natt

name	natt
description	Náttúrufræðistofnun habitat types, species and geology via GeoServer WFS/WMS — vistgerðir 1:25k polygons.

Náttúrufræðistofnun (NÍ) — Open data

Náttúrufræðistofnun Íslands (Icelandic Institute of Natural History) publishes habitat-type, species-distribution, and geological data as open data.

• Public download portal: https://www.natt.is/is/midlun/opin-gogn/nidurhal-gagna
• Habitat-map viewer: http://vistgerdakort.ni.is/
• Map browser: https://kort.gis.is/mapview/
• Reference monograph (Fjölrit 54, 2018): http://utgafa.ni.is/fjolrit/Fjolrit_54.pdf
• Change-log between 1st and 3rd edition: http://utgafa.ni.is/kort/lysigogn/vg25r_3utg_breytingar.pdf
• License: "Gögnin eru öllum opin" — open, no use restrictions.

OGC services

NÍ runs a GeoServer at https://gis.natt.is/geoserver/. It hosts both NÍ's own layers and several layers federated from LMI / Hagstofan / Skógræktin.

• WFS GetCapabilities: https://gis.natt.is/geoserver/wfs?service=WFS&version=2.0.0&request=GetCapabilities
• WMS GetCapabilities: https://gis.natt.is/geoserver/wms?service=WMS&version=1.3.0&request=GetCapabilities
• All layers are published in EPSG:3057 (ISN93 / LCC Iceland).
• WFS supports outputFormat=application/json (GeoJSON) and CQL filters via CQL_FILTER=….

Vistgerðir á Íslandi (3. útgáfa, 1:25.000) — habitat types

Habitat types ("vistgerðir") are NÍ's national EUNIS-aligned classification. There are 64 land-, 17 freshwater-, and 24 coastal-shore habitat types, documented in Fjölrit 54.

The 3rd edition (vg25_3utg) is published as:

• raster: ni_vg25r_3utg (5 m grid; download as GeoTIFF / file-GDB / shapefile)
• vector polygons (one row per habitat patch, derived from the raster): LMI_vektor:vistgerd on the WFS — title "Vistgerð 25r v3.0 fyrirspurnir"

The vector layer's schema is:

field	type	meaning
geom	Polygon (EPSG:3057)	habitat patch geometry
DN	int	habitat-type code (raster cell value)
htxt	str	human-readable label, e.g. "L14.2 Tún og akurlendi"

Total polygons: ~24M (most are tiny — the layer is the polygonised raster).

DN → habitat-type mapping (subset of interest)

Codes and labels are sampled from the WFS attributes; spelling matches the service exactly (Icelandic special chars come back as cp1252 mojibake when GeoServer is asked for plain text — request outputFormat=application/json to get correct UTF-8).

DN	Code	Label
1–5	L1.1–L1.5	Melavistir (gravel/sand barrens)
6–8	L3.1–L3.3	Skriðuvistir (scree)
9–10	L4.1–L4.2	Eyrar / aurar (river plains)
11–13	L5.1–L5.3	Mosavistir (moss)
15–17	L6.1, L6.3, L6.4	Hraunavistir (lava fields)
19–25	L7.*	Strandvistir (coastal terrestrial)
26–38	L8.*	Mýrar / flóar (mires / fens)
39–45	L9.*	Graslendi (grasslands)
46–55	L10.*	Móar / kjarrlendi (heaths / scrub)
95	L14.2	Tún og akurlendi (cultivated hayfield + arable)
98	V1	Vötn (lakes)
99	V2	Ár (rivers)
108	L13.1	Jöklar og urðarjöklar (glaciers / rock glaciers)
150	L14.1	Þéttbýli og annað manngert land (urban / man-made)
152	L11	Birkiskógur (birch woodland)
153	L14.3	Skógrækt (forestry)
160	L14.4	Alaskalúpína (Alaska lupine — invasive)
162	L14.6	Skógarkerfill ofl. þéttar tegundir (cow-parsley etc.)
175	F	Fjöruvistir (intertidal)
176	FX1.1	Sjávarlón (coastal lagoons)

Counting / fetching one habitat type

Filter on DN (CQL htxt LIKE 'L14.2%' works too but DN is faster):

# count
curl -sS "https://gis.natt.is/geoserver/wfs?service=WFS&version=2.0.0\
&request=GetFeature&typeNames=LMI_vektor:vistgerd\
&CQL_FILTER=DN=95&resultType=hits"

# download as GeoJSON (EPSG:3057)
curl -sS "https://gis.natt.is/geoserver/wfs?service=WFS&version=2.0.0\
&request=GetFeature&typeNames=LMI_vektor:vistgerd\
&CQL_FILTER=DN=95&outputFormat=application/json&srsName=EPSG:3057" \
  -o data/raw/natt/L14.2_tun_og_akurlendi.geojson

For L14.2 (cultivated land) the count is ~16,600 polygons and total area ~1,800 km², matching the figure on the natt.is habitat page.

Other vector layers in the WFS

The WFS exposes ~150 layers. Beyond LMI_vektor:vistgerd the most useful for nature/agriculture work are:

Layer	What
ni:ni_vg25v_fl	Coastal-shore habitat polygons (24 fjöru-vistir)
ni:ni_vg25v_li	Running-water lines
ni:ni_vg25v_pt	Cold/thermal-spring points
ni:vistgerdir_punktar	Field-survey sample points
ni:Floraisl_dreifing	Vascular-plant distribution (Flóra Íslands)
ni:Smadyr_dreifing	Invertebrate distribution
ni:hvitabjorn_a_islandi	Polar-bear sightings
land_og_skogur:natturulegt_birkilendi	Natural birch woodland (Skógræktin)
land_og_skogur:raektad_skoglendi	Cultivated forest (Skógræktin)
land_og_skogur:jardvegsrof	Soil erosion
CORINE:clc18_is, clc12_is, clc06_is, clc00_is	CORINE Land Cover for Iceland

Caveats

• The text-based GeoServer responses (GML/CSV) come through as cp1252-mojibake for Icelandic characters. Always request outputFormat=application/json for clean UTF-8.
• The vector LMI_vektor:vistgerd is the polygonised version of the raster ni_vg25r_3utg — many tiny polygons. For map rendering at country scale, dissolve or simplify after filtering.
• Edition 3 (2023) reshuffled L-codes vs edition 1 — see vg25r_3utg_breytingar.pdf before mixing data across editions.
• The WFS server can be slow on un-indexed CQL filters; filtering on DN (integer) is much faster than htxt LIKE ….