'Do you know your own country good enough?'
This was what I was wondering about the Dutch people, and the question that started this little project.
I asked various Dutch people to draw the outline of what they thought the Netherlands looked like.
They had three colours to chose from; yellow, magenta, and cyan. I asked them to draw in one line as much as possible.
I then placed all the drawn maps on top of each other.
You can see that the outline of the country is still pretty clear.
( especially the islands in the left upper corner are clear in most people's memory )
They had three colours to chose from; yellow, magenta, and cyan. I asked them to draw in one line as much as possible.
I then placed all the drawn maps on top of each other.
You can see that the outline of the country is still pretty clear.
( especially the islands in the left upper corner are clear in most people's memory )

I wanted to experiment with what would be left of the map if you could only see where lines are crossing.
If multiple lines cross in one space, that part of the country is remembered by a lot of people.
( the IJsselmeer, a big lake, is often Tragically forgotten )
I looked at the places where two lines are crossing and put a black circle on that spot.
Where more than two lines cross I put a red circle.
If multiple lines cross in one space, that part of the country is remembered by a lot of people.
( the IJsselmeer, a big lake, is often Tragically forgotten )
I looked at the places where two lines are crossing and put a black circle on that spot.
Where more than two lines cross I put a red circle.

The result is that even without the coloured lines, you can see where they cross, and still see the shape of the Netherlands.
When you place the map over a black background you only see the red circles ( the multiple crossing lines ).
This way you get the best image people have from the Netherlands, because the red dots show the parts most people remembered.



Conclusion:
When you look hard enough, Dutch people do know what their country looks like ;)
When you look hard enough, Dutch people do know what their country looks like ;)