NATIONAL PARKS AND THEIR FUTURE ROLE AS PROMOTED BY INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY IN A MODERN WEST EUROPEAN COUNTRY

The landscape in Norwegian national parks is mostly dominated by a preglacial scenery which has been glacially sculptured during the last 2 – 2,5 million years The present-day scenery, including the well known fjords of western Norway, continues into the high plateau of central-southern Norway. In these areas there are national parks such as the Dovre-Sundalsfjella National Park and the Rondane National Park. These particular park areas have played an important role in classical Norwegian art and music. The landscape, which has provided inspiration for Norwegian artists and composers was formed mainly through a dominating cirque glaciation, which created peaks, ridges and cirque valleys, with or without glaciers in the present-day scenery. Large blocks left behind in the cirques and valleys as the ice melted could easily, on foggy and rainy days, create an illusion of the presence of trolls. In this presentation these features, which have been of great important for tourism in the past, are incorporated into an information technology package for the benefit of future tourists. Today's technology is considered to hold a great potential for presenting the landscape and scenery in the parks to a wide variety of visitors. Some interesting models created to meet the challenges opened up by the world of IT and GIS will be illustrated during the lecture. Although the broad geological history of the area will be discussed, it is not considered be a main topic of this talk.