On-line Baltic Sea Drainage Basin GIS

The on-line Baltic Sea drainage basin GIS, map and statistical database is an outcome of the Baltic Drainage Basin Project (BDBP). The database is provided to the general public to improve the general knowledge about the Baltic Sea region and to stimulate research and the use of geo-referenced data for improved description, assessment, analysis and management of environ-mental issues.	The following GIS layers are included into the data-base: Land and ocean (coastline), Sub-watershed drainage basins, Administrative units, Population density, Arable lands and pasture lands, Land cover, Wetland distribution. The physical and political/ administrative boundary and land cover layers were created using existing ana-logue and digital spatial data sources, such as the DCW, the ESA’s Remote Sensing Forest Map of Europe, the EUROSTAT GISCO map of EC NUTS regions, and regional (Baltic, Scandinavian)	and national sources. The population density, arable and pasture land, and wetland layers were derived using a combination of spatial and statistical data sources, by spreading statistical data according to the spatial distribution of other related features. The spatial resolution of the layers varies between 1 km2 and 2500 km2. Data pre-processing (extracting, digitising, projecting, editing, coding, creating topology) was mainly done using ARC/INFO v.3.4D Plus. The layers were then rasterised and imported into IDRISI v.4.1 for final work. The database layers are available on-line in a GIS format (Arc/Info and IDRISI) together with the correspon-ding maps, statistical data, and documentation.
Funds provided by the European Union 1991-1994 Environment Research Programme

Contact : Sindre Langaas, UNEP/GRID-Arendal, c/o Department of Systems Ecology Stockholm University, S-106 91 Stockholm, Sweden Tel: + 46 8 16 17 37 Fax: + 46 8 15 84 17 E-mail: sindre.langaas@grida.no | http://www.grida.no/prog/norbal/baltic/welcome.htm