Both of these formats require CAD software (free viewer here Autodesk Viewer). In order to view these formats, you would need the appropriate software. The contours are offered as an additional layer on DWG and DXF files. Supplementary lines appear as dotted lines, indicating flatter terrain.Typically one index line occurs for every five intermediate lines. Intermediate lines are the thinner, more common, lines between the index lines.This tells you the elevation above sea level. Index lines are the thickest contour lines and are usually labeled with a number at one point along the line.There are 3 kinds of contour lines you’ll see on a map: intermediate, index, and supplementary. Shallow slope (the contours are spaced apart) Steep slope (the contours are close together) For example, several contour lines spaced close together would indicate steep terrain, while lines spaced far apart would indicate a gentler slope. If each line represents an equal point of elevation, then any change in elevation would lead to inconsistent line spacing. When checking quickly a topographic map you can immediately know if a landscape is mountainous or flat. The contour lines we are using today came into popular use in the mid-1800s along with the rise of resource extraction industries like mining and logging. It would be thousands of years before cartographers could chart large areas of terrain with any real accuracy. The first known maps to include geographical features were found in Ancient Rome. Specifically, a topographic map represents the three-dimensional landscape of the Earth within the two-dimensional space of a map. Topographic maps use a combination of colors, shading and contour lines to represent changes in elevation and terrain shape. A map with contour lines on it is called a topographic map. Topography is the study of the geographical features of a landscape. In addition to backpacking and hiking, countless other professions use them - land surveyors, architects foresters, engineers, miners, geologists, hunters and more.
This information can be helpful when selecting a hiking route.
#Topographic elevation map download#
Download 1m Contours of the UK for CAD software hereĭiagrams provided by Encyclopaedia BritannicaĬontour lines are critical to understanding the elevation profile of your terrain or a particular land formation. Contour lines are pictorial, meaning they do not exist on the ground.
Understanding contours is a skill that will allow you to look at a map and picture the hill, with depressions for streams, hills and thin mountain ridges, etc. In other words, contour lines show the topography of the land. They're useful because they illustrate the shape of the land surface on the map. Contour lines show elevation and the shape of the terrain. Contour lines are the faint red-brown lines drawn on a map connecting points of equal elevation above sea level, meaning if you physically followed a contour line, the elevation (height of the land) would remain the same.
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