TNO is the official manager of the National Key Registry of the Subsurface (BRO)

The management of BRO will be in the hands of the Geological Survey of the Netherlands (GDN), which is part of TNO, as of 1 January 2022. Geonovum and TNO will cooperate in managing the standards at a tactical level. BRO’s strategic management will remain with the Geo team, which falls under the Minister of Housing, Spatial Planning, and the Environment, part of the Ministry of the Interior and Kingdom Relations or ‘BZK’.

BZK is not responsible for the tactical and technical management of the geo base registers itself. Concerning BRO, the majority of the recorded objects have now been delivered and the BRO information chain is operational. The system will be ready in July to add the latest registration objects of Mining and Groundwater Use. This makes this a good time to officially hand over BRO’s management. With this transfer of management, all processes and systems are properly secured.

The Geological Service of the Netherlands (GDN), which is part of TNO, is the expert chosen to manage BRO. People can deliver data through the Source Owner Portal. And users have access to BROloket or download datasets themselves on PDOK. Numerous applications exist to make the subsurface visible, as can also be seen in the Case Studies.

About the Geological Survey of the Netherlands (GDN)

GDN has been involved in BRO from the very beginning. That makes sense. GDN is the foremost knowledge centre of the Dutch subsurface. For more than a century, GDN has been collecting data on the Netherlands’ soil composition, the geological structure of its subsurface, groundwater, the bearing capacity of the soil, and mining. These data and models of the deep and shallow subsurface are accessible to everyone free of charge through GDN’s portals. Moreover, GDN’s DINOloket is an important precursor and source of inspiration for BRO. In addition, BRO models DGM, GeoTOP, and REGIS II were created by TNO.

GDN director Tirza van Daalen: “‘BRO is exceptionally valuable to the Netherlands. It is about combining different sets of subsurface data to create all kinds of above- and below-ground applications. Building on more than a century of knowledge of the subsurface, we are proud to perform this management task.”

Unique in the world

GDN has long been managing subsurface data collected by companies in the oil and gas sector within the framework of the Mining Act. BRO will add subsurface data in the shallower domain. All these data are freely available to download for anyone. This philosophy of open data is paying off. No other place has as much knowledge about its subsurface as the Netherlands. These data and this knowledge can be used for, for example, the energy transition or spatial planning issues. The BRO Act obliges administrative bodies to supply their data and consult BRO in the performance of their daily work. The standards used for this are safeguarded in the BRO Act. This makes BRO unique in Europe and the rest of the world.

More information about the National Key Registry of the Subsurface (BRO) can be found at: www.basisregistratieondergrond.nl.