topographic map

American  

noun

1. a map showing topographic features, usually by means of contour lines.

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Usage

What is a topographic map? A topographic map is a map that indicates the features of the land’s surface, such as mountains, hills, and valleys. This is typically done with wavy lines that represent the curves and elevation of the land. Topographic is the adjective form of the noun topography, which refers to the surface features of land. Topographic maps are sometimes called topo maps for short. Topographic maps are frequently used by hikers to navigate and plan their routes, but they’re for more than just recreation. Architects, biologists, and many other professionals rely on them for important information about a particular landscape.

Example Sentences

In short, the traits of each species correspond to fitness peaks that can be likened to mountains on a topographic map separated from other mountains by valleys of lower fitness.

From Science Daily • Jan. 18, 2024

The only way to have discovered this hidden time bomb was to consult a topographic map of the land before the developer purchased it.

From Seattle Times • Jul. 17, 2023

He carried a hand-held GPS device so he could provide a topographic map with his water sites to his clients.

From New York Times • Jul. 17, 2021

To reconstruct those early travelers’ potential paths, researchers assembled the first detailed topographic map of Sahul—including past coastal lands now underwater—from satellite, aerial, and undersea mapping data.

From Science Magazine • May 4, 2021

Because he had no topographic map, however, he had no way of conceiving that salvation was so close at hand.

From "Into the Wild" by Jon Krakauer