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Geography of the Netherlands
Location:
Western Europe, bordering the North Sea, between Belgium and Germany
Geographic coordinates: ca. 51° - 53° N, 4° - 7° E
- 1 degree = 111 km NS, 68 km EW (the ratio is 0.61, the cosine of the latitude)
- 1 minute = 1,850 m NS (ca. 1 nautical mile), 1,140 m EW
- 1 second = 31 m NS, 19 m EW
Also the Dutch RD coordinate system (Rijksdriehoeksmeting) is common, see [1] (https://rdinfo.kadaster.nl/pdf/rd_brochure.pdf) (pdf, in Dutch; see little map on p.1) and converter (http://web.inter.nl.net/users/F.Kissels/gps/conversie.html). There is a west-east coordinate between 0 and 280 km, and a south-north coordinate between 300 and 620 km.
The reference point is the Onze-Lieve-Vrouwentoren (Our Lady's tower) in Amersfoort, with RD coordinates (155.000, 463.000) and geographic coordinates ca. 52° 9' N, 5° 23' E.
Rate of change of solar time: 1 minute per 17 km EW.
Highest altitude of the Sun on a day varies at the center from 38.5 - 23.5 = 15 degrees in December to 38.5 + 23.5 = 62 degrees in June. This occurs, depending on east-west location, at ca. 11:40 UTC, i.e. local time 12:40 in winter and 13:40 in summer.
Map references:
Europe
Area:
total:
41,526 km²
land:
33,883 km²
water:
7,643 km²
Land boundaries:
total:
1,027 km
border countries:
Belgium 450 km, Germany 577 km
Coastline:
451 km
Maritime claims:
exclusive fishing zone:
200 nautical miles
territorial sea:
12 nautical miles
Climate:
temperate; marine; cool summers and mild winters
Terrain:
mostly coastal lowland and reclaimed land (polders); some hills in southeast
Elevation extremes:
lowest point:
Zuidplaspolder (Nieuwerkerk aan den IJssel) -7 m
highest point:
Vaalserberg 321 m
Natural resources:
natural gas, petroleum, arable land
Land use:
arable land:
25%
permanent crops:
3%
permanent pastures:
25%
forests and woodland:
8%
other:
39% (1996 est.)
Irrigated land:
6,000 km² (1996 est.)
Natural hazards:
the extensive system of dikes, dams and sand dunes protect nearly one-half of the total area from being flooded
Environment - current issues:
water pollution in the form of heavy metals, organic compounds, and nutrients such as nitrates and phosphates; air pollution from vehicles and refining activities; acid rain
Environment - international agreements:
party to:
Air Pollution, Air Pollution-Nitrogen Oxides, Air Pollution-Sulphur 85, Air Pollution-Sulphur 94, Air Pollution-Volatile Organic Compounds, Antarctic-Environmental Protocol, Antarctic Treaty, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Desertification, Endangered Species, Environmental Modification, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Marine Dumping, Marine Life Conservation, Nuclear Test Ban, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Tropical Timber 83, Tropical Timber 94, Wetlands, Whaling
signed, but not ratified:
Air Pollution-Persistent Organic Pollutants, Biodiversity, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol
Geography - note:
located at mouths of three major European rivers (Rhine, Maas or Meuse, and Scheldt)
See also
External links
- Find postal code for address, and address for full postal code plus street number (http://www.tpgpost.nl/zoeken/eng_postcode_finder.html)
- Locate town or village; find municipality it is part of, and some basic data (http://www.zoekplaats.nl/zoekplaats/)
- For each municipality a pdf file (http://www.cbs.nl/nl/publicaties/publicaties/nederland-regionaal/gom/2002/gemeente-a.htm) - with statistics in Dutch, and with (towards the end) a map showing the neighborhoods (together ca. 11,000), and listing (a few pages further) the population figures etc. as well as the grouping into quarters (together ca 2,400)
- Lists of "places" (towns, villages, and various smaller entities), with municipality: alphabetical (ca. 4,800) (http://home.wxs.nl/~pagklein/almanak.html) - by province (extended, ca. 7,000) (http://www.metatopos.org/)
Maps
For public transport maps see Transportation in the Netherlands#External links.
Beach locations are defined by km-pole numbers, indicated on wooden poles every 250 m. See map (zip-file) (http://www.rovernet.nl/winkel/rover_strandfolder.zip) with beach from Den Helder to Hoek van Holland, showing these numbers and also public transport info.
Miscellaneous
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