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Aurly: find the trout lakes worth the trip

A map app that ranks every lake in Norway for brown trout, by likely presence, size potential, remoteness and legal access, and shows the evidence behind each ranking. A consumer product sold by Agentas AS.

Status
Live since September 2026
Coverage
Every lake in Norway
Stack
Python, PostGIS, FastAPI, Next.js, MapLibre
Source
Private — walkthrough on request
Aurly map with ranked lakes around Hjelmeland
Search anywhere: lakes in the area ranked from red to green by how well they match what you want.

What it does

Every lake in Norway, ranked

Every lake in the country scored for how likely it holds trout, how big they may grow, how remote it is and whether you may fish it.

Built on open public data

About ten official datasets, including NVE, Kartverket, Artsdatabanken, Vannmiljø, NGU, NVDB, seNorge and Sentinel-2 satellite imagery for ice-off, each with its licence registered.

Rivers traced from the sea

The river network is oriented from the coast inland, so the model knows which streams fish can climb and where a waterfall blocks the way.

Honest about uncertainty

Facts are marked as facts and predictions as predictions. The app never states that a lake holds fish, or how big they are, without a sourced observation behind it.

Everything for the trip

The route in with parking and walking distance, a weather forecast, the season from ice-off to spawning, and who sells the fishing licence.

Free to search, paid for depth

The map and search are free. Detailed lake pages unlock with credits or a subscription, handled by Stripe.

Relevant if you're looking for…

Aurly is live at aurly.no: the map and search are free, and detailed lake pages unlock with credits or a subscription.

  • Trout lakes near you or far into the mountains: search anywhere in the country, and the lakes in the area are ranked by likely trout, size potential, remoteness and whether you may fish there.
  • A fishing map of Norway that shows its evidence: every rating draws on about ten official datasets, including NVE, Kartverket and Artsdatabanken, and each one shows its source.
  • Planning a trout fishing trip in Norway: the lake page shows the route in with parking and walking distance, the weather forecast, and a lake map with inlets, outlet and spawning zones.
  • Knowing when to go: each lake page shows the season from ice-off to spawning, with ice-off based on Sentinel-2 satellite imagery.

We build this for clients: Data and reporting platform

How it works

  1. 01

    Ingest

    About ten official datasets, each with its licence recorded.

  2. 02

    Normalise

    One geographic database in PostGIS: lakes, rivers, roads, trails.

  3. 03

    Score

    Landscape features turned into a ranking per lake.

  4. 04

    Validate

    Checked against lakes with known outcomes before release.

How it's built

Aurly is a data pipeline first and an app second. A Python and PostGIS engine takes the official datasets through fixed stages (ingest, normalise, features, score, validate, publish), and a Next.js front end with MapLibre serves the result.

The scoring is validated against lakes with known outcomes, and the results are reported as they are, including where the model still falls short. The same pipeline runs for the whole country, so every lake in Norway is judged the same way.

Engineering highlights

  • Over 870 automated tests across engine, web and end-to-end; CI gates every deploy
  • Paid values are never sent to a browser that hasn't paid; enforced on the server
  • Scraper guards, bot protection and daily caps
  • Location data stripped from photos; the user's position is never sent
  • Norwegian and English, light and dark mode

Questions

Where are the best fishing lakes in Norway?

It depends on what you are after. Aurly rates every lake in Norway for brown trout and ranks the lakes in any area from red to green by how well they match what you want.

Where do I buy a fishing licence for a lake in Norway?

The lake page in Aurly shows who sells the fishing licence, along with whether you may fish there and how to get in.

How reliable are Aurly's rankings?

They are predictions from landscape features and official data, checked against lakes with known outcomes before release. Facts are marked as facts, and the app never says a lake holds fish, or how big they are, without a sourced observation behind it.

Want something like this?

Aurly shows what we do with public data: combine many official sources into one clear answer, be honest about what the data can and cannot tell you, and ship it as a product people pay for.

Get in touch

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