Land use in urban settlements, 1 January 2018

Urban Settlements, Urban Settlements by size-group

Annual

Not relevant

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

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.

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

Not relevant

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.

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

Not relevant

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

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.

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.

Not relevant

Not relevant at present.

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