Estonia gains 95 islands, but loses 4 square kilometers with updated map
A newly completed map of Estonia shows there are 95 more islands than previously thought, but the country is four square kilometers smaller.
The Land Board maps Estonia's coastline every eight years and the latest aerial images taken in 2020 revealed that the number of islands in territorial waters has risen from 2,222 islands to 2,317.
"The shoreline of the Baltic Sea is constantly changing. The shoreline is affected by post-ice age land uplift, as a result of which the ground surface rises, as well as by continuous coastal erosion and accretion processes, which are particularly intense with storms. Therefore, the shoreline has to be remapped from time to time," said Lea Pauts, head of the agency's Spatial Data Department.
It also set the size of the country at 45,335 square kilometers.
"Estonia is now 4 square kilometers smaller than the previous figures and we have to get used to the new official figures," said Pauts. The difference can be explained by more accurate mapping techniques and better source data.
Sea islands are included when they have an area of 100 square meters. The new islands may not be named soon.
"Whether and how they are named depends on their permanence, their specificity and whether people need to name them – for example, to explain to friends where they went canoeing in summer or ice-skating in winter," Pauts said.
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Editor: Mirjam Mäekivi, Helen Wright
