysterud et al. 1999) and methodical studies of land use statistics were carried out (Engelien 2000, Bloch 2002). In 2005 Land use in urban settlements, based on point datasets and buffer methods, were published. This attempt was not repeated.

By 2011 the available data and the method of delimiting areas had improved immensely, and the method described below was developed. The most important improvement was the use of property boundaries from the Cadastral register and the nation wide land resource map (AR-STAT) from the Norwegian Forest and Landscape Institute. Statistics on Land use in urban settlements based on theese accurate data was first published in 2011, then yearly since 2013.

Users and applications

The statistics is mainly used by civil administration (ministries, directorates, county- and municipality administrations) as well as for research purposes.

Equal treatment of users

Not relevant

Coherence with other statistics

The statistics area based on the same maps used for the Land use statistics for Norway. Several other statistics are based on the same maps.

Legal authority

Register information. Act concerning official statistics and the Central Bureau of Statistics § 3.2

EEA reference

Not relevant

Production

Population

The statistics comprises all the urban settlements of Norway according to the Statistics Norway's definition.

Data sources and sampling

The land use delimitation includes multiple data sources, the most important are:

  • land resource map, AR-STAT, from the Norwegian Forest and Landscape institute.
  • buildings and property boundaries from the Cadastre (the National Mapping Authority).
  • various data from the public map database (FKB).
  • roads from the National roads database - Vbase.

Collection of data, editing and estimations

Based on maps, registers and the use of GIS.

Data revised by owners of the registers, e.g. Statistics Norway and Norwegian Mapping Authorities.

Several digital maps are processed in a GIS-system and classified according to the Classification of land use and land cover. Automatic routines for delimiting and classifying areas has been developed.

The n ation wide land resource map ( AR-STAT) from the Norwegian Forest and Landscape Institute forms the basis of the new map. Built-up elements are placed higher in a hierarchy as shown below:

  1. Road
  2. Railway
  3. Rivers and lakes
  4. Airports
  5. Greenhouses classified as cultivated land
  6. Buffered buildings on parcels found in FKB land use
  7. FKB land use
  8. Built-up properties or shares of properties
  9. Buffered buildings
  10. Sports- and recreational areas
  11. Data from N50 land cover
  12. Parking areas
  13. Ports
  14. AR-STAT

The finished map is projected from WGS84 UTM 33 to ETRS89-LAEA, and overalyed by Statistics Norway's delimination of Urban Settlements. Areas are calculated and statistics assembled.

Seasonal adjustment

Not relevant

Confidentiality

Not relevant at present.

Comparability over time and space

The previous method used for delimiting urban settlements gave a zone of undeveloped area at the edge of the urban settlements. This contributed to a high share of undeveloped areas within the urban settlements. The new method, used for the first time in 2013, will in most cases follow the boundary of built-up elements. Undeveloped areas at the edge will no longer be part of the urban settlements, but they will be included if they are surrounded by built-up areas.

The statistics are based on automatic processing of registers and map data bases. The data sources are built up according to national standards, however the interpretations of the standards might differ among municipalities. The completeness in the scope of mapped objects might also differ. This could affect the results, but all in all the results are considered to be comparable from place to place.

For all data sources there will be a time lag from changes in land use appear in reality until they are registered in maps and registries. As long as the time lag is constant it should not affect the result to much.

The numbers for Svalbard are based on different maps and the methods diverge from those used for Norway’s mainland. The lack of property boundaries at Svalbard leads to all buildings being buffered, they are therefore assigned less space than similar buildings on the mainland. For natural resources, the statistics are based on vegetation maps with classes that are not directly comparable with the classes in the Standard classification of land for statistical purposes.

Febr 2019 -  New Statistics variable in stat bank table 11441: New buildings, count and utility floor space, by distance to existing urban settlement, building type and area classification (M)
  -
New Statistics variable :  Utility floor space for largest floor, in new buildings (m²)

Febr 2019 -  Change made in classification variable "Distance to existing urban settlement" in Statistics table 11441.
All New building are placed in one of four categories, by distance to urban settlements. The naming of these categories was imprecise and somewhat illogical. Naming changed from > to :
1. In existing urban setllement > Within delimitation of last year’s urban settlements
2. In expansion of existing urban settlement >In expansion between last year’s and current urban settlement delimations
3.Within 1 km of existing urban settlement, and not in expansion > Within 1 km of current urban settlements
4. Within 2-3 km of existing urban settlement > Between 1-3 km of current urban settlements

 

Accuracy and reliability

Sources of error and uncertainty

The quality of the statistics is highly dependent on the quality of the contents of the Cadastre and various digital maps.

The land resource class ´´Open firm ground´´ in AR-STAT can refer to both built-up and natural areas. The combination with other data sets, like the building register, should assure that the areas are confirmed as built-up. However, in cases where areas are used for storage or industry, but there are no buildings, the areas might appear as undeveloped.

Revision

Not relevant