A
Control and levelling
Primary and secondary control networks, precise levelling, deformation monitoring on dams and quays. Adjusted in-house, reported with the residuals attached.
±2 mm / km
69°38′55″ N 18°57′10″ E / est. 1998
We measure the coast
and draw what is
actually there.
A survey and cartography office in Tromsø. Six people, two boats, one plotter that has never once jammed on a Friday.
- 114 sheets published
- 28 years above the Arctic Circle
- 6 cartographers and surveyors
- 2 survey vessels
01
What we do, in four parts
B
Airborne and terrestrial lidar
Point clouds at 40 to 400 points per square metre, classified and delivered as LAZ with a terrain model on top. We fly our own missions between March and October.
400 pt/m²
C
Hydrographic survey
Multibeam bathymetry to IHO Special Order in sheltered water, Order 1a offshore. Tide-reduced against our own gauges, not the nearest port.
IHO S-44
D
Cartographic production
Everything above turned into a sheet somebody can fold in a wind. Colour, hierarchy and generalisation are decided by a cartographer, not a default style.
6 colours
02
Published sheets
Sold at the office and by six chandlers along the coast. Every sheet carries its survey date on the reverse; we do not reprint without resurveying.
| Sheet | Area | Scale | Projection | Ed. | Year |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| N-114 | Kvaløya, north coast | 1:25 000 | ETRS89 / UTM 34N | 4th | 2026 |
| N-108 | Lyngen, glacier margins | 1:15 000 | ETRS89 / UTM 34N | 2nd | 2025 |
| N-097 | Tromsøysundet approaches | 1:10 000 | ETRS89 / UTM 33N | 7th | 2025 |
| N-091 | Senja, western fjords | 1:50 000 | ETRS89 / UTM 33N | 3rd | 2024 |
| N-083 | Balsfjord, valley floor | 1:25 000 | ETRS89 / UTM 34N | 5th | 2024 |
| N-076 | Ringvassøya interior | 1:50 000 | ETRS89 / UTM 34N | 2nd | 2023 |
03
Terrain, honestly generalised
A contour is an opinion about where a slope stops being one slope. We publish ours at three generalisation levels and say which one you are looking at.
Our terrain models come out of lidar we flew ourselves, so we know what the vegetation was doing that week and how much of the ground we actually saw through it.
Where the point cloud is thin, the sheet says so. There is a small grey tint on the reverse index for every square kilometre we would not stake a boat on.
04
Where the instruments are
- 69°40′ N18°57′ ETromsø, office and store
- 69°47′ N18°38′ EKvaløya, control pillar KV-2
- 69°35′ N20°12′ ELyngen, glacier stakes
- 69°22′ N17°25′ ESenja, tide gauge SE-1
- 70°04′ N19°02′ ERingvassøya, GNSS base
05
Storgata 62, Tromsø
- Office
- Storgata 62, 9008 Tromsø
Mon to Fri, 08.00 to 16.00 - Enquiries
- post@nordlicht.example
+47 00 00 00 00 - Sheets
- Over the counter, or by post anywhere in Norway.
NOK 180 flat, folded or rolled. - Field season
- Airborne work March to October.
Hydrographic work all year, weather allowing.
How a sheet is coloured
Three tints, printed in that order. Every sheet in the catalogue uses the same three and nothing else.
01
Water and depth
Flat tint under everything. Two steps only: charted depth and the rest. A third step would imply a survey we have not done.
02
Relief and slope
Hillshade from our own lidar, never from a public model. Where the cloud is thin the tint stops and the sheet says so.
03
Culture and route
The only layer allowed the accent blue. Roads, tracks, cairns, and the two ferries that still run in winter.
Instruments on the shelf
Everything is owned, calibrated annually, and taken to the field by the person who booked it.
- Total stationLeica TS16Control and detailFeb 2026
- GNSS pairTrimble R12iStatic and RTKJan 2026
- Digital levelLeica LS15Precise levellingFeb 2026
- Lidar, airborneRiegl VUX-1Terrain captureMar 2026
- MultibeamKongsberg EM 2040BathymetryNov 2025
- Tide gaugesOwn build, 4 offReductionContinuous
Asked at the counter
- Why is my house not on the sheet?
- Buildings under twelve square metres are omitted at 1:25 000 and everything is omitted at 1:50 000. It is on the survey; it is not on the print.
- Can I have the data instead of the sheet?
- Yes, as LAZ or GeoPackage, at the same price. We will ask what you intend to do with it, not to refuse you but because the answer changes which product is right.
- Do you correct errors?
- Every reported error is checked within a fortnight and the sheet is reissued at the next printing. The errata list is on the counter, on paper, going back to 1998.
- Why no digital hillshade on the 1:50 000?
- Because at that scale it hides the contours, which are the thing you actually navigate by.