Topography SurveyTopography refers to the characteristics of the land surface. These characteristics include relief, natural features, and artificial (or man-made) features. Relief is the conjuration of the earth’s surface and includes such features as hills, valleys, plains, summits, depressions, and other natural features, such as trees, streams, and lakes. Man-made features are highways, bridges, dams, wharfs, buildings, and so forth. A graphic representation of the topography of an area is called a topographic map. A topographic map is simply a drawing that shows the natural and artificial features of an area. A topographic survey is a survey conducted to obtain the data needed for the preparation of a topographic map. This data consists of the horizontal and vertical locations of the features to be shown on the map. |  |