Name/Title:	Het Actueel Hoogtebestand Nederland (AHN)
Source	Actueel
Category	Knowledgebase, Dataset
Sector	ICT, Environment, Water Resources
Technology Platform	Software Tools
Date Started/Timeframe	2006 – present
Website/URL	http://www.ahn.nl/index.html
Primary Language(s)	Dutch
Location	Amersfoort, Netherlands
Keywords	elevation, terrain, hydrology, DEM
Targeted Stakeholder	Data Analysts, Forest Modeling Teams, Hydrologists, Technical Specialists

Description: The AHN Netherlands (AHN) is a digital elevation model dataset for the Netherlands. It is a very detailed and precise elevation data. Containing numbers represented as average height per square meter.


The AHN is especially needed for water management and flood defense management, one of the daily tasks of the water boards, provinces and Rijkswaterstaat. On the basis of these data, it is determined whether the water sufficient of the land can flow, how high the water level in the locks may be, and whether the water in rivers, meadows and ditches can be adequately drained. Also, it can be determined whether the levees are still high and strong enough.

The AHN is also used for many other types of administration, such as the daily management and maintenance of dikes, creating specifications for major maintenance, 3D surveys, licensing and enforcement. Municipalities, businesses and researchers use detailed elevation data. For example, archaeologists on the basis of small differences in height in pastures, can tell settlements not detected by naked eye. The height is measured with laser altimetry: a technique in which a plane or helicopter with a laser beam scanning the surface. The measurement of the duration of the laser reflection and the status and position of the aircraft together result in a very accurate measurement of the height. AHN can be used for several other applications such as hydrologic models, route studies, coastal erosion, geomorphology, planning of infrastructure projects, permitting, ground water modeling and more.



How can the ICT product/innovation benefit the project?

Some of the above mentioned uses such as hydrologic modeling, site excavation, understanding terrain details and more are also relevant and applicable for forestry sector. Deriving such a product for dense forest canopy may be a bit harder to achieve but such datasets can be useful for monitoring activities around permitted zones of forests such as grazing lands, cultivated lands, paths within the forest and more. Similar accuracies and resolution using other or similar technologies can be useful in understanding land cover dynamics, carbon stocks and more.