Energy Resources Data Viewer
The NEA has collected data relating to the natural resources of Iceland for over half a century. In 1989, the Authority began indexing such data in it's database (Oracle). The Energy Resources Data Viewer (ERDV) was launched online in March 2004. The initial role of the ERDV was to simplify access to materials in the database. Members of the cooperative project were the Energy Division of the NEA, Hydrological Services, then a division within the Authority and Iceland GeoSurvey (ÍSOR), which had recently become an independent entity. In addition, data from the Environment Agency of Iceland was later added to the database. Hydrological Services, now a department within the Icelandic Meteorological Office, and the Environment Agency no longer update data for publication in the ERDV. Instead, they use their own software and the Iceland Nature Portal for this purpose.
Software
The ERDV uses software from ESRI. All layers are retrieved from an Oracle database using ArcSDE (Spatial Database Engine) and the web-tool is based on ArcIMS (Internet Map Server). Samsýn, the commercial agent for ESRI in Iceland, cooperated in the developing of the software.
Data
The ERDV provides access to data on natural resources, energy affairs, energy utilisation and other research concerning the environment of Iceland that has been financed by public funding. Access is also provided to data that the participating state agencies have collected as a contractor for private entities, with permission for publication from the owners of the datasets involved. The material in the ERDV includes information on catchment areas, water level gauge network, positions of flowmeters and other information pertaining to streams and lakes. Information is provided for geothermal fields, wells, sampling-sites and chemical analyses, as well as data on energy generation. Moreover, there are layers in the ERDV showing protected areas and the Nature Conservation Register, as well as contour lines and hydrological data from the National Land Survey of Iceland.
Vision
The ERDV is based on software which is no longer updated by the manufacturer. The NEA has provided funding for operating the viewer, but since published data from other participants is no longer updated, the NEA will over time transfer information on data that is within the operational scope of the Authority to the new Iceland Energy Portal (IEP). In order to give flavour for the material that will be transferred to other Portals when the ERDV is taken offline, a list is provided below of the field categories that were published in the Viewer in 2006. This material should soon be accessible in other Portals in accordance with the policy and operational scope of the various agencies involved. However, the transfer to other Portals is complicated by the current availability of more precise underlying raster data in the Portals which requires extensive reviews of older coordinates prior to them being ready to be layered onto image material generated from current databases.
Field categories:
Hydrology: Gauges, discharge measurements, discontinued (staff) gauges, meteorological stations of Hydrological Services, flood-analysed gauges, catchments, depth charts, rivers, lakes and glaciers (Icelandic Meteorological Office).
Geology: Active and extinct central volcanoes with caldera rims, Holocene lava flow, volcanic zone and age of bedrock (Iceland GeoSurvey - ÍSOR).
Geothermal: Wells, geothermal fields, hot springs, high temperature geothermal fields, research areas of high temperature geothermal fields (NEA and Iceland GeoSurvey - ÍSOR).
Energy exploitation: Swimming pools, district heating systems, waterworks, power plants, reserve power, power plants – personal, reservoirs in use (NEA).
Hydropower options: Possible power plants, possible dams, possible tunnels, possible canals, possible reservoirs (NEA).
Wind atlas: Weather stations (NEA).
Nature conservation: Protected areas, natural phenomena, nature conservation plans (Environment Agency of Iceland).
Topographical data: Urban area, farms, land property boundaries, place names, contour lines and roads (Others).
Contact and more information
National Energy Authority: Þorvaldur Bragason, thorvaldur.bragason (at) os.is