BRO data
Groundwater data and geotechnical boreholes from the BRO, for your area on one map
You choose an area; Sophea loads the objects of the Dutch Key Register of the Subsurface (BRO) in that area and answers your questions about them with charts, maps, well diagrams and time-series models.
What is in Sophea
In Sophea: GMW, GLD, GAR, GMN, FRD and BHR-GT by default; CPT, GUF and GPD as options. Not in Sophea: BHR-P, BHR-G, REGIS and GeoTOP, and the other BRO registration objects.
Registered objects only; what the BRO has deregistered, Sophea does not load.
Per object type
Sophea loads six object types by default, and three more as options per area. KNMI weather data comes with every area.
Wells (GMW)
By default
Wells with their tubes, ground level, well code and all BRO base data, with a link to the public BRO object.
Groundwater levels (GLD)
By default
Groundwater levels per tube, with each value's quality status: provisional and approved stay apart.
Groundwater analyses (GAR)
By default
The samples with their parameters, at the well where they were taken.
Monitoring networks (GMN)
By default
Which wells in your area belong to which network.
Formation resistance (FRD)
By default
Formation resistance logs, measured with an electrode cable: the measurements as a table and as a depth profile.
Geotechnical boreholes (BHR-GT)
By default
Geotechnical boreholes with their layers, drawn as a borehole log, and for each well the nearest borehole within 500 metres, clearly marked as not formally linked to the well.
Cone penetration tests (CPT)
Optional
Cone penetration tests, as an option per area, with the cone resistance and friction ratio profile.
Groundwater usage (GUF and GPD)
Optional
Groundwater usage facilities (GUF) with the permitted and installed wells, and their abstraction volumes (GPD) as periods at that facility.
KNMI weather
With every area
Each area gets the nearest KNMI station with daily precipitation and evaporation, or the stations and variables you choose.
In Sophea: GMW, GLD, GAR, GMN, FRD and BHR-GT by default; CPT, GUF and GPD as options. Not in Sophea: BHR-P, BHR-G, REGIS and GeoTOP, and the other BRO registration objects. What the codes mean.
Glossary
The Dutch codes on this site
The BRO names its object types with Dutch codes. Sophea uses them as the BRO does.
- BRO
- Basisregistratie Ondergrond, the Dutch Key Register of the Subsurface: the public national register of subsurface data.
- bronhouder
- The public body responsible for registering an object in the BRO. The data stays theirs.
- GMW
- Grondwatermonitoringput: a groundwater monitoring well, with its tubes (filters).
- GLD
- Grondwaterstandonderzoek: the groundwater level record of one tube.
- GAR
- Grondwatersamenstellingsonderzoek: a groundwater analysis, the composition of one sample.
- GMN
- Grondwatermonitoringnet: a monitoring network that groups wells.
- FRD
- Formatieweerstandonderzoek: formation resistance measured along a well.
- BHR-GT
- Geotechnisch booronderzoek: a geotechnical borehole and its layers.
- CPT
- Geotechnisch sondeeronderzoek: a cone penetration test.
- GUF and GPD
- Grondwatergebruiksysteem and Grondwaterproductiedossier: a groundwater usage facility and its abstraction volumes.
- GxG
- GHG, GLG and GVG: the mean highest, mean lowest and mean spring groundwater level, the standard Dutch groundwater statistics.
- KNMI
- The Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute, source of the precipitation and evaporation series.
Area
How you choose an area
Choose your area the way that suits you: a circle, a municipality, a province, a water board, a drinking-water company's supply area, a shape you draw or a shapefile.
Or choose an organisation: the wells it has registered in the BRO as bronhouder, anywhere in the Netherlands.
Your shapefile stays on your computer: Sophea reads it in the browser and sends only the outline.
Loading
How an area loads
A small area is ready within minutes; a province or a large organisation loads in hours, the largest over several days, and continues by itself after a pause.
While loading you see the progress per object type. A large organisation's data arrives in batches, and each batch is usable straight away.
Your areas are private. The BRO data itself is public and shared: what one user loads is ready for the next.
The BRO answers only a few requests per second; that is why Sophea fetches each object at the rate the BRO allows.
Well window
Click a well
On the map each object type has its own button, symbol and colour. Click a well and a window shows the well, borehole, levels, formation resistance, networks and the BRO ids.
On the Groundwater levels tab, every tube of the well is in one chart.
Background maps from PDOK, the Dutch public map service: the BRT topographic map and the aerial photo.
Keeping up
Kept up to date
From day one, Sophea keeps your areas up to date every night. It checks each area against the BRO again and picks up any corrections the bronhouder has made, and it updates the KNMI series.
FAQ
Questions about the BRO data
Which BRO objects does Sophea load?
By default wells (GMW), groundwater levels (GLD), groundwater analyses (GAR), monitoring networks (GMN), formation resistance (FRD) and geotechnical boreholes (BHR-GT). Sophea loads cone penetration tests (CPT) and groundwater usage (GUF and GPD) when you tick them for an area.
Does Sophea also load BHR-P, BHR-G, REGIS or GeoTOP?
No. Not in Sophea: BHR-P, BHR-G, REGIS and GeoTOP, and the other BRO registration objects.
Does Sophea see deregistered objects?
No. Sophea loads registered objects only; what the BRO has deregistered, Sophea does not load.
Why does loading a large area take longer?
Sophea fetches each object from the public BRO at the rate the BRO allows: only a few requests per second. A small area is ready within minutes; a province or a large organisation loads in hours, the largest over several days, and each batch is usable as soon as it is in.
Does my shapefile stay on my computer?
Yes. Sophea reads it in the browser and sends only the outline.
BRO is used descriptively. Sophea is not a service of the BRO, TNO or the government; the data is public and belongs to its data owners (bronhouders), the public bodies that register it.
Look at the BRO data for your area
Access to Sophea is by invitation: Dawaco sets up each organisation and its users.