Sky Brightness Map of North Holland with Greenhouse Lighting, 2011-2012

225 measurement locations in the province of North Holland recorded the brightness of the night sky directly overhead in 2011 and 2012. The map, created by the Dutch Ministry of the Interior and Kingdom Relations, incorporates these measurements with prior data from Amsterdam and Texel to model the 'darkness' of the sky, which is influenced by city and greenhouse lighting within a roughly 30-kilometer radius.

Use Cases

• Modeling light pollution dispersion based on the described 30-kilometer radius of influence from light sources.
• Assessing the impact of greenhouse lighting on regional night sky darkness.
• Creating baseline maps for dark sky preservation efforts in North Holland.
• Comparing urban (Amsterdam) and rural (Texel) sky brightness measurements.

Strengths

• 225 spatially distributed measurement points provide a structured sampling grid.
• Integrates historical measurements from distinct locations (Amsterdam and Texel) for broader context.
• Data is provided in standard geospatial formats (PNG, WMS) for visualization and analysis.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Last update date is unknown; freshness unverified.
• The dataset's row count and underlying tabular structure are unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.

Provenance

Source

Ministerie van Binnenlandse Zaken en Koninkrijksrelaties (Dutch Ministry of the Interior and Kingdom Relations)

Collection Method

Direct measurements at 225 locations, likely using photometric sensors.

Time Range

2011-2012

Freshness

Data reflects measurements from 2011-2012; last update date is unknown.

Geography

Province of North Holland, Netherlands, including Amsterdam and the island of Texel.