Data users in Norway and other countries have different demands as regards the formats in which data is to be supplied. Geonorge must aim to meet these needs, as well as ensuring that formats are standardised in order to bring about an efficient spatial data infrastructure.
The Norwegian SOSI format has traditionally been used as an exchange format nationally, and this is defined as the national standard format. Internationalisation and technological development are resulting in the development of additional relevant formats.
GML is defined as the standard format for the EU's INSPIRE Directive, to which Norway is affiliated. It is natural for Geonorge to supply data in GML format in order to meet the needs of its users.
Not all formats are relevant for all topics and data types. More data is turning up as 3D, while other data uses time dimensions. Some users need data with complex structures, while others want simple structures for easy consumption. Agencies with their own data download offerings should also be offering the same formats, so as to bring about a homogeneous supply of data formats in the Norwegian spatial data infrastructure.
The following formats are important and may be emphasised in particular in Geonorge
Standard vector formats
- SOSI
- GML
- POSTGIS
- FGDB
Other vector formats
- GEOJSON
- GPX
- KML
Standard raster formats
- TIFF
- JPEG
Other raster formats
- GRIB
- NETCDF
We are seeing a lot of new technical development in terms of formats and APIs. Geonorge and the Norwegian spatial data infrastructure are looking towards Europe and global trends. We will be looking more closely at a number of important format and APIs in future
- GEOPACKAGE
- RDF
- SOS
- WCS
Full list of formats handled in Geonorge and the spatial data infrastructure, see
If you have any tips or information about formats that you would like to share, please submit your information to post@norgedigitalt.no