Topography

Definition: Topography

Topography

Noun

1. The configuration of a surface and the relations among its man-made and natural features.

2. Precise detailed study of the surface features of a region.

Date "topography" was first used: sometime in the early 15th century. (references)

Etymology: Topography \To*pog"ra*phy\, noun. [French expression topographie, Greek; place to write.]. (Websters 1913)

Specialty Definition: Topography

Domain	Definition
Geological	Configuration (relief) of the land surface; the graphic delineation or portrayal of that configuration in map form, as by contour lines; in oceanography the term is applied to a surface such as the sea bottom or a surface of given characteristics within the water mass. (references)
	The shape of the land surface. See relief. (references)
Medicine	The psychoanalytic description of regions of the psyche, whereby. . . the id, the ego and the superego are separated. Source: European Union. (references)
Mining	A. The general configuration of a land surface or any part of the Earth's surface, including its relief and the position of its natural and manmade features. CF:relief b. The natural or physical surface features of a region, considered collectively as to form; the features revealed by the contour lines of a map. In nongeologic usage, the term includes manmade features (such as are shown on a topographic map) c. The art or practice of accurately and graphically delineating in detail, as on a map or chart or by a model, selected natural and manmade surface features of a region. Also, the description, study, or representation of such features. Etymol: Greek topos, place, + graphein,to write. (references)
Public Administration	The science that studies the fixed characteristics, landmarks, elevations and physical features of an area and portrays them on a special(topographic)map; By extension, such features of an area. Source: European Union. (references)
Science	The technique of graphically representing the exact physical features of a place or region on a map. The physical features of a place or region. (references)
	The physical features of a place; or the study and depiction of physical features, including land elevations. (references)
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

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Specialty Definition: Topography

(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)

Topography, a geography term, refers to the "lay of the land", or the physiogeographic characteristics of land in terms of elevation, slope, and orientation. In a broader sense it means the arrangement of the natural and artificial physical features of an area, thus also including the location of towns, villages, roads, etc.

Topographic maps are specialized maps that show topography in terms of elevation above sea level.

The understanding of topography is critical for a number of reasons. In terms of environmental quality, agriculture, and hydrology, understanding the topography of an area enables the understanding of watershed boundaries, drainage characteristics, water movement, and impacts on water quality.

Understanding topography also impinges on soil conservation, especially in agriculture. Contour plowing is an established practice of enabling sustainable agriculture on sloping land, and is the practice of plowing along topographic lines.

Topography is critical militarily because it determines the ability of armed forces to take and hold areas, and to move troops and materiel into and through areas.

Topography is important in determining weather patterns. Two areas in fairly close proximity geographically may differ radically in characteristics such as rainfall because of elevation differences or because of a "rain shadow" effect.

Tectonic processes and erosional processes are the determiners of topography. Tectonic processes such as orogenies cause land to be elevated, and erosional (and weathering) processes cause land to be worn away to lower elevations. Either process may determine steep slopes, etc.

Synonyms within Context: Topography

Context	Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus).
Measurement	Bathometer, galvanometer, heliometer, interferometer, odometer, ombrometer, pantometer, pluviometer, pneumatometer, pneumometer, radiometer, refractometer, respirometer, rheometer, spirometer, telemeter, udometer, vacuometer, variometer, viameter, thermometer, thermistor (heat), barometer (air), anemometer (wind), dynamometer, goniometer (angle) meter; landmark; (limit); balance, scale; (weight); marigraph, pneumatograph, stethograph; rain gauge, rain gage; voltmeter(volts), ammeter(amps); spectrophotometer (light absorbance); mass spectrophotometer(molecular mass); geiger counter, scintillation counter(radioactivity); pycnometer (liquid density); graduated cylinder, volumetric flask (volume); radar gun (velocity); radar (distance); side-looking radar (shape, topography); sonar (depth in water); light meter (light intensity); clock, watch, stopwatch, chronometer (time); anemometer (wind velocity); densitometer (color intensity).
Situation	Topography, geography, chorography; map.
Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus.

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Crosswords: Topography

English words defined with "topography": geographics, geography ♦ Topographer, topographic, topographical, topographically. (references)

Specialty definitions using "topography": airshed ♦ B-44 Form, Cooperative Station Report, baric topography, Basin and Range province ♦ carbon density, climatic factor, combat chart, Corneal Topography ♦ digital elevation model ♦ Earth Science Enterprise, epeirogeny ♦ FIELD CONTRACTOR, frost pockets ♦ gravity anomaly ♦ height pattern ♦ ice sheet, inherited drainage ♦ meander belt, Microscopy, Scanning Probe ♦ panoramic-profile map, PHOTOGRAMMETRIST, photokeratoscopy, pressure topography ♦ SCHEDULE MAKER, site criteria, soil-forming factor, superimposed drainage, superposed drainage, SURVEYOR, MARINE ♦ terrain correction ♦ WILDLIFE AGENT, REGIONAL. (references)

