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topographical map — English
A map that describes a certain portion of the Earth’s surface very comprehensively and accurately. It could be called a general descriptive map as it depicts the location of a wide variety of both natural and human-made features. Topographic maps show mountains, coastlines, beaches, rivers, sand dunes, vegetation, wetlands, rocky outcrops, hills, plains, river valleys, roads, railways, aerodromes, landing strips, police stations, hotels, hospitals, schools, sports fields, villages, cities, churches, footpaths, monuments, and any other features that could be fitted on the map without limiting its usability by cluttering. The fact that these maps show altitude by means of contourlines and spot heights vastly increases their value. If we want to know what occurs in an area and where these things are located we need a good topographic map. Topographical maps can be drawn to any scale, but the larger the scale, the more detail information can be indicated on the map. Most countries in the world publish official topographical map series on generally used scales such as 1: 50 000 and 1: 125 000 and all of these maps are very useful, although the topocadastral map series are used even more often (see “topocadastral map”).
