maaalue

Maaalue is a term used in Estonian that literally means land area, formed from the words maa (land) and alue (area). In geographic and cartographic contexts, maaalue refers to the terrestrial portion of a defined region, the landmass as distinguished from water bodies within the same boundary.

Usage of the term appears in statistics, planning, and mapping to describe the extent of land for purposes such as population density calculations, land-use assessments, or environmental impact studies. In geographic information systems (GIS), a maaalue layer represents land polygons within political or natural boundaries, separating land from water features for analysis and visualization.

Measurement and interpretation of maaalue follow common conventions for land area. Land area is typically expressed in square kilometers or square miles. Definitions vary by data source: some figures denote land area excluding inland waters, while others refer to total area that includes inland water. Changes in coastlines, river courses, or administrative borders can alter reported maaalue figures over time.

Etymology and related usage: the concept of land area is common across languages, with Estonian usage reflected in the compound maaalue. Similar notions exist worldwide under terms like “land area” in English, and equivalent phrases in other languages, applied in geography, statistics, and cartography to distinguish terrestrial extent from water bodies.