Topography is the study and description of the physical features of an area, for example its hills, valleys, or rivers, or the representation of these features on maps . It includes the study of these features on any of the land like the Earth, the moon, an asteroid, or on a distant planet. Terrain is commonly modelled either using vector (triangulated irregular network or TIN) or gridded (Raster image) mathematical models. A line of sight (or ray) can be built from the camera location to the point on the object. Remote sensing is a general term for geodata collection at a distance from the subject area. Topography, a term in geography, has come to refer to the "lie of the land", or the geographic characteristics of land in terms of elevation, slope, and orientation. " These topological relationships allow complex spatial modelling and analysis to be performed. Note that the contour data or any other sampled elevation datasets are not a DLSM. Topography is a detailed map of the surface features of land. How to use a word that (literally) drives some pe... Do you know these earlier meanings of words? Topography: the physical features of a region as a whole. There are a variety of approaches to studying topography. This handy word is a Greek-rooted combo of topos meaning "place" and graphein "to write." reconstitute a sight in synthesized images of the ground. Besides their role in photogrammetry, aerial and satellite imagery can be used to identify and delineate terrain features and more general land-cover features. It can also include the surface of other planets, the moon, asteroids and meteors. Kids learn about the Earth science subject of topography including features such as landforms, elevation, latitude, longitude, and topographical maps. Geography seeks to understand where things are found, why they are there, and how they develop and change over time. Topography definition is - the art or practice of graphic delineation in detail usually on maps or charts of natural and man-made features of a place or region especially in … In geostatistics, land surface is commonly modelled as a combination of the two signals – the smooth (spatially correlated) and the rough (noise) signal. Topography is a field of geoscience and planetary science and is concerned with local detail in general, including not only relief, but also natural and artificial features, and even local history and culture. 2. Other articles where Topography is discussed: continental landform: Basic concepts and considerations: …that implies progressive changes in topography from an initial designated morphology toward or to some altered form. Medical Dictionary: Definition of topography… The DLSM can then be used to visualize terrain, drape remote sensing images, quantify ecological properties of a surface or extract land surface objects. In mathematics the concept of topography is used to indicate the patterns or general organization of features on a map or as a term referring to the pattern in which variables (or their values) are distributed in a space. phies. In particular, it lays the underlying foundation of a landscape. The earliest detailed surveys in the United States were made by the “Topographical Bureau of the Army,” formed during the War of 1812,[7] which became the Corps of Topographical Engineers in 1838. topography. The insights that have come from geographic research show … 1. In modern usage, this involves generation of elevation data in digital form (DEM). These features typically include natural formations such as mountains, rivers, lakes, and valleys, forests, glaciers etc. It is an important part of earth science.. This is also known as geomorphometry. ", Existing topographic survey maps, because of their comprehensive and encyclopedic coverage, form the basis for much derived topographic work. Topography is a broad term used to describe the detailed study of the earth's surface. “Topography.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/topography. [1][2][3], The term topography originated in ancient Greece and continued in ancient Rome, as the detailed description of a place. Michael Paterniti Kiese Makeba Laymon Carina Del Valle Schorske Dessa Irina Aleksander Sam Dolnick Mark Binelli Maggie Jones Rob Hoerburger Jamie Lauren Keiles Devin Gordon Jazmine Hughes Jenna Wortham Jade Chang Taffy Brodesser-akner Kaitlyn Greenidge Reginald Dwayne Betts Rowan Ricardo Phillips Wesley Morris Ismail Muhammad Anthony Giardina, We Added New Words to the Dictionary for January 2021. the shape of an area of land, including its hills, valleys etc —topographer noun [ countable] —topographical /ˌtɒpəˈɡræfɪkəl $ ˌtɑː-, ˌtoʊ-/ adjective Examples from the Corpus topography • The Bible had always had a local topography in his imagination. In the 20th century, the term topography started to be used to describe surface description in other fields where mapping in a broader sense is used, particularly in medical fields such as neurology. [citation needed] The term "topographic surveys" appears to be American in origin. And it’s also closely tied to geography and mapping systems like GIS. For discussion of land surfaces themselves, see, Definition from WordNet Search – princeton.edu, Definition from Federal Citizen Information Center – pueblo.gsa.gov, Learn how and when to remove this template message, Topographical Engineers – History and Personnel, National Geographic Trails Illustrated Maps, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Topography&oldid=997844167, Articles needing additional references from January 2021, All articles needing additional references, Short description is different from Wikidata, Articles containing Ancient Greek (to 1453)-language text, Articles with unsourced statements from December 2010, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. The topography of an area could refer to the surface forms and features themselves, or a description (especially their depiction in maps). 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