GEOPORTAL OF MINING OBJECTS IN LESSER POLAND

Abstract

Southern Poland is well developed mining area. There are copper and coal mines in Lower Silesia, huge coal deposits in Silesia and even oil in Subcarpathia. It is not well known that in Lesser Poland you will find almost all these deposits. Coal mines on west, one of the biggest in Europe zinc deposits, lots of working and closed limestone quarries in central part, oil wells on south and also old salt underground mines (2, 3).

Geoportal MIIP is Lesser Poland Spatial Information System published in June 2011. It presents official spatial data among others from city and voivodeship, touristic and water structure. Moreover anyone can add there another data. MIIP provides availability of WFS (Web Feature Service) and WMS (Web Map Service), both compatible with OGC (Open Geospatial Consortium) standards. One of the most interesting function is creating and editing users’ own map and publishing it as interactive map on website (iMap). User can create his own composition and use any of published data, adding his own (4).

Polish mining industry is in crisis now. Media and environmental lobby constantly present it as a main reason of pollution problems. Additionally problems with taxes and low prices of coal deepen the collapse (1). Our responsibility is to show other citizens how valuable for local community and for its landscape mining is.

To create geoportal of mining objects – closed and still operating ones – we used data from Central Base of Geological Data, Polish Geological Institute (5). On our portal you can find underground coal and salt mines, pit mines of zinc and limestone and oil wells.

The Geoportal of Mining in Lesser Poland is powered by mining section of Scientific Society KNGK Geoinformatyka.