Browse through our NBS Case Studies collection and see where Nature-based Solutions are implemented around the world. You can filter the solutions by hazard, landscape, SDGs and more. You can also download an NBS profile.

You can use the Map to create your own maps. The Map offers a large set of layers that can be combined and analyzed. For instance, you can see what the population density is in a flood prone area. Then, you can download the map you created.

Check out the Policy Finder and see which legislation and policies are related to Nature-based Solutions. You can filter them by country, hazard or NBS intervention.

Register & Sign-in

Do I need to register and log in to use the platform?

Actually, you don’t need to! But you can get more benefits and features when you do! For example, you can review your added content. It’s getting complicated? First start browsing the platform and think about registering later!

If you decide to register, simply click on the button in the top right corner and sign up:

Step 1: Sign up

Enter your details and click on the ‘Register’ button.

Step 2: Sign in

Log in with your email address and password

Search and filter the Nature-based Solutions for your needs!

The blue search bar offers to search for and filter Nature-based Solutions.

1. Type your keywords in the search field or select filters for a specific Nature-based Solution Type or Hazard (if you click on the two arrows, you will get more filter options).

2. Select your choice and press the search button.

3. The results will be shown on the map and listed underneath the map. 

How can I get more information?

Simply click on the Nature-based Solution that interests you and a new page will open with a lot of more information!

Can I share a Nature-based Solution?

Yes, once you have clicked on one Nature-based Solution and you see more information, you find share buttons under the table of content on the left side (see image below). Simply select the social media channel or only ‘Copy NBS link’ and share the solution with your peer!

How can I compare different Nature-based Solutions?

1. In the results list, on the bottom of each Nature-based Solution, you find a ✓

2. Click the ✓ of the ones that interest you (up to 5) and the tick will double

3. Click on the orange button (see image below) to compare the selected case studies

4. A new page will open for comparing them

What is the layer manager?

It is the place where you can get information about the layers or where you can change settings (e.g., change the opacity). Have a look at the figure below to see which buttons do what:

Do you want to know how many people live in 1 km2 in your street or get other information?

1. Simply click on the point of your interest on the map and you will get the values of all maps that you can see on the interface. You can also click on the Nature-based Solution location icons to get more information.

2. After selecting a point of your interest, a window will pop up presenting you the information of the point of interest (see image below).

Step 1: Zoom in to the location of your interest

Go to Map. At first glance you see a map with colorful icons which represent the Nature-based Solutions that are available in the NBS Case Studies. Locate to Mariehamn to find the Nature-based Solution.

You can see the Nature-based Solution marked with a yellow icon.

Step 2: Organize your maps

On the left side of the map, you can see which maps are currently visible ('NBS categorized by hazard categories' and ‘Open-Air Laboratories’). You don’t need the second map (‘Open-Air Laboratories’) for this; thus, you can remove it by clicking on the wheel next to it and then on ‘Delete the layer from the map’.

Step 3: Add more maps to the interface

Now, you want to add the land cover map: Click on ‘Add predefined layer to the map’ and navigate via ‘Land cover/land use’ > ‘Ecosystem’ to ‘Land cover (2018shp)’. To add the map to the interface, click on it and the font will turn into a light blue color and the map will load in the interface.

Go back to the initial view by clicking on the icon in the blue bar where is written 'Layer'.

Step 4: Manage the maps

Now, you have the issue that the new map is covering the icon for the Nature-based Solution. Click and hold the arrow next to the wheel. Move the land cover map under the NBS map by moving it downwards.

In the last step, you would like to make the Land Cover map a bit transparent so that the road names are visible. To make the map more transparent, click on the wheel button, and adjust the opacity.

What does the Policy Catalogue has to offer?

→ you can open the policy document directly

→ it shows you a selection of similar policies

→ it presents you which NBS case studies (from the NBS Catalogue) are linked to this policy document

Do I need to register and log in?

You don’t need to log in if you simply want to browse datasets. However, if you want to add datasets, you will need to log in first. You can register by clicking on ‘Register’ in the top menu.

Register:

Enter your information and click create an account.

Log in:

The login can be reached from the top menu. Enter your username and password to login.

To add your data: 

1. Log in;

2. complete the list of metadata;

3. click on save dataset and add data;

4. add the actual dataset by clicking the button add data and either upload a file or provide the link to the dataset; and

5. save.

Metadata are data about data which help easier discovery of data (geospatial and non-geospatial as well). Metadata enrich information about data and help both, users and computers to better understand data. In OPERANDUM we encode metadata in compliance with INSPIRE EU directive^[1].

Here, you can find explanations for each of the metadata fields:

Title: This should be concise and descriptive. It should contain at least the type of data, rough geographical coverage/name.

• E.g. Flood events in OAL Greece in last 100 years.

• Average temperature in EU in the last 30 years.

• Locations of ground stations in OAL Austria.

• Bad examples of titles: 1. Flood, 2. OAL Austria, 3. Stations, etc.

Abstract: In the abstract you explain in more detail what the dataset contains, the source and spatial and temporal extent.

License: See drop down menu.

Organization: This is set by default to the organization that the user belongs to. If the user belongs to multiple organizations, they will be ordered alphabetically, and the user needs to select one.

Visibility:

• Public - Everyone can see the dataset.

