Data quality and update frequency
Placepoint passes on data from public agencies, kommuner and commercial vendors. This means the quality and timeliness of the data depends on the sources, not on Placepoint alone. This page explains who owns the most important datasets, what determines the update frequency, and why you sometimes see discrepancies on the map.
How the data sources work
The table below gives an overview of the main data types, their owner and typical update frequency. For details per dataset, see the individual dataset descriptions under Data and sources.
| Data type | Owner / source | Typical update frequency |
|---|---|---|
| Property boundaries and matrikkel | Kartverket | About 30 minutes (near real time) |
| Building data | Kartverket (Matrikkelen + FKB) | Continuously via geosynchronisation |
| Transactions and purchase price | Kartverket (Registration of title / Grunnboken) | Daily |
| Zoning plans | Kartverket / municipal plan registers | Daily for kommuner with geosynchronisation; 1 to 2 times per year for the rest |
| Municipal plans | Kartverket / municipal plan registers | When a new plan is adopted |
| Municipality Borders | Kartverket | On administrative change |
| Population (grunnkrets, basic statistical unit) | Statistisk sentralbyrå (SSB) via Geodata AS | Annually |
| Income and wealth | Statistisk sentralbyrå (SSB) via Geodata AS | Annually |
| Flood and landslide zones | Norges vassdrags- og energidirektorat (NVE) | Continuously, as new hazard zone assessments are made |
| Quick clay assessments | Norges vassdrags- og energidirektorat (NVE) | Continuously |
| Cultural heritage (Askeladden) | Riksantikvaren | Continuously |
| Ownership and Company Structure | Brønnøysundregistrene (BRREG) | Continuously |
Why do discrepancies occur?
Even though Placepoint mirror-imports data from authoritative national registers, discrepancies can occur between what you see in Placepoint and what you see at the kommune or another source. The most common reasons:
Delayed updates. It takes time from a change being registered at the source until it is visible in Placepoint. Matrikkel data normally has a delay of about 30 minutes. Zoning data for kommuner without geosynchronisation can be months behind. SSB figures are published once a year and reflect the situation on a specific date, not today.
Different registration dates. A building application can have one date at the kommune, another in the matrikkel and a third in the building case archive. None of them is wrong: they record different events in different systems.
Municipal mergers and administrative changes. The municipal mergers in 2019 to 2020 created situations where historical data had old municipality numbers, and where the borders on the map did not match the new naming pattern for a long time. The data has gradually been updated, but it is not unusual to find traces of the old divisions in historical datasets.
Kommuner that have not submitted data. Some kommuner have not connected their plan register to Kartverket's geosynchronisation service. Zoning plans and municipal plans for these kommuner are updated less often and may be missing brand new plans.
Different frames of interpretation. An awareness map from NVE uses different methodological limits than a geotechnical report. A grunnkrets population count from SSB does not use exactly the same boundaries as the kommune uses in its planning. The figures are not wrong, but neither are they directly comparable without knowing the methodology.
Special cases: kommuner with enclaves
Some kommuner have enclaves, that is, geographic areas that belong to one kommune but are surrounded by another. This can cause colour confusion on the map, where the municipality colour does not match the neighbouring kommune that covers the surrounding area.
Known examples on the Placepoint map:
- Horten: Parts of the area of Horten kommune are geographically surrounded by Færder and Tønsberg.
- Larvik: Some grunnkretser belonging to Larvik can lie on both sides of adjoining kommuner.
- Stjørdal: Enclave-like situations after the municipal adjustments in Trøndelag.
Enclaves are not data errors. They reflect the administrative division as it is registered at Kartverket. If you see a property with a municipality number that does not match the kommune name in the address field, it is almost always due to a boundary adjustment, an enclave or historical municipal data, not an error in Placepoint.
How to report a data error
If you believe a dataset in Placepoint contains an error, the most useful error report is one that lets us reproduce the discrepancy and raise it with the correct data source.
A good error report contains:
- Cadastre number for the property in question, in the format
kommunenr-gnr-bnr-fnr-snr(for example0710-123-45-0-0). You find it in the property panel. - Observed value in Placepoint. A screenshot is helpful.
- Expected value with a reference to the source you are comparing with (for example "The kommune's plan portal shows plan status X", or "SSB's statistics bank shows population figure Y for grunnkrets Z").
- The source you compared with, preferably with a link or document reference.
Send the report to support or use the feedback function in Placepoint. Serious discrepancies in matrikkel data can also be reported directly to Kartverket via Se Eiendom.
Related pages
- Data and sources (overview) - full catalogue of datasets
- Vendors - which vendors Placepoint uses
- FAQ: Data and sources - answers to common questions