The colours in the police log, explained
Red, orange, yellow, purple, blue, green and grey — what the police's own categories mean on the map.
The police log (Politiloggen) is the Norwegian police's own public messages about what they respond to. On Kartradar each message is shown as a symbol where the incident happened, and the colour tells you what kind of incident it is, so you do not have to open each one to get an overview.
The colours
| Colour | Categories | What it typically is |
|---|---|---|
| Red | Violence, Accident | The most serious incidents: violence, threats, traffic accidents with injuries |
| Orange | Fire, Rescue | Fire in a building or vehicle, people missing at sea or in the mountains, rescue operations |
| Yellow | Traffic, Burglary, Theft, Vandalism | Checks, licences confiscated, traffic obstructions, property crime |
| Purple | Missing person | Reports of missing people |
| Blue | Sea, Weather | Incidents at sea and weather-related call-outs |
| Green | Animals | Wildlife hit by vehicles, animals on the road, animal welfare cases |
| Grey | Public order, Event, Other incidents | Disturbances, events the police are monitoring, anything that does not fit elsewhere |
The categories are the police's own. Kartradar only translates them into colours, and does not guess at severity beyond what the police themselves have stated. A message without a known category is grey.
What a message actually is
The police log is a brief operational log, not a news article. The messages are written quickly, often while the incident is ongoing, and are updated with new information as it comes in. A thread can therefore consist of several messages in sequence: first that something has been reported, then what was found, finally the outcome. All messages in the same thread are shown together when you open the symbol.
The status tells you whether the case is ongoing or closed. A closed case means the police have finished at the scene, not necessarily that the case has been solved.
About the position on the map
This is worth understanding: the police give the location as text, not as coordinates. "By Storgata in Trondheim" or "on the E6 in Melhus" has to be turned into a point before it can be drawn. That comes with three caveats:
- The symbol is approximate. It shows the place the message mentions, not the exact address. A message that only mentions the municipality ends up somewhere in the municipality.
- Common place names can hit the wrong place. There are many places with the same name in Norway.
- Messages without a location are not shown. They exist, but cannot be placed.
The police never give personal data in the log, and addresses are deliberately kept imprecise in the messages themselves. Kartradar adds nothing beyond what is written there.
Why some districts are quiet
Publishing practice varies between police districts. Some post a lot, others little. An empty area on the map therefore does not mean it is calm there — it may just as well mean that the district publishes less often. The log is fetched every minute, so new messages appear quickly once they arrive.
Note that the messages themselves are in Norwegian, as published by the police.
What it is not
The police log is not crime statistics, and is poorly suited to comparing places. It shows what the police chose to report publicly, which is a selection of all call-outs. Serious cases under investigation are often not mentioned, or only afterwards.
For what it is actually good for — seeing what is happening around you right now, and why there are emergency vehicles on the road — it is among the most useful open data sources we have in Norway.