Scale-dependant result
Exploring these differences



When included in the higher scales, the details of the coast of the islands can be quite different. For instance, Christiansø (one of the islands furthest east of Denmark, in the Baltic Sea) has a very different coastline depending on the scale.

Finally, there were also issues of points density, like in Frederikshavn (again!):
In both scales we can see aberrations: at 1:10,000 (in black), we see the crenels of the sea defences in the southern most coast; while at the 1:500,000 scale, there are obvious parts of the coast that have been generalised.
Conclusion
- the inclusion of some features of the coast (estuary, coast, islands, ..)
- the density of points used to draw the coastline
It is very difficult to find any authoritative figure. The danger in choosing a scale with very fine details is that we eventually measure something that does not exist. In Frederikshavn, even some of the sea defences crenels are included. Is that really the coast? But selecting a scale that does not show what exist is neither satisfactory, since it hides some real coast.
Appendix
Here is the table of results of my calculations:
Kommune | Length 1:10.000 (km) | Length 1:500.000 (km) | Length 1:2.000.000 (km) |
---|---|---|---|
Vordingborg | 398 | 339 | 321 |
Guldborgsund | 332 | 281 | 263 |
Lolland | 307 | 267 | 254 |
Thisted | 258 | 233 | 222 |
Sønderborg | 258 | 239 | 232 |
Ringkøbing-Skjern | 252 | 205 | 192 |
Aalborg | 232 | 192 | 182 |
Slagelse | 222 | 182 | 176 |
Skive | 207 | 187 | 175 |
Morsø | 201 | 170 | 156 |
Kalundborg | 189 | 169 | 160 |
Svendborg | 189 | 163 | 151 |
Bornholm | 188 | 122 | 116 |
Langeland | 188 | 168 | 159 |
Læsø | 168 | 114 | 101 |
Frederikshavn | 163 | 120 | 117 |
Syddjurs | 161 | 134 | 129 |
Odsherred | 160 | 139 | 137 |
Norddjurs | 157 | 127 | 124 |
Nordfyns | 155 | 122 | 110 |
Kerteminde | 153 | 132 | 128 |
Lemvig | 152 | 122 | 117 |
Tønder | 121 | 121 | 110 |
Frederikssund | 150 | 110 | 100 |
Struer | 149 | 137 | 128 |
Jammerbugt | 139 | 121 | 112 |
Haderslev | 138 | 121 | 108 |
Samsø | 137 | 114 | 105 |
Faaborg-Midtfyn | 130 | 110 | 105 |
Mariagerfjord | 123 | 103 | 97 |
Ærø | 123 | 106 | 100 |
Middelfart | 120 | 107 | 105 |
Esbjerg | 119 | 87 | 85 |
København | 118 | 72 | 70 |
Randers | 115 | 97 | 88 |
Tårnby | 112 | 60 | 46 |
Aabenraa | 73 | 66 | 63 |
Vesthimmerlands | 110 | 103 | 94 |
Assens | 104 | 91 | 88 |
Holbæk | 103 | 81 | 78 |
Næstved | 103 | 77 | 75 |
Odder | 98 | 77 | 73 |
Holstebro | 91 | 76 | 66 |
Varde | 87 | 76 | 75 |
Hedensted | 80 | 74 | 69 |
Horsens | 76 | 65 | 63 |
Aarhus | 73 | 56 | 55 |
Fanø | 73 | 51 | 49 |
Lejre | 73 | 57 | 54 |
Halsnæs | 64 | 45 | 44 |
Hjørring | 63 | 53 | 52 |
Kolding | 63 | 59 | 57 |
Nyborg | 56 | 47 | 46 |
Roskilde | 50 | 38 | 35 |
Fredericia | 48 | 40 | 39 |
Stevns | 44 | 40 | 40 |
Viborg | 44 | 39 | 38 |
Helsingør | 35 | 26 | 25 |
Odense | 35 | 12 | 11 |
Vejle | 34 | 30 | 29 |
Faxe | 34 | 30 | 29 |
Gribskov | 32 | 31 | 31 |
Køge | 25 | 21 | 21 |
Dragør | 20 | 14 | 14 |
Brønderslev | 18 | 13 | 12 |
Greve | 15 | 12 | 12 |
Fredensborg | 13 | 9 | 9 |
Hvidovre | 12 | 10 | 10 |
Solrød | 12 | 8 | 8 |
Gentofte | 10 | 8 | 8 |
Rudersdal | 9 | 6 | 6 |
Hørsholm | 9 | 7 | 7 |
Christiansø | 9 | 4 | 4 |
Lyngby-Taarbæk | 4 | 3 | 3 |
Ishøj | 4 | 8 | 7 |
Brøndby | 3 | 8 | 9 |
Vallensbæk | 0 | 3 | 3 |