Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Science/2020 October 29

Welcome to the Wikipedia Science Reference Desk Archives
The page you are currently viewing is a transcluded archive page. While you can leave answers for any questions shown below, please ask new questions on one of the current reference desk pages.

October 29

Question about topographic maps

Whenever I look for topographic maps, they always look somewhat like this: They have lots of strange shadows that, while they make the map look realistic, they also make it far harder to use. How would I go about finding maps that aren't like this, in which one color actually corresponds to one elevation without the lighting/shadow design? 68.192.250.10 (talk) 21:05, 29 October 2020 (UTC)

The technical term for this "shadow" is a shaded relief map. If you prefer, you can find topographical maps that show terrain height without shaded relief: the terrain height may be indicated by color-schemes, contour lines, or other graphical indications. On computerized maps, the terrain height may be represented in some other way.

The standard topographic maps produced by the US Geological Survey do not use shaded relief. The USGS Store sells paper copies at low costs; and they provide digital products (PDFs) equivalent to everything they sell - those are available at zero cost. Here's a very lovely 1956 / Revised 1980 topographical map of San Francisco, including my former home. Contours are indicated, and color is used to illustrate vegetation, but there is no shaded relief for the terrain. If you're a map junkie, really in to the technical details, keep in mind that this specific map predates WGS84, so ... maybe don't try to navigate with it? Anyway, USGS publishes all their maps, so you will surely find some that meet your need.

You may also want to compare various atlases produced by various publishers: different "brands" of atlas have preferred stylizations and other technical details that differentiate them. Personally, I am partial to the Goode cartography - something about it just seems specifically appropriate for mapping Earth - but they apply shaded relief in their usual map books.

Nimur (talk) 22:12, 29 October 2020 (UTC)

Thank you very much, that's exactly what I was looking for! 68.192.250.10 (talk) 13:57, 30 October 2020 (UTC)

References