地形信息中心(The Centre for Topographic Information)提供了地形图的定义:“地形图是用于表达地面的人文和自然特征的详细且准确的地图。(A topographic map is a detailed and accurate graphic representation of cultural and natural features on the ground.)”
历史
地形图是在地形测量的基础上制作的。这种图纸使用了大比例尺,并标明了大量地标和地形信息[3]。这和较早只有地产和政治边界的地籍调查是不一样的。第一套整个国家的多页地形图集Carte géométrique de la France是在1789年完成的[4]。地形调查由军队进行,并用于辅助战斗计划及防御部署(这也是英国地形测量局Ordnance Survey名称的由来,意为军事调查)[5]。在这种情况下,海拔信息十分重要。
新西兰土地局(Land Information New Zealand, LINZ)是负责更新地形图的政府机构。LINZ的地形局包含了整个新西兰、沿海岛屿、一些太平洋岛屿及罗斯海域[16]。在新西兰地形数据库(New Zealand Topographic Database, NZTopo)可以获取到矢量数据[17]。新西兰地形数据库网站也提供了公众免费访问的服务[18]。
瑞士
瑞士联邦地绘局(英语:Swisstopo)(the Federal Office of Topography, Swisstopo)制作七个不同比例尺的瑞士地形图。
^"Traditionally, the main division of maps is into topographic and thematic maps. Topographic maps supply a generaljmkuikngh image of the earth's surface: roads, rivers, buildings, often the nature of the vegetation, the relief and the names of the various mapped objects." M.-J. Kraak and F. Ormeling, Cartography: Visualization of Spatial Data, Longman, 1996, ISBN 0-582-25953-3, p. 44.
^The range of information is indicated by the title of a map produced in 1766: A Topographical Map of Hartfordshire from an Actual Survey in which is Express'd all the Roads, Lanes, Churches, Noblemen and Gentlemen's Seats, and every Thing remarka物價
ble in the County, by Andrew Dury and John Andrews, reprinted by Hertfordshire Publications in 1980. This showed the relief by using hachures.
^Peter Barber, The Map Book, Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2005, ISBN 0-297-84372-9, pp. 232, 250.
^Organizing the U.S. Geological Survey. The United States Geological Survey: 1879-1989. U.S. Geological Survey, U.S. Department of the Interior. 2000-04-10 [2007-06-19]. (原始内容存档于2007-07-02).
^The Four Great Surveys of the West. The United States Geological Survey: 1879-1989. U.S. Geological Survey, U.S. Department of the Interior. 2000-04-10 [2007-06-19]. (原始内容存档于2007-06-10).