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= National Land Survey of Iceland = National Land Survey of Iceland (NLSI; Icelandic: Landmælingar Íslands) is a government agency under the Ministry for the Environment and Natural Resources (Iceland) and is based in Akranes, Iceland. The institute performs tasks in the field of surveying, spatial data, remote sensing and other basic spatial information.

Aims, functions and organisation
The role of the National Land Survey of Iceland is to ensure that basic geographical information about Iceland is always available. The main vision of the National Land Survey of Iceland is that spatial information, which many people know as map data, will be used as key data when decisions are made.

Collaborations In recent years, the National Land Survey of Iceland has been actively involved in various international collaborations in addition to Nordic cooperation. The following are the main international associations or projects the institution participates in:

• EuroGeographics - Participation in professional cooperation with European mapping and real estate agencies.

• UN-GGIM - Involvement in the United Nations' international project to coordinate and enhance the use of land information worldwide, including for various disasters and natural hazards.

• ArcticSDI - Collaboration among eight national mapping agencies of the Arctic Council countries to establish a coordinated geographic database of the Arctic regions.

• INSPIRE - Cooperation within the framework of the European Union to implement the INSPIRE Directive for establishing a framework for the sharing of spatial data.

• Copernicus program - Involvement in the governance and user board of this significant project aimed at utilizing satellite imagery to monitor various environmental factors.

• CORINE project - Pan-European land cover mapping project involving the use of satellite imagery for land type and land use mapping in Europe.

• eEnvPlus project - A European collaborative project that aims to harmonize tools and workflows designed for various environmental projects within the European Union, including the implementation of various regulations on air quality, land use, environmental protection, and spatial data infrastructure.

• Projects funded by the EFTA Development Fund - Collaborative projects with the Norwegian mapping agency Kartverket to assist relevant authorities in Slovenia and Portugal in building up land surveying systems and establishing geographic databases.

History
Measurements and Cartography by the Danes in Iceland "In 1956, the National Land Survey of Iceland was established as an independent institution. However, the history of the projects that the institution took over in 1956 can be traced back to the turn of the 20th century when the surveying department of the Danish War Ministry (later known as Geodætisk Institut) began surveying and mapping here in Iceland. The project continued for 27 summers from 1900 to 1940. The result was 670 map titles, of which 227 were published, including the Atlas maps and the War Ministry maps that many are familiar with.

In connection with the surveys, a large number of original documents were created and stored at Geodætisk Institut, such as drawings, photographs, and surveying books. Ágúst Böðvarsson (later director of the National Land Survey) emphasized the importance for Icelanders to have access to and ownership of these data.

Negotiations between the National Land Survey of Iceland and Geodætisk Institut led to the original documents being sent to Iceland, in batches, the last shipment being in 1985.

In 1937 and 1938, the Danes also took aerial photographs of Iceland to facilitate the mapping of the highlands. However, the procedure for taking those aerial photographs was different from the one generally used for mapping (oblique photography).

In 1951, a new chapter in mapping in Iceland began: the acquisition and production of aerial photographs for mapping. This marked the beginning of a specialized aerial photography era at the National Land Survey of Iceland, which lasted until the year 2000. In total, around 140,000 aerial photographs of the country were taken.

NATO, AMS and Hjörsey

In 1955, extensive land surveying efforts began in Iceland as part of the initiative of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). These surveys were part of a larger surveying project involving countries around the North Atlantic. The surveys were completed in the summer of 1956, and the Cartographic Division of the United States Department of Defense, AMS (Army Map Service), supervised the project in Iceland. Collaborative partners were the National Land Survey of Iceland and the Geodætisk Institut.

The outcomes of this project included, among other things, the establishment and expansion of a new triangulation network covering all of Iceland, which was named Hjörsey on Mýrar. Additionally, a series of topographic maps of Iceland at a scale of 1:50,000 were produced. The mapping work was carried out in collaboration with the AMS, both overseas and domestically. According to an overview of the maps, about 200 map sheets cover the entire country.

IS 50V

In 1998, the National Land Survey of Iceland started working on creating a digital map database for Iceland. The database was built on topographic maps at a scale of 1:50,000, which were based on measurements conducted in 1955 and 1956. The goal of the project was to create a comprehensive digital database covering the entire country. Experts from various institutions, both domestic and foreign, along with specialists from the National Land Survey, contributed to this significant and complex undertaking.

The first edition of IS 50V (the Icelandic Spatial Data Infrastructure) was officially released at the end of 2003. Initially, the database was developed based on information from published maps at a scale of 1:50,000. However, it has since been updated using new data, cooperation, and data exchange with other public entities.

Geodectic Network of Iceland

In August 2004, the Fundamental Geodetic Network of Iceland (ISN93) was resurveyed according to a plan to measure the network at a 10-year interval. Alongside that, the reference frame ISN2004 was published. The Fundamental Geodetic Network serves as the foundation for other surveying activities in Iceland and, therefore, forms the basis for digital mapping, geographical information systems, and various engineering projects. The latest resurvey was scheduled for the summer of 2016 (ISN2016).

CORINE

In 2007, the National Land Survey of Iceland became a formal participant in the Corine project (Coordination of Information on the Environment), which is a pan-European project that classifies land cover types across Europe using standardized methods. The land cover is categorized into the following five classes: artificial surfaces, agricultural areas, forests and semi-natural areas, wetlands, and water bodies. The National Land Survey of Iceland is responsible for coordinating the project in Iceland, and the project is carried out in collaboration with various institutions and all municipalities in the country, which provide diverse data for the project.

Place name collection

In December 2015, the remarkable milestone of over 100,000 place names had been located and registered in the place names (Örnefni in Icelandic) database of the National Land Survey of Iceland. There has been significant effort in registering place names over the past decades. The first comprehensive laws regarding place names in Iceland were approved in the Icelandic Parliament on March 3, 2015. The laws state that the National Land Survey of Iceland should be responsible for the registration, maintenance, and dissemination of the place names database in consultation with the Árni Magnússon Institute for Icelandic Studies.

General DirectorsThe National Land Survey of Iceland started its operations in Akranes on January 1st, 1999. Magnús Guðmundsson was appointed as the new director from the same day. Prior to him, five directors had served starting from Geir G. Zoëga (1956-1959), Ágúst Böðvarsson (1959-1976), Bragi Guðmundsson (1976-1985), Birgir Guðjónsson (1985) and Ágúst Guðmundsson (1985-1998)"  . The current general director is Gunnar Haukur Kristinsson taking the place of Eydís Líndal Finnbogadóttir (2019-2021).