NETHERLANDS ANTILLES

The Netherlands Antilles comprise two widely separated groups of islands: one, situated off the coast of Venezuela, includes principally the islands of Aruba, Curaçao and Bonaire; the other, in the Windward Islands east of Puerto Rico, includes Sint Eustatius, Saba and the southern part of Sint Maarten (the northern part is administered by France). The Netherlands Antilles form an autonomous part of the Kingdom of The Netherlands, although Aruba acquired internal independence in 1986.

Soviet military topographic mapping of the Netherland Antilles is available at the following scales: 1:1,000,000 (3 sheets, complete coverage, published 1966-1990); 1:500,000 (8 sheets, complete coverage, published 1979-1988) and 1:200,000 (3 sheets, partial coverage, published 1966-1967). These products are available in print, digital raster and digital vector GIS formats from East View Geospatial.

Geomorphological and terrain classification maps of the volcanic islands of Sint Eustatius and Saba were published by the International Institute for Aerospace Survey and Earth Sciences (ITC), Enschede, in 1977 based on a 1972 survey.

The islands were mapped by the Dutch air survey company KLM-Aerocarto in the period 1960-63 and the maps were published by the Dienst van het Kadaster van de Nederlandse Antillen (DKNA), Willemstad in 1971. The sheets covering Aruba, Bonaire, Curaçao and Sint Maarten were at the scale of 1:25,000 and those of Sint Eustatius and Saba at 1:10,000. There was also a 1:10,000 scale town map of Willemstad. New editions were prepared in the late 1970s from 1977 air photography, these sheets were printed in six colors, and published in 1985. The projection is UTM, International ellipsoid, and there is a 10 m contour interval. The legend is in Dutch and English, and there is much vegetation information, including mangrove, woodland, scrub, orchard, coconut plantations and aloe cultivation.

Tourist maps of Curaçao, Aruba and Bonaire are published by Berndtson and Berndtson (B&B), Germany. These are quite detailed and include place name indexes and street maps of the principal settlements. There is also a detailed road map of Curaçao by Van Dorp-Eddine. The Dutch publishers Uitgeverij Hebri have produced a set of wall maps of Aruba, Curaçao, Bonaire and the Dutch Windward Islands (Sint Maartin, Saba and Sint Eustatius). Small, but useful folded tourist maps of some islands are also produced by Cartographers Ltd of Toms River, New Jersey.

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