Methods of showing height and relief on topographical graph

Methods of showing height and relief on topographical graph

1. Layer colouring

Colours represent different range of heights. The colour brown shows the highest places and the colour green shows the lowest places.

2. Spot heights

They are points marked on maps with their heights printed beside them.

3. Trigonometrical station

It is shown as a triangle with a dot in the centre, height is marked at the side.

4. Contours

A contour line is a line joining places of equal height on a map. A number is written along the contour to show its height. The steeper the slope, the closer the contours. The difference between the heights of two adjacent contour lines is known as vertical interval.

Gradient

It can be used to determine the steepness of a slope.

Reduced bearing

There are 360^o in a compass circle which can be divided in 4 equal sections, each has 90^o.

Reduced bearing is measured in degrees from the north or the south (always starts with N or S, followed by a degree and then E or W) **e.g. A is N37^oE from B.