geo.be Metadata Catalog
geo.be Metadata Catalog (National Geographic Institute)
https://publish.geo.be:/geonetwork/srv/eng/thesaurus.download?ref=external.theme.httpinspireeceuropaeumetadatacodelistSpatialScope-SpatialScope (2)
Continents, countries, sea regions of the world.
INSPIRE compliant discovery service for geographic information made available by the Belgian Federal Government.
•The custodian of the resource holds the rights of property (including the rights of intellectual property) to the geographic files •The custodian grants the user the right to use the data for his internal use. •Commercial use of the data under any form is strictly forbidden •Custodian’s name must be mentioned each time the data are being used publically.
Networks of automatic lidar-ceilometer systems
The ceilometer CL51 employs a pulsed diode laser LIDAR technology, where short, powerful laser pulses are sent out in a vertical or near-vertical direction. The reflection of light (backscatter) caused by clouds, precipitation or other obscuration is analysed and used to determine the cloud base height, the cloud layer height and the amount of clouds (in octas) in different layers.
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The cloud base height, the cloud layer height and the amount of clouds in different layers are computed by the Vaisala CL51 algorithm based on raw backscatter data (time resolution: 6 s and vertical resolution: 10 m). The sky condition algorithm is calculated every five minutes based on data collected during the last 30 minutes. The last 10 minutes are double-weighted to make the algorithm more responsive to variations in cloudiness. The algorithm uses cloud base height and timing information to find cloud base height close each other. These cloud base height are combined into clusters and a height value is calculated for each cluster. This height gives the base height of a cloud layer represented by the cluster. The algorithm reports layers by combining clusters whose heights are close to each other and then selecting clusters that cover the greatest amount of sky.
View Service (WMS) for Synoptic observations
INSPIRE View service - Electricity network
This web service allows viewing/downloading datasets from Electricity network
AdminMap is the digital version of the administrative map. Two versions exist: the most complete one on the scale of 1:300 000 and a simplified version on the scale of 1:500 000. These maps show the different administrative units on the Belgian territory, from the federal State to the center of the districts for the 1:500 000. The map also shows the map grid of the National Geographic Institute. An index allows localizing the different units. The index also contains information on the linguistic statutes and on the postal codes.
AdminMap is made by symbolisation of the NGI’s administrative reference data.
This dataset contains the administrative units for the organisation of elections, within their boundaries as established by Annex I of the Electoral Code.
Administrative, statistical and cadastral units
The boundaries of the electoral cantons were digitised by the National Geographical Institute in accordance with the definition in Annex I of the Electoral Code. For this purpose, NGI used the authentic administrative data of the FPS Finance.
Benthic habitat condition dataset in support of the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD) Descriptor 6 (D06C05, 2018 Reporting)
This dataset is part of the 2018 Belgian submission for the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD) linked to descriptor 6, criterion 5. It comprises three datasets used to assess the sea floor integrity for ensuring a proper functioning of the ecosystem.The dataset on the study of the fauna associated with cobble fields (hard substrates) describes the gravel analysis performed in the Belgian part of the North Sea between 2015 and 2017. Information on the location, date and procedure used for the sediment sampling is provided as well as the description of species found in the samples.The occurrence of important benthic species. The status of benthic habitats (soft substrates).
(Criteria) D6C5 - Benthic habitat condition
Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2023/138 of 21 December 2022 laying down a list of specific high-value datasets and the arrangements for their publication and re-use (Text with EEA relevance)
Greater North Sea, incl. the Kattegat and the English Channel
Data on cobble fields benthic species are gathered by MARECO, those on soft substrate and important benthic species by ILVO, and are presented to BMDC as excel files. The headers of the excel files are normalized and quality managed as Common-Layout files, and are awaiting import into IDOD.
INSPIRE view service for the IDOD database-WMS
INSPIRE compliant view service for geographic information of marine datasets made available by the Royal Belgian Institute for Natural Sciences (RBINS) in the IDOD (Integrated and Dynamical Oceanographic Database) database.
Seasonal physiological and carbon‑related measurements of suspension feeders (Mytilus edulis and Balanus crenatus) from laboratory experiments in the Belgian marine environment
UNDER EMBARGO - This dataset contains seasonal physiological measurements from controlled laboratory experiments on two dominant suspension-feeding species expected to colonise floating offshore structures: the blue mussel (Mytilus edulis; AphiaID 140480) and the wrinkled barnacle (Balanus crenatus; AphiaID 106215). The measured parameters include clearance rates, respiration rates, faecal pellet production rates, and faecal pellet sinking velocities. Mussels were collected from an aquaculture longline at the Westdiep SeaFarm, while barnacles were manually retrieved from the intertidal beachhead at Raversijde (Oostende, Belgium). All experiments were conducted using natural seawater collected from offshore sites in the Belgian part of the North Sea. Measurements were repeated across multiple seasons to capture temporal variability in physiological performance. The dataset was produced within the SWiM and EcoMPV projects and is suitable for reuse in ecosystem and biogeochemical modelling, including simulations of phytoplankton dynamics associated with large-scale offshore marine photovoltaic (MPV) developments.
