Land use; main categories; regional, 1900 onwards

Table explanation

Description topics

Total surface

Total surface of the Netherlands.

Transport

Area in use for traffic and transport on roads, on railways and in the air.

Transport total

Total area of the main group ‘Transport’.

Railroad

Area in use for traffic and transport on railways.

Including
- slopes;
- dead end rails to industrial area;
- shunting area;
- railway yard including station buildings and adjacent parking areas.

Excluding
- narrow gauge, this is included at the adjacent land use.

Main road

Area in use for traffic and transport over the main road network.

Including
- roads with function of transportation artery;
- included green in connections with roads and inside roundabouts;
- parking areas;
- busstation;
- gasoilstation;
- storages for road maintenance.

Excluding
- included green, larger than 1 ha in use of agriculture or woodland;
- included water larger than 1 ha;
- main road under construction.

Airport

Area in use for traffic and transport in the air.

Including
- paved and unpaved airstrips;
- associated buildings and parking areas.

Excluding
- unpaved soil inside the enclosed airport (not belonging to airstrips);
- adjacent areas with services and industries.

Since the 2017 land use edition of the Bestand Bodemgebruik, unpaved areas within airport grounds that are actively used for flying related activities (e.g. taking of, landing, or parking of gliders, ultra-light planes) are categorised as Airport.

Built-up area

Area in use for residents, work, shopping, cultural facilities and public amenities.

Built-up area total

Total area of the main group ‘Built-on area’.

Residential

Area mainly used for residents, including primary amenities.

Including
- housing areas;
- primary amenities e.g. (local) shops, primary schools;
- local offices of e.g. banks;
- green areas smaller than 1 hectare;
- streets and local parking areas;
- courtyards, gardens;
- playing grounds;
- trailer camp (excluding wreckage areas larger than 0,1 hectare).

If residential areas are inside woodland, the total area is assignated as residential if a street pattern can be recognized.

Industry, business, public institutions

Area in use for industry, retail and business services, for concentrated retail trade and catering activities and for general use, like community homes, police offices and utility services.

Socio-cultural facilities

Area in use by social and cultural facilities as hospitals, universities and musea.

Including
- secondary schools and schools of applied science;
- boarding school;
- conference centre;
- hospital, sanatorium, nursing home, psychiatrist hospital etc.;
- church, cloister, museum (including castles that are open to the public), excluding open air museum;
- theatre, cinema, concert- and congress hall;
- cultural centre;
- community centre, club house, youth association;
- sheltered workshop;
- associated parking areas and forest- or shrublines.

Social and cultural facilities are mainly limited on the map by a fence. As the limit of the object, the location of the fence is used.

Semi built-up area

Area with a certain amount of paving, not in use as traffic area or built-up area.

Semi built-up area total

Total area of the main group ‘Semi built-up area’.

Mining area

Area for winning materials from the bottom or soil.

Including
- area for deep- and shallow extraction of raw materials;
- associated buildings, parking areas, storage areas of extracted materials and waste.

Raw materials include
- natural gas;
- petroleum;
- stone;
- gravel;
- clay;
- loam;
- marl;
- peat;
- sand;
- salt.

Mining areas of natural gas and petroleum are mainly limited on the map by a fence. As the limit of the object, the location of the fence is used.

Minimum size of 0,5 hectare.

Building site

Area in use for construction.

including
- area of construction or with preparing traces;
- fallow land on industrial- and office areas.

Other semi built-up area

Area of other use with a certain amount of pavement.

including
- a dyke that is not overgrown with grass;
- pier above sea;
- fallow land that can not be recognized as building site;
- railway out of use.

For longitudinal piers and embankments that are connected to the land, the minimum size is 0,1 hectare.

Recreation

Area in use for recreation.

Recreation total

Total area of the main group ‘Recreation’.

Park and public garden

Green area in use for relaxation.

Including
- area for the public with lawns, playing fields, sunbathing areas, paths, shrubs, flowerbeds and waterponds;
- greenbelts.

Parts of the parks that can be assigned to woodland (also larger than 1 hectare) will be assigned to park and public garden.

Sport grounds

Area in use for sport activities.

Including
- area for fieldsport, including trotting and racing, golf area;
- swimming pool, ice skating place;
- sports hall and horse riding school;
- permanent motorcross area (including basic ones);
- associated stands;
- woodland if included in the sport area;
- associated parking areas and forest- or shrublines.

Minimum size of 0,5 hectare.

Other recreation usage

Area of allotment gardens, for daytrips like zoos, open air musea and attraction parks and for a recreational residence of several days, like campings, holiday parks and youth hostels.

Agriculture

Area for agriculture.

Agriculture total

Total area of the main group ‘Agriculture’.

Greenhouses

Area in use for agriculture in greenhouses.

Including
- area of the cultivation of plants under glass in greenhouses;
- associated waterbasins.

Other agricultural usage

Area for agriculture without glass, like pastures, fields and orchards.

Including
- grassland (hayland and pastures) including the grass growns dikes and river forelands;
- area for cattle breeding;
- orchards, including underplanting, maintenance paths and windbreaks;
- horticulture and arable farming;
- cultivation of small fruits;
- scattered houses with associated yards and gardens, as far as they are in the middle or adjacent to agricultural area;
- natural grassland.

Woodland and nature

Area with forest or natural open area.

Woodland and nature total

Total area of the main group ‘Woodland and nature’.

Woodland

Area with trees for wood production and nature conservation.

Including
- area with trees of which the crowns are a closed entity;
- cutting field;
- fire lane;
- forest path;
- nursery of forests;
- storage of wood;
- scattered houses, if placed inside the woodland;
- poplar fields.

Excluding
- wooded areas of parks;
- forest nurseries that are outside the woodland;
- residential areas (with a pattern of streets) and areas of recreational houses inside the woodland.

Natural open area

Open area with a wet or dry surface, mainly nature.

Water

Water total

Total area of the main group ‘Water’

Inland water total

Inland water in use as waterway, recreational water, mining area, sewage or sludge farm, water reservoir, including IJsselmeer.

Tidal water total

Water outside the average high tide.