what is the length of the british coastline
Coastline of the United Kingdom The mapping authority for the United Kingdom, the Ordnance Survey, records the coastline of the main island, Great Britain, as 11,072.76 miles rounding to 11,073 miles (17,820 km).[1] The British Cartographic Society points out that "The true answer is: it depends!". If the larger islands are added, the coastline as measured by the standard method at Mean High Water Mark rises to about 19,491 miles (31,368 km).[2] According to the CIA Factbook, the length of the UK coastline is around 12,429 km or 7,723 miles, although no details are provided about how this figure was calculated.[3] On the basis of EU Marine Strategy Framework Directive boundaries,[4] the UK coastline can be divided into the eastern, Greater North Sea section, which using 1km2 box counts and including islands is 4,994 km, and a western Celtic Seas coastline, which using the same measurement approach and including Northern Ireland is 14,201 km.