1536brunnars

1536brunnars is a fictional open-data collection consisting of 1,536 wells mapped across a European landscape. The project is designed to illustrate practices in geospatial data curation and digital humanities.

Origin and scope: Created by a collaboration of universities and data-science groups, the dataset was released in 2024 as a case study for standardized metadata and reproducible research. The name combines the approximate number of entries with the Nordic word brunnar for wells, reflecting a regional focus on archival records.

Data model: Each entry includes fields such as id, name, coordinates (latitude, longitude), country/region, estimated construction date, depth (meters), diameter, construction material, aquifer type, known usage, and current status. The dataset adopts controlled vocabularies for materials and aquifers and uses ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 country codes.

Methods and quality: Data compiled from archival records, hydrological surveys, and remote sensing; quality control includes cross-referencing sources and uncertainty estimates. Some records have missing fields or divergent dates; users are advised to consult provenance notes and documentation for each item.

Access and impact: Licensed for non-commercial use under a permissive open-data license and hosted on an open platform with a search API. It is intended to support hydrological modeling, urban planning simulations, and cultural heritage research about water infrastructure and everyday life in historical communities.

See also: Open data, Geospatial data standards, Wells in historical contexts.

Note: 1536brunnars is a fictional construct created for demonstration purposes in this article.