The geographical centre of Norway has been identified as a spot in the Ogndal

Ogndal

Ogndal is a former municipality in Nord-Trøndelag county, Norway. It is located in the central and western part of the present-day municipality of Steinkjer. Starting in 1917, the administrative center of Ogndal was actually located in the town of Steinkjer...

sfjella in the southeastern part of the municipality of Steinkjer

Steinkjer

is a town and a municipality in Nord-Trøndelag county, Norway. It is part of the Innherad region. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Steinkjer, which is also the seat of the county government...

 in Nord-Trøndelag

Nord-Trøndelag

is a county constituting the northern part of Trøndelag in Norway. As of 2010, the county had 131,555 inhabitants, making it the country's fourth-least populated county. The largest municipalities are Stjørdal, Steinkjer—the county seat, Levanger, Namsos and Verdal, all with between 21,000 and...

 county, located at 63°59′26"N 12°18′28"E. A monument marking the significance of the spot was unveiled in a ceremony on 3 September 2006. It is hoped that it will become a tourist attraction

Tourist attraction

A tourist attraction is a place of interest where tourists visit, typically for its inherent or exhibited cultural value, historical significance, natural or built beauty, or amusement opportunities....

. The site lies just to the west of the large lake Skjækervatnet.

Method of calculation

Harald Stavestrand at the Norwegian Mapping and Cadastre Authority

Statens kartverk

The Norwegian Mapping Authority is Norway's national mapping agency, dealing with land surveying, geodesy, hydrographic surveying, cadastre and cartography. Its headquarters are in Hønefoss and it is a public agency under the Norwegian Ministry of the Environment...

 looked for the balancing point of mainland Norway with its islands, not including sea area, the overseas areas of Svalbard

Svalbard

Svalbard is an archipelago in the Arctic, constituting the northernmost part of Norway. It is located north of mainland Europe, midway between mainland Norway and the North Pole. The group of islands range from 74° to 81° north latitude , and from 10° to 35° east longitude. Spitsbergen is the...

 and Jan Mayen

Jan Mayen

Jan Mayen Island is a volcanic island in the Arctic Ocean and part of the Kingdom of Norway. It is long and 373 km2 in area, partly covered by glaciers . It has two parts: larger northeast Nord-Jan and smaller Sør-Jan, linked by an isthmus wide...

, or considering elevation

Elevation

The elevation of a geographic location is its height above a fixed reference point, most commonly a reference geoid, a mathematical model of the Earth's sea level as an equipotential gravitational surface ....

. Stavestrand had feared that the centre would turn out to be in Sweden

Sweden

Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....

 due to the curved shape of Norway

Norway

Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...

, but it ultimately ended up within the borders of Norway.

Other locations

Several other places have been claimed to be the centre of Norway, using differing methods. They include Harran

Harran, Norway

Harran is a parish, a village, and a former municipality in Nord-Trøndelag county, Norway. The parish and village of Harran is located in the northern part of the present-day municipality of Grong, about north of the village of Medjå, the administrative center of Grong. Harran is part of the...

 in the municipality of Grong

Grong

is a municipality in Nord-Trøndelag county, Norway. It is part of the Namdalen region. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Medjå. Other villages in the municipality include Bergsmoen, Formofoss, Gartland, and Harran....

 (halving the mainland's latitude

Latitude

In geography, the latitude of a location on the Earth is the angular distance of that location south or north of the Equator. The latitude is an angle, and is usually measured in degrees . The equator has a latitude of 0°, the North pole has a latitude of 90° north , and the South pole has a...

 "length"), the village of Vilhelmina in the municipality of Vilhelmina

Vilhelmina Municipality

Vilhelmina Municipality is a municipality in Västerbotten County in northern Sweden. Its seat is located in Vilhelmina.-History:In 1804 the parish of Volgsjö was renamed Vilhelmina in honour of Queen Frederica Dorothea Wilhelmina of Sweden....

 in Sweden (halving the great-circle distance

Great-circle distance

The great-circle distance or orthodromic distance is the shortest distance between any two points on the surface of a sphere measured along a path on the surface of the sphere . Because spherical geometry is rather different from ordinary Euclidean geometry, the equations for distance take on a...

), Grane Church

Grane Church

Grane Church is a parish church in the municipality of Grane in Nordland county, Norway. It is located in the village of Grane, about north of the municipal center of Trofors. The church sits along the European route E06 highway, just from the river Vefsna....

 in the municipality of Grane and Alstahaug Church in the municipality of Alstahaug

Alstahaug

Alstahaug is a municipality in Nordland county, Norway. It is part of the Helgeland region. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Sandnessjøen....

 (both are found by halving longer great circle

Great circle

A great circle, also known as a Riemannian circle, of a sphere is the intersection of the sphere and a plane which passes through the center point of the sphere, as opposed to a general circle of a sphere where the plane is not required to pass through the center...

 distances), and finally Mosjøen

Mosjøen

-History:Mosjøen was founded in the 17th century as local farmers met here to trade, and has been growing since then. Sawmills were built here in 1866 by a British company, and Mosjøen got township rights in 1875. It is the oldest town in the Helgeland region and the second oldest town in Nordland...

 in the municipality of Vefsn

Vefsn

Vefsn is a municipality in Nordland county, Norway. It is part of the Helgeland traditional region. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Mosjøen....

.