I've done some additional research. Kilometerquadrat is a special term, used in mapping, land management, etc. It's actually a unit in the Gauss-Kr�ger-Kilometerquadrat system of mapping coordinates.
It's a one-kilometer square, with square being the operative word. As a square kilometer (Quadratkilometer) can be any shape, all they have in common is their area. Kilometerquadrat appears to be analogous to the Township unit (a one-mile square), used in Western Canada and elsewhere. If, in a mapped area, we refer to 75 Kilometerquadrat, we're referring to an area consisting of 75 of the one-kilometer-square subdivisions. If we were specifying the area covered by a forest fire, or the area of a country, or a continent (or any somewhat amorphous area), we would express it in the SI-consistent Quadratkilometer, which works for any shape. Kilometerquadrat appears to have no direct English translation, i.e., we don't have a unit called a kilometersquare. To refer, in German, to a four-kilometer square (i.e., a square with 4-kilometer sides), we'd probably have to say vier-Kilometer Quadrat. One of the documents I looked at can be found at: http://www.lverma.nrw.de/produkte/druckschriften/download/PUNAER.pdf. One can find web sites (a couple of German-language Turkish ones, for example) where the term Kilometerquadrat is mistakenly used for Quadratkilometer. However, there are many thousands of German and Swiss sites which have references to areas expressed in Quadratkilometer. The Google search engine only finds something under 40 sites with Kilometerquadrat references -- ample testimony, I think, to its specialized usage. I rest my case. We must bear in mind, by the way, that this conversation started in English. Bill Potts, CMS Roseville, CA http://metric1.org [SI Navigator] -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]On Behalf Of kilopascal Sent: Wednesday, December 12, 2001 15:26 To: U.S. Metric Association Subject: [USMA:16620] RE: Metric in the news 2001-12-12 I would interpret a 4 km square to be a square 4 kilometres on eaxh side. Thus an area of 4 x 4 or 16 km�. I would also interpret 4 km squared (ending in d) to mean the same thing as 4 km�. I would interpret 4 km square (without "a" in the front) to mean 4 km squared, thinking someone meant to have the "d" at the end but forgot it or made a typo error. But, in my original comment below I was not trying to note a difference between kilometre squared and square kilometre but to question if the reporter herself knew the difference and if knew what she was saying. John ----- Original Message ----- From: "Wizard of OS" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "U.S. Metric Association" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Wednesday, 2001-12-12 08:05 Subject: [USMA:16615] RE: Metric in the news > always observe the diffenrence between: > > 4 km square and (4 km) square > 4 km^2 and (4 km)^2 = 16 km^2 > > >From: "kilopascal" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > >Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > >To: "U.S. Metric Association" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > >Subject: [USMA:16603] RE: Metric in the news > >Date: Tue, 11 Dec 2001 18:19:39 -0500 > > > >2001-12-11 > > > >That is a good point. When Christiane said a "four kilometre square", did > >she mean a 4 x 4 km plot of land or did she mean a total area of 4 km�? > >Did she know what she meant or did she just read off of a prompter someone > >else's words? We really can't be sure. > > > >As for Bill's comment about the farmers and acres, I doubt they could do it > >either. They may know the sizes of certain parcels of land, not because > >they can measure it or guess it, but because they were told that by someone > >else. Anyway, nobody is going to bother to check for accuracy. > > > >John > > > > > > > > > >----- Original Message ----- > >From: "Joseph B. Reid" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > >To: "U.S. Metric Association" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > >Sent: Tuesday, 2001-12-11 14:10 > >Subject: [USMA:16599] RE: Metric in the news > > > > > > > Bill Hooper wrote in USMA 16596: > > > > > > >on 12/11/2001 6:49 AM, Bill Potts at [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > > > > > > > >> Interestingly, on CNN, Christiane Amanpour was describing the area > >being > > > >> bombed as a four kilometer square. The news readers were referring to > > > >>the same > > > >> area as one and a half square miles -- an unnecessary and completely > > > >>incorrect > > > >> conversion. > > > >> > > > >> A four kilometer square is 16 square kilometers, or approximately 6 > >square > > > >> miles. > > > >> > > > >> Bill Potts, CMS > > > > > > > >Unfortunately, a lot of people think that, because a square shape one > > > >kilometre long and one kilometres wide has an area of one square > >kilometre, > > > >then a square four kilometres long and four kilometres wide must be > >FOUR > > > >square kilometres. > > > > > > > >That's WRONG, of course (4 km by 4 km is 16 square kilometres as Potts > > > >noted), but not everyone knows that. Somewhere we fail to teach our > >children > > > >in school what the concept of area is all about (and how it is > >calculated). > > > >A related problem is the assumption that, if there are 0.6 MILES in one > > > >kilometre, there will be 0.6 SQUARE miles in one SQUARE kilometre. > > > > > > > >I suspect that most Americans don't understand these things well. But > > > >"that's all right" (sarcastic), they couldn't tell the difference > >between > > > >CNN's 1.5 square miles and the correct 6 square miles anyway. How many > > > >people do you think could look out over a large area of land and give > >you an > > > >accurate estimate of it's area in square anythings? (Perhaps some > >farmers > > > >could do it, but thay'd do it in acres.) > > > > > > >Bill Hooper > > > > > > > > > I suspect that the area of devastation caused by the big bomb was 4 > >square > > > kilometres and the an ignorant scribe thought that was the same as a 4 > > > kilometre square. In which case, by another error by another scribe, > >the > > > correct result of 1.5 square miles was produced. > > > > > > Joseph B.Reid > > > 17 Glebe Road West > > > Toronto M5P 1C8 TEL. 416-486-6071 > > > > > > s > > _________________________________________________________________ > MSN Fotos ist der einfachste Weg, Ihre Fotos auszudrucken und anderen > Benutzern zur Verf�gung zu stellen: > http://photos.msn.de/support/worldwide.aspx >
