The Kilo-Degree Survey

The Kilo-Degree Survey (KiDS), a 1500-square-degree optical imaging survey with the recently commissioned OmegaCAM wide-field imager on the VLT Survey Telescope (VST), is described. KiDS will image two fields in u-,g-,r- and i-bands and, together with the VIKING survey, produce nine-band (u- to K-band) coverage over two fields. For the foreseeable future the KiDS/VIKING combination of superb image quality with wide wavelength coverage will be unique for surveys of its size and depth. The survey has been designed to tackle some of the most fundamental questions of cosmology and galaxy formation of today. The main science driver is mapping the dark matter distribution in the Universe and putting constraints on the expansion of the Universe and the equation of state of dark energy, all through weak gravitational lensing. However, the deep and wide imaging data will facilitate a wide variety of science cases.