ArcView GIS data

Baltic Sea Region GIS, Maps and Statistical Database
Administrative Units, Arable Lands, Land and Ocean (Coastline), Land Cover, Pasture Lands, Population Density, Sub-watershed Drainage Basins, Wetlands

All data sets are downloadable as compressed files in ZIP-format; each ZIP-file contains both documentation and data files. Please refer to the data descriptions and to the General Comments section at the bottom of this page for additional information about data files. Information about projection is at the bottom as well.

For additional datasets, see also the 'related data' page.

If you have difficulties downloading (large) files, you may alternatively order a CD-ROM containing the same data. 

Administrative Units

The Administrative Units data consists of ArcView shape file (with associated files), one description file, and one readme file.
Name Filename Filesize
Data description / Metadata admin_shp.txt
Admin as ArcView shape admin_shp.zip 2.6 mb

Arable lands

The Arable Lands is available as an Arc/Info grid (for use in ArcView Spatial Analyst).
Name Filename Filesize
Data description / Metadata arab_gis.txt
Arable as Arc/Info grid arable_avsa.zip 30 kb

Land and Ocean (Coastline)

The Land and Ocean (Coastline) data consists of an ArcView shape file (with associated files), one description file, and one readme file.
Name Filename Filesize
Data description / Metadata coast_shp.txt
Land and Ocean as ArcView shape coast_shp.zip 1.8 mb

Land Cover

The land cover is available as an Arc/Info grid (for use in ArcView Spatial Analyst). For an updated dataset, with a higher resolution, see the 'related data' page.
Name Filename Filesize
Data description / Metadata land_gis.txt
Land Cover as Arc/Info grid land_avsa.zip 600 kb

Pasture Lands

The dataset is available as an Arc/Info grid (for use in ArcView Spatial Analyst).
Name Filename Filesize
Data description / Metadata past_gis.txt
Pasture as Arc/Info grid 25 kb

Population Density

Population density is available as an Arc/Info grid (for use in ArcView Spatial Analyst).
Name Filename Filesize
Data description / Metadata popd_gis.txt
Population as Arc/Info grid popdens_avsa.zip 60 kb

Sub-watershed Drainage Basins

The Sub-watershed Drainage Basins data consists of an ArcView shape file (with associated files) , one description file, and one readme file.
Name Filename Filesize
Data description / Metadata basins_shp.txt
Sub-basins as ArcView shape basins_shp.zip 1100 kb

Wetlands Distribution

The Wetlands Distribution data consists of an Arc/Info grid (for use in ArcView Spatial Analyst). For an updated dataset, with a higher resolution, see the 'related data' page.
Name Filename Filesize
Data description / Metadata wetlands.txt
Wetlands as Arc/Info grid wetlands_avsa.zip 9 kb

 

General Comments

Projection information

The projection used is a custom Lambert Azimuthal Equal Area projection using the following parameters:

  • Units: meters
  • Spheroid: International 1909
  • Radius: 6,378,388
  • Longitude of centre of projection: 20.00.00
  • Latitude of centre of projection: 60.00.00
  • False Easting: 0
  • False Northing: 0

The projection can be referenced as:

		PROJCS[
			"Baltic GIS",
			GEOGCS["GCS_International_1909",
			DATUM["D_International_1909",
			SPHEROID["International_1909",
			6378388.0,
			297.0]],
			PRIMEM["Greenwich",
			0.0],
			UNIT["Degree",
			0.0174532925199433]],
			PROJECTION["Lambert_Azimuthal_Equal_Area"],
			PARAMETER["False_Easting",
			0.0],
			PARAMETER["False_Northing",
			0.0],
			PARAMETER["Central_Meridian",
			20.0],
			PARAMETER["Latitude_Of_Origin",
			60.0],
			UNIT["Meter",
			1.0]
		]

You can put the above in a projection file, or download the same as baltic_gis.prj (projection file)

Coverage extent

All Baltic Sea drainage basin data sets are clipped to the following latitude / longitude coordinates:

Upper right corner: X = 40 - E, Y = 75 - N
Lower left corner: X = 0 - E, Y = 45 - N

All data sets in the Baltic Sea drainage basin database were re-projected onto the Lambert Azimuthal Equal Area projection system with the following coordinates:

Upper right corner: X = 1,000,000 , Y = 1,300,000
Lower left corner: X = -1,000,000 , Y = -1,300,000

Due to the 10%00 arcs per polygon limitation, some coverages had to be divided into tiles for PC Arc/Info users. Please refer to the Data description / Metadata files for individual tile boundaries.

ArcView shapefiles

All shape-files were exported from their Arc/Info equivalent and compressed and packaged together with data description files to ZIP archives.

Arc/Info grids (ArcView Spatial Analyst)

All grids are assembled and compressed using ZIP compression. In the archive there is a directory structure -- be sure to preserve it. An Arc/Info grid is not one-file but several. To open them in ArcView Spatial Analyst:
  • Make sure the Spatial Analyst extension is activated
  • When adding the data to a view ("Add theme"), select "Grid Data Source"
  • Move to the directory where the data was uncompressed/unzipped
  • The dataset should appear in the directory above the directory with the same name as the dataset and the directory name "info"

    • Export files and associated Data description / Metadata files were ZIPped with PKZIP v.2.04g or WinZip v. 6.0a.

    Last Modified: 2001-Sep-23 19:23 by Hugo Ahlenius