Maps
It is getting easier to find high quality maps on the Internet. Especially city maps are often free of charge. Most maps are sold commercially however, and give a better quality regarding print and format.
Lantmäteriet
Has the main responsibility for geographical information in Sweden. Their work is financed in part by the state and in part through the sales proceeds of maps. Thus the maps are not freely available on the Internet for downloading. But most of it can be ordered for money. Through an agreement with Lantmäteriet, BTH has access to the database Digitala kartbiblioteket (Digital library of maps).
Digitala kartbiblioteket
With this service Lantmäteriet offers access for maps for students and staff at Swedish universities and colleges. They can also download maps to their computers. This service only works on computers connected to the university network on campus, and therefore not from home. Before you start using this service you must receive an account from Lantmäteriet. You register on the Digitala kartbiblioteket web site and receive your account by e-mail. There is a manual where the terms of use are described as well as how to use the service. Digitala kartbiblioteket works best with the browser Internet Explorer.
Screen- and vector format
Maps are either in screen- or vector format. The screen format can be said to be a digital image of the real analog map. The vector format is a digital translation of the analog map. Lines and curves are defined by mathematical objects, so called vectors and the advantage is that the image can be enlarged without losing the quality of the image. When a screen map is enlarged the pixels that constitute the digital image will show.
Types of maps in the Digitala kartbiblioteket
Sverigekartan in scale 1:1 000 000
Is a complete map of Sweden.
Översiktskartan in scale 1:250 000
Overview map formerly known as the Red map. It covers the whole country. In print there is one map for each Swedish province. It shows places, roads, borders, hydrography etc.
Vägkartan in scale 1:100 000
The Road map was formerly known as the Blue map. It covers the whole country with detailed information about bigger and smaller roads. Excellent for bicycle outings and mountain hiking.
Terrängkartan in scale 1:50 000
The Terrain map was formerly known as the Green map, and before that it was called the Topographical map. It covers all of Sweden except the greater part of the mountain world, and the inner parts of Västerbotten and Lappland. Like the Road map it is well-suited for outdoor life since it indicates larger paths. It is not as detailed as orienteering maps though.
Topografiska kartan in scale 1:10 000
Corresponds to the real estate map, but without property borders and property information. It comprises all of Sweden except the mountain world. The map is based on orthographic photographs in the same scale.
Stadskartan in scale 1:10 000
The city map comprises about 300 urban areas in Sweden. It is based on SCB:s definition of an urban area. Public buildings are marked in red on the map.
Ortofoto in scale 1:10 000
Black and white air photographs of Sweden. The orthographic photographs are used as basic data for the production of ordinary maps, but the photographs give a more detailed picture of the landscape. At the Lantmäteriet web site there is also the possibility of viewing a number of high resolution colour air photographs of Swedish cities free of charge.
Downloading and printing
The manual describes quite clearly how to log in and order maps. After a while the map you ordered is delivered to the e-mail address you stated. In this letter you are requested to save the file. The most appropriate thing to do next is to open the file in a (simple) image processing program since some adjustments need to be made if you want the map format to be to scale. In a free program like Adobe Photoshop Elements you do the following to get the correct scale:
Choose Image – Resize – Image size. Under Resolution you change the number of pixels to 254. Here you can also see how big the printed document will be, which gives you the opportunity to adjust the paper size.
Orienteering maps
Certain types of maps can be difficult to find because they are published by other organizations than Lantmäteriet. How do you for example find information about orienteering maps? Over which areas are such maps made? Who produced them and who do I contact if I want to buy a map? In the Libris database you can often find the answers to these questions. In the extended search form and the search field media type you can choose maps, and then make a search for e.g. Ronneby. A similar service can be found on The Swedish Orienteering Federation web site.
Freely accessed maps of Sweden
Stadskartan
Here you can find maps of Swedish cities. You can search for streets and street numbers. This service works poorly in Mozilla Firefox and Internet Explorer is recommended.
Länskartor
Brief information and maps of the Swedish provinces.
Nationalencyklopedin
In the encyclopedia Nationalencyklopedin there is extensive map material. On the first page of NE under the headline Atlas there are links to maps of Sweden, the countries of the world and star charts. Connected to the maps are articles and pictures of a great number of places treated in the encyclopedia.
Nordic countries
Statens kartverk in Norway
Norweigan ’Statens kartverk’ has a service on the Internet which is similar to Digitala kartbiblioteket. It differs in that it is open for everyone and it is not of as high quality as Digitala kartbiblioteket, but despite this it is useful in many situations.
Denmark
’Kort-och matrikelstyrelsen’ (The National Survey and Cadastre) has a service called ”Kort på nettet” (Find a place). Here are city maps, road maps, terrain maps etc. Older historical maps are also available.
The company Krak offers various free map services. For example there is a search tool where you can state the name of a street and get the relevant map and city. Apart from maps you can also get a recommendation for the best route between two places, plus address and phone number for companies and private persons.
Landmaelingar on Iceland
Under Map window ’Landmaelingar’ offers digital maps in different scales. There are for example outstanding maps in 1:100 000 of the whole island. Click the map on the main page and then the button at the bottom of the page with the text Kort – Maps. The sizes 1:100 000 and 1:750 000 are screen maps and therefore display ’real’ map information.
Finland
In the service ”Surf Finland” there are links to Finnish cities and municipalities, and their web sites. The information is often translated to Swedish or English. In case there is no translation, map is called ‘kartta’ in Finnish. Places can be searched in a map index or via a clickable map.
The world
Multimap
Offers maps on street level in Europe and the United States, plus road maps from around the world. Multimap also offers air photographs of places in England which can be viewed on screen and ordered.
Geoforum
Link collection for national and international map collections.
Historical maps
Link collection for historical maps from around the world.
Kent Pettersson
2005-06-22
