Custom BRO integration development
Appfront builds integrations with the BRO, the Dutch Basic Registry for the Subsurface. Data is submitted through the Bronhouder portal, which offers a web application alongside an API. We connect your own system to it: data on soundings, boreholes or groundwater monitoring is sent to the BRO as a file in the required standard, validated first, and the status is returned to you. Where you need data from the BRO, we retrieve it.
What is a BRO integration?
The Basisregistratie Ondergrond is the register of data on the Dutch subsurface, such as soundings, boreholes and groundwater monitoring. As the data owner (bronhouder), government bodies are required to submit data from the investigations they commission, and consultancies often do so on their behalf. Submissions can only be made through the Bronhouderportaal, either via a web application or via an API for automated submission.
In practice, data is exported from your software, loaded manually into the portal, and an error is only noticed once the submission is rejected. With many investigations a year, that is a great deal of manual work. What has been submitted and what hasn't is tracked in a spreadsheet. And when a data owner asks whether everything has been delivered, someone has to go and find out.
We build custom solutions because consultancies and data owners differ: which register objects you submit, which software the data originates in, which data owners you work for, and whether you also use data from the BRO. The standards and the portal are managed by the BRO; we make sure your system works with them. Which data you need to submit is agreed with the data owner.
Submitting from your system
Data from your own software sent as messages in the standard format, via the portal's API.
Validated first
Every submission checked before it is sent, with errors returned to whoever can resolve them.
Using data
Existing data retrieved from the BRO for use in your own investigations and systems.
How we build your BRO integration
We start with your submissions: which register objects, from which software, for which data owners, and how things work today. Your software often already holds most of the data, but a few fields the BRO requires may be missing. We map these out so they are recorded during fieldwork from now on, rather than added afterwards.
Your register objects, software, data owners and current way of working.
Data converted to the standard, with validation.
Delivery via the API, status tracking and feedback on errors.
Retrieving data from the BRO, and maintenance as new versions are released.
What a BRO integration actually does
The components below come up in almost every BRO integration. Which ones you need depends on your submissions.
Conversion
Converting data into messages that follow the standard.
Validating
Checking a delivery before it is submitted.
Submitting
Via the API of the Bronhouderportaal.
Status
What has been submitted, registered or rejected.
Corrections
Errors returned to whoever can fix them.
Retrieving
Using existing data from the BRO.
Who we build BRO integrations for
The integration is intended for anyone who submits or uses subsurface data.
Consultancies
Many investigations for many data holders. Submitting is the core.
Sounding contractors
Many measurements per day. Validation matters most.
Data holders
Deliveries by others. The overview is what is needed.
Engineering firms
Data needed for design. Retrieval is the core.
Technology and integrations
This page covers integrations with the BRO. For reporting on foundation investigations, see our page on foundation investigation software; for soil that is moved, our page on soil flow management; and for the Environment and Planning Act, our page on Environment and Planning Act software. You can read about our way of working on software development.
Why Appfront for your BRO integration?
A delivery that is only rejected by the portal costs a second round. We build around that: submitting from your own system, validating first, and an overview of what has been delivered.
Less manual work
No manual exports and uploads.
Right first time
Errors spotted before submission.
Overview
What has been delivered, per data holder.
Security and privacy in a BRO integration
The integration works with access to the Bronhouder portal on your behalf or on behalf of your data suppliers. Access credentials are stored encrypted and used only by the integration, and every submission is logged.
The integration runs in a European data centre or in your own environment, with encrypted storage and daily backups.
Frequently asked questions about a BRO integration
Questions that agencies and data holders ask before getting started.
The Basic Registry Subsurface is the register of data on the Dutch subsurface, such as soundings, boreholes and groundwater monitoring. Authorities submit data as data holders, and anyone can use the data.
Only through the Bronhouder portal. That can be done with the web application, or automatically with the portal's API. An integration uses that API, so submissions go straight from your own system. With many submissions a year this saves the most work, and it keeps a record of what was submitted and when.
The data holder is responsible, but often has the investigating agency submit on its behalf. You agree with the data holder how this is arranged for your projects.
The integration checks a submission before it is sent, and the BRO also offers a validation service. Errors go back to whoever can fix them, with the reason, so the submission is right first time.
The registration objects you deliver, such as soundings, boreholes or groundwater monitoring. Which ones you need depends on your work; we build those, and others can be added later.
Yes. Existing data in the BRO is public and can be retrieved for use in your own investigations and systems, for example to view earlier soundings near a project. This means an investigation does not have to be repeated where data already exists, and a design starts with what is already known about the subsurface.
For agencies and companies that submit a lot, for data holders who want an overview of deliveries by others, and for suppliers of fieldwork and laboratory software who want to support submission.
Submitting to the BRO without manual work?
Tell us which data you supply, from which software and for which data owners. We'll show you what the integration will look like.