The Danish Geodata Agency (GST) ( da, Geodatastyrelsen), (previously National Survey and Cadastre of Denmark ( da, Kort & Matrikelstyrelsen, short KMS)), is the Danish state owned central agency responsible for

surveying Surveying or land surveying is the technique, profession, art, and science of determining the terrestrial two-dimensional or three-dimensional positions of points and the distances and angles between them. A land surveying professional is ...

, mapping and land registering of all of

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of Denmark , establish ...

Greenland Greenland ( kl, Kalaallit Nunaat, ; da, Grønland, ) is an island country in North America that is part of the Kingdom of Denmark. It is located between the Arctic and Atlantic oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Greenland ...

, the

Faroe Islands The Faroe Islands ( ), or simply the Faroes ( fo, Føroyar ; da, Færøerne ), are a North Atlantic island group and an autonomous territory of the Kingdom of Denmark. They are located north-northwest of Scotland, and about halfway bet ...

and all waters associated with these. Geodatastyrelsen is an agency under the Danish Ministry of the Environment. The overall goal of Geodatastyrelsen is to supply and ensure that everyone in the Danish society has access to reliable and accurate maps and information on all parts of the Realm. Until 31 December 2004, KMS was a Sector research institute for the Ministry of the Environment in the fields of

seismology Seismology (; from Ancient Greek σεισμός (''seismós'') meaning "earthquake" and -λογία (''-logía'') meaning "study of") is the scientific study of earthquakes and the propagation of elastic waves through the Earth or through other ...

geodynamic Geodynamics is a subfield of geophysics dealing with dynamics of the Earth. It applies physics, chemistry and mathematics to the understanding of how mantle convection leads to plate tectonics and geologic phenomena such as seafloor spreading, mo ...

and

geodesy Geodesy ( ) is the Earth science of accurately measuring and understanding Earth's figure (geometric shape and size), orientation in space, and gravity. The field also incorporates studies of how these properties change over time and equival ...

. The

part was detached on 1 July 2004 and moved under the responsibility of

Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland The Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland ( da, Danmarks og Grønlands Geologiske Undersøgelse, GEUS) is the independent sector research institute under the Danish Ministry of Climate and Energy. GEUS is an advisory, research and survey i ...

(GEUS). On 1 January 2005, the

part was detached and together with

Danish Space Research Institute Danish Space Research Institute (DSRI) ( Danish: ''Dansk Rumforskningsinstitut'', short ''DRI'' or ''DRKI'') was the space agency of Denmark from 1966 to 2005. It was a Danish sector research institute formed in 1966 under the Danish Ministry for E ...

it formed

Danish National Space Center The National Space Institute at the Technical University of Denmark, also known as DTU Space ( da, Institut for Rumforskning og Rumteknologi), is a Danish sector research institute and a part of the Technical University of Denmark. It has a st ...

History

KMS was officially formed on 1 January 1989 by combining

Geodætisk Institut Geodætisk Institut (1928–1987) was a Danish state-run cartographic institute. It was created by law number 82, of 31 March 1928, combining Generalstabens Topografiske Afdeling and Den danske Gradmaaling, two institutions that did somewhat ov ...

Søkortarkivet The Royal Danish Nautical Charts Archive () was a Danish Navy department, responsible for making accurate nautical charts for the Danish government, primary the Navy, for nearly 200 years. Its former building at Toldbodvej, now Esplanaden, was al ...

and Matrikeldirektoratet, in an effort to strengthen mapping in Denmark. The political decision was conceived in a Royal resolution of 10 September 1987. The definition of its responsibilities is described in law #749 of 7 December 1988. Initially it was located under the

Ministry of Housing A housing authority or ministry of housing is generally a governmental body that governs aspects of housing or (called in general "shelter" or "living spaces"), often providing low rent or free apartments to qualified residents. The existence of ...

, but in 2001 it was moved to the Ministry of the Environment. On 1 January 2013, the agency changed its name to Danish Geodata Agency. In 2014, the Danish government (through the GST) launched a full 1:1 recreation of the country of Denmark in Minecraft. The game map was based on real, official measurements made public by the Danish Geodata Agency. The reason was to "use the appeal of gaming to draw the public’s attention to geographical data" and an "invitation to teachers and schools to use the data in geography, math, science and history lessons". This, of course, drew attention of cyber vandals who attacked the server by blowing up areas of the map, destroying buildings and planting American flags. It is unclear exactly why.

Chris Hammeken Chris is a short form of various names including Christopher, Christian, Christina, Christine, and Christos. Chris is also used as a name in its own right, however it is not as common. People with the given name *Chris Abani (born 1966), Nig ...

, chief press officer at the Danish Geodata Agency, responded with "Minecraft is about building and rebuilding. ..Only a minor area was destroyed. ..It was the players who cleaned up the damage, replacing it with green grass and flowers the following morning." Regardless of the attacks ‒ which have since been fixed ‒ the replica appears to have been a success. On 1 January 2016, the Agency changed into the Agency for Data Supply and Efficiency, and links in English regarding “Denmark in Minecraft” were removed, although individual sections could still be downloaded elsewhere.

References

External links

General information on the "basic data programme"
Danish Geodata Agency (Official Homepage) {{authority control Survey and Cadastre National mapping agencies 1989 establishments in Denmark Environmental agencies in Denmark

History

See also

References

External links