' (, "standard elevation zero") or NHN is a vertical datum used in Germany. In geographical terms, NHN is the reference plane for the

normal height Normal heights (symbol H^* or H^N; SI unit metre, m) is a type of height above sea level introduced by the Soviet scientist Mikhail Molodenskii. The normal height of a point is defined as the quotient of a point's geopotential number ''C'' (i.e. it ...

of a topographical eminence height above mean sea level used in the 1932 German Mean Height Reference System ('). The plane is in the shape of a quasi- geoid. The reference height is a geodetic, fixed point on the New Church of St. Alexander at

Wallenhorst Wallenhorst is a municipality in the district of Osnabrück, in Lower Saxony, Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and t ...

in the German state of

Lower Saxony Lower Saxony is a States of Germany, German state (') in Northern Germany, northwestern Germany. It is the second-largest state by land area, with , and fourth-largest in population (8 million in 2021) among the 16 ' of the Germany, Federal Re ...

. The geopotential height of this point was calculated in 1986 as part of the United European Levelling Network (UELN), based on the Amsterdam Ordnance Datum.

Definition

The NHN plane is a theoretical reference plane. It is derived by deducting

s from the normal plumb line. The difference between the resulting quasi-geoid and the reference ellipsoid is called the height anomaly or quasi-geoid height.

Change-over from NN to NHN

Since 1 January 2000 the whole of Germany has changed its height system over to

s based on the

datum Data ( , ) are a collection of discrete or continuous value (semiotics), values that convey information, describing the quantity, qualitative property, quality, fact, statistics, other basic units of meaning, or simply sequences of symbols t ...

of the Amsterdam Ordnance Datum, known as the German Mean Height Reference System, DHHN92. At the same time, the new NHN is the basis of the United European Levelling Net (UELN), formerly known as the ' or , which standardises the height systems of the European countries. Heights in this system are given in meters above NHN or m (NHN). The NHN was introduced because for heights above the actual gravitational field of the Earth was not taken into account. As a result, there were changes in both the old West German normal orthometric heights (new methods of calculation) and the normal heights of East Germany (with respect to the Amsterdam Datum). The elevations differed — depending on location — by 0.06 to 0.16 m. As a result of new measurements as part of the changeover, however, variations of 0.59 m () have surfaced. Older relief maps often show heights above the old reference planes. Current maps by the federal survey authorities are based on NHN. At the beginning of 2013 most of the federal states (except Berlin, Thuringia and Saxony-Anhalt) had complete coverage by the new digital topographic mapping at 1:25,000 scale (DTK). Not all the maps have appeared in print yet. On the DTK25 maps, NHN is used for elevations; however, on the DTK25-V scanned topographic maps (HN) and (NN) are still being used.

Old East German height system

East Germany East Germany, officially known as the German Democratic Republic (GDR), was a country in Central Europe from Foundation of East Germany, its formation on 7 October 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with West Germany (FRG) on ...

normal heights used to be referred to as heights above or HN. The 1958 Kronstadt Tide Gauge (') was used as the datum. The new NHN heights are typically 12–15 cm higher. The maximum deviations in the spirit level points of first order are between 7 and 16 cm.

References

External links

Description of NHN system

{{DEFAULTSORT:Normalhohennull Vertical datums