• Private - Only the owner of the dataset and other members from the organization.

• Only visible to OPERANDUM members - Only OPERANDUM partners will be able to view/download datasets.

Resource type: Resource type is one of most important attributes because it determines the rest of the metadata elements which are generated. For instance, spatial data, data series or service have more spatial metadata while other types such as “Policy” have less.

• Spatial dataset (file or a layer from a service): not restricted only to geospatial formats such as GML, GeoJSON, WMS, WFS. It could be also a text file that contains locations of flood events or locations of sensors.

• Spatial data series (one or more files that contain data over time): for instance, observations of temperature in last 50 years or annual temperatures in Europe in last 100 years.

• Spatial data service: the service that contains geospatial data such as OGC WMS, WFS, WCS service.

• Observation/measurement data: data produced by observation instruments or sensors.

• Policy document: any policy or permit document.

• Questionnaire/survey: any kind of document that shows collected responses from people.

• Other non-spatial dataset.

Has NBS relation: If the dataset is associated to a specific NBS case study user can select Yes and associate the dataset to the NBS, otherwise NBS key elements have to be entered automatically. If the NBS doesn’t exist, the user has to enter it before adding dataset.

• Yes – user selects the desired NBS intervention. NBS interventions can be explored in the NBS Case Studies. By associating an NBS with the dataset we have access to all NBS key elements.

• No – user adds manually information about NBS key elements. All fields allow multiple selection.

Data status: Dataset can have multiple statuses. For example, user can upload raw observations, then after processing the processed version the OPERANDUM committee checks the dataset status and can set it to “Approved by OPERANDUM committee”.

Topic category: This is high level classification of a dataset. User can select one or more categories.

Thematic accuracy: Accuracy expressed in the percentage and the description of error concept for the dataset.

Keywords:

• Three to five keywords describing dataset separated by comma.

• Very important to increase discoverability of the dataset.

Geographic bounding box: Spatial extent of the dataset. Even non-spatial data can have this attribute. For instance, an EU directive can have a spatial extent of Europe or a questionnaire done on citizens of Austria will have a spatial extent of Austria.

• BBOX coordinates – user can enter lat/long of lower left and upper right corner of BBOX rectangle expressed in WGS84.

• BBOX selector – if the user doesn’t know the coordinates, he/she can select a region/country and BBOX coordinates will be extracted from the selected region/country.

Date of creation: Date of adding dataset, i.e. filling out the metadata. Must be in ISO 8601 format (e.g. YYYY-MM-DD -> 2019-12-16).

Temporal extent start: Date of acquiring or date of observation. Also, if the resource contains multiple time epochs, here the user can denote the timestamp of the oldest time epoch.

Temporal extent end: If the dataset has an expiry period, here the user can define the end of temporal extent. In case of multiple time epochs, here the user will denote the timestamp of the newest time epoch.

Temporal resolution: If the resource contains multiple time epochs, here, the user can specify their resolution in days (1, 7, 28, 365, etc.).

Temporal validity: The time period between the last update of the dataset and the targeted NBS creation date expressed in days. For instance, if the dataset is older than one year then it can be estimated as an invalid dataset for that NBS.

Lineage: This is the description of the process that was applied to produce the dataset/s. For instance, for imagery one could enter photogrammetric survey, LIDAR. For questionnaire, one could write, a survey performed on the citizens of county XY.

Conformity specification: This is the statement on the conformity against certain specification if such specification exists. For instance, for INSPIRE datasets one can insert a link or write the name of technical guideline for the dataset. For imagery, one could put a link to national standards to perform photogrammetric/UAV surveys. If no specification has been applied, then just write No conformity specification.

Conformity degree: Here, you write whether the dataset is conformant/non-conformant, or the conformity has not been evaluated.

Limitations on public access: If the owner has set limitations on public access, they should be listed here.

Conditions applying to access and use: Under which conditions the resource can be accessed and used.

Responsible party for described resource: The name of the responsible organisation or person.

Responsible party email for described resource: Email address.

Responsible party role for described resource: Select from drop down menu.

Resource language: The language of the textual information in the resource. If the resource contains non-textual information, select Non-textual information only.

Metadata dependency on the resource type: For spatial data, spatial data series, spatial service:

• Main data type – a finer grained classification of spatial resources: vector, raster

• Spatial data service type - applicable only to spatial service.

• Spatial data service classification - applicable only to spatial service.

• GEMET keyword – a set of predefined keywords to classify the dataset.

• EPSG code – the code of the projection used to display geospatial data. List of projections can be found at http://epsg.io/ .

• Vertical spatial coverage – extent of the resource in a vertical direction.

• Horizontal spatial resolution.

• Vertical spatial resolution – if the dataset contains information about heights.

Applicable to Policy documents, questionnaires/surveys or other non-spatial document:

• Main data type

• Other: Documents, building diaries, permitting path

^[1] http://inspire.ec.europa.eu

Can I make changes to the metadata?

You can edit the dataset that you or a member of your organization have created. In order to edit existing datasets:

1. select the dataset;

2. click on the ‘Manage’ button, which is placed above the dataset title;

3. then the ‘Edit dataset’ view is displayed where you can edit any metadata field or you can manage (add, delete) files within the dataset; and 

4. save your edits.