Building blocks for the Register Omgevingsdocumenten

The Environmental Planning Bill will simplify and merge all rules about the physical environment into a single registry. This is a huge job, because the regulations are currently still in all sorts of different databases, spread out over hundreds of government organizations. Ultimately, the intention is for all of these separate chunks of data to end up in the digital Environmental Documents Registry.

To make things even more complicated, all data must be updated to the new requirements of the Environmental Planning Bill. Municipal zoning plans, for instance, will soon become environmental plans. The provinces will work with the Environmental Regulation, whereas the water boards will use the Water Board Regulation. The big challenge is to transfer all data at lightning speed and keep it up-to-date at the same time.

Merging an enormous amount of data and making it digitally available is a complex challenge. That is why the Kadaster and Geodan are working together to realize the complex Environmental Documents Registry. Through smart collaboration, the team is making the database completely Environmental Planning Bill-proof.

A technical interface lets users check, for example, whether an environmental plan or permit is legally up-to-date. And, of course, the data is freely accessible to everyone, allowing whizzkids to use the data in the registry to develop an innovative app.

Together, Kadaster and Geodan are on their way to a reliable and always up-to-date Registry of Environmental Documents, which will soon let everyone find out what spatial rules apply in the Netherlands in a matter of seconds, once the Environmental Planning Bill is here. This data will also be made available in the Legal Rule Engine, making it even easier to check if you’re allowed to build a shed in your garden, for example.