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Outcrop 2:
Topographic Maps
THE POESTENKILL COMMUNITY FOREST trail map is made from a topographic map. Topographic maps display changes in elevation through use of contour lines, where every line of the topographic map represents a set change in elevation. Contour lines connect points that have the same elevation together. A bunch of contour lines close together on the map would indicate something steep, such as a cliff face, while an area with fewer contour lines indicates a gentler slope. Topographic maps are important to geologists, since they can show important geological features from above that might be hard to see from the ground.
Topographic Profile
Image source: Romary (assumed)., CC BY-SA 3.0 <http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/>, via Wikimedia Commons https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Courbe_niveau.svg.
The topographic map below was made using a light detecting and ranging (LiDAR) image of the area where you are standing. Making topographic maps is one of the many jobs of the United States Geological Survey (USGS). These days, US Topographic maps are mass-produced using remote sensing data, but historically topographic maps were hand drawn by cartographers. You can find local topographic maps on the USGS website, but Google Maps also has a topographic map feature!
Map: Jeff Briggs
Source: “What Is a Topographic Map?” USGS, USGS, www.usgs.gov/faqs/what-a-topographic-map?qt-news_science_products=0#qt-news_science_products.
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