Physiological measurements were obtained from controlled laboratory incubations following standardised protocols. After an acclimation period, faecal pellets were collected using a vacuum-based siphoning system and subsequently used to determine sinking velocity in still-water columns by timing their descent over fixed distances. Pellet lengths were measured from microscope images analysed in ImageJ. Respiration rates were derived from changes in dissolved oxygen concentration, which were continuously monitored using calibrated Firesting optical oxygen sensors placed in stirred incubation chambers. Clearance rates were calculated from changes in particle concentration measured with a Coulter counter, and faecal pellet production was quantified from the dry mass and carbon content of pellets collected over known time intervals. All physiological rates were standardised to organism dry weight and carbon content, determined after drying soft tissues. Quality control procedures included calibration of sensors prior to measurements, the use of replicates and procedural controls, verification of calculation procedures, and the dataset underwent standard quality checks before harmonisation and archiving.
Bird density profiles derived from weather radar measurements
Bird density profiles are derived from weather radar volume data in real time, by the vol2bird algorithm as described in Dokter et al. (2011, 2019). The vol2bird algorithm exploits the radar reflectivity characteristics of different scatterers in the atmosphere, in order to distinguish biological from non-biological radar echoes. Once biological scatterers are isolated in the volume files, the reflectivity of these scatterers is converted in an estimate of the bird density per vertical layer of 200m, using a mean cross section of 11 cm2. The vbird profiles are provided for the following radars, with the radar owner in parentheses: Jabbeke (RMI), Wideumont (RMI), Helchteren (VMM), Zaventem (Skeyes), Herwijnen (KNMI), Den Helder (KNMI), Neuheilenbach (DWD), Essen (DWD), Abbeville (Météo-France) and Avesnois (Météo-France). References: - Dokter A.M., Liechti F., Stark H., Delobbe L., Tabary P., Holleman I., Bird migration flight altitudes studied by a network of operational weather radars, J. R. Soc. Interface, 8, 30–43, 2011, DOI 10.1098/rsif.2010.0116 - Dokter A.M., Desmet P., Spaaks J.H., van Hoey S., Veen L., Verlinden L., Nilsson C., Haase G., Leijnse H., Farnsworth A., Bouten W., Shamoun-Baranes J., bioRad: biological analysis and visualization of weather radar data, Ecography, 42, 852-860, 2019, DOI 10.1111/ecog.04028
Bird density profiles are generated for every individual radar volume scan, and hence inherit the time resolution from the originating radar scan cycle. All radars used in this data repository operate in a five minute scan cycle. The produced output file is a plain text file, and contains a concatenation of subsequent vertical profile outputs (vpts = vertical profile time series). It contains the following columns: - date: Date (UTC) - time: Time (UTC) - HGHT: Height bin (lower bound) in m above ground level. - u: Speed component west to east in m/s. - v: Speed component north to south in m/s. - w: Vertical speed (unreliable!) in m/s. - ff: Horizontal speed in m/s. - dd: Direction in degrees clockwise from north. - sd_vvp: VVP radial velocity standard deviation in m/s. - gap: Angular data gap detected in T/F. - dbz: Animal reflectivity factor in dBZ. - eta: Animal reflectivity in cm2/km3. - dens: Animal density in animals/km3. - DBZH: Total reflectivity factor (bio + meteo scattering) in dBZ. - n: Number of data points used for the ground speed estimates (quantities u, v, w, ff, dd). - n_all: Number of data points used for the radial velocity standard deviation estimate (quantity sd_vvp). - n_dbz: Number of data points used for reflectivity-based estimates (quantities dbz, eta, dens). - n_dbz_all: Number of data points used for the total reflectivity estimate (quantity DBZH). The bird density profiles are provided as is, without any manual or automatic quality control.
Royal Meteorological Institute of Belgium
Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences (RBINS), Directorate Natural Environment (OD Nature), Belgian Marine Data Centre (BMDC)
Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences (RBINS)
Royal Belgian Institute for Natural Sciences (RBINS), Directorate Natural Environment (OD Nature), Belgian Marine Data Centre (BMDC)
Instituut voor Landbouw- en Visserijonderzoek - Visserij (ILVO)
Royal Belgian Institute for Natural Sciences (RBINS), Directorate Natural Environment (OD Nature)
Royal Belgian Institute for Natural Sciences, Directorate Natural Environment, GeoCell