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Commercial Usage: Topography

Domain	Title
Books	Already Home: A Topography of Spirit (reference) Byzantine Constantinople: Monuments, Topography and Everyday Life (Medieval Mediterranean, V. 33) (reference) Discovering Kerry: Its History, Heritage & Topography (reference) Greek Archives, Cults & Topography (Archaia Hellas Series : Vol. 2)) (reference) History and Topography of Ireland (reference) (more book examples)
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

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Image Slideshow: Topography

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Photo Album: Topography

Thumbnail	Description & Credit	Thumbnail	Description & Credit
	3-D image from NOAA Exclusive Economic Zone Mapping Project Sigsbee Escarpment and bizarre topography of Texas-Louisiana Slope Image shows approximately 9,000 square nautical miles. Credit: Coast & Geodetic Survey Historical Image Collection.		Plane table topography in Prince William Sound area Party off of SURVEYOR. Credit: Coast & Geodetic Survey Historical Image Collection.
	Flying to Tropical Storm Dawn. A view of submarine topography on the Bahamas Banks. Credit: Flying With NOAA.		Submarine topography as seen over Florida Gulf Coast while on way to investigate Tropical Storm Ella. Credit: Flying With NOAA.
	A view of submarine topography on the Bahamas Banks. Credit: Flying With NOAA.		The Eastern Neck site prepared for planting. The poles represent planting treatment designations. The poles with flags indicate transects that were used for topography and vegetation surveys. In the distance, rocks were placed to reduce storm wave energy. Credit: NOAA Restoration Center.
	Bottom topography of Cordell Bank and the Gulf of the Farallones. Credit: Sanctuaries.		Limestone islets in karst topography of Palau. Credit: Small World.
	View showing limestone topography - Continental hotel in far right center. Credit: Small World.		A sinkhole in the Karst topography of northeast Iowa funnels runoff waters directly into an underground aquifer. The conservation buffer surrounding the sinkhole improves water quality by filtering the water from croplands. Credit: Tim McCabe.
Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits.

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Use in Literature: Topography

Title	Author	Quote
Les Miserables	Hugo, Victor	The saddleback which the topography of Paris forms upon the right bank, empties one of its slopes into the Seine and the other into the Grand Sewer.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

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Non-Fiction Usage: Topography

Subject	Topic	Quote
Business		It accounts for about 6.5 percent of the Swiss GDP. Somewhat over 60 percent of the total output is hydro-electric (1998/9 = 60.9 %) which is easily explained by the country's topography and ample supply of water. (references)
Civil Liberties	Uzbekistan	The villagers have had a difficult time adjusting to the new topography and climate, as well as to their new life as farmers. (references)
Economic History	Hungary	Hungarian law also protects the topography (layout design) of semiconductor chips. (references)
	Colombia	A diverse climate and topography permit the cultivation of a wide variety of crops. (references)
Political Economy	RUSSIA	The September 1992 Law on Topography of Integrated Microcircuits, which also protects computer programs, protects semiconductor topographies for 10 years from the date of registration. (references)
	DENMARK	Following a European Court decision in 1998 that "regional trademark consumption" applies within the EU, Denmark stopped use of the "global consumption principle." Denmark has enacted legislation implementing EU regulations for the protection of the topography of semiconductor products, which also extends protection to legal U.S. persons. (references)
Travel	Mexico	Mexico stands out for its great diversity in weather and topography. (references)
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits.

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Usage Frequency: Topography

"Topography" is generally used as a noun (singular) -- approximately 100.00% of the time. "Topography" is used about 213 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted)

Parts of Speech	Percent	Usage per 100 Million Words	Rank in English
Noun (singular)	100%	213	20,749

Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.

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Expressions: Topography

Expressions using "topography": Autogenetic topography ♦ baric topography ♦ Corneal Topography ♦ Moire Topography ♦ pressure topography. Additional references.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

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Frequency of Internet Keywords: Topography

The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com.

Expression	Frequency per Day	Expression	Frequency per Day
topography	410	map mexico topography	4
topography map	140	ontario topography	4
karst topography	16	floor ocean topography	4
corneal topography	11	map state topography united	4
israel topography	10	mexico topography	4
ocean topography	6	canada map topography	4
texas topography map	6	philippine topography	4
arizona topography	6	california topography	4
hydraulic topography	6	definition topography	4
surface topography	5	lunar topography	4
brazil topography	5	australia topography	3
florida topography	5	georgia topography map	3
state topography united	5	africa south topography	3
california topography map	5	network topography	3
texas topography	5	brazil map topography	3
michigan topography	5	topography usa	3
free map topography	4	jersey new topography	3
japan topography	4	germany topography	3
topography software	4	hawaii topography	3
satellite topography	4	ireland topography	3
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

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Modern Translation: Topography

Language		Translations for "topography"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses.
Albanian		topografi. (various references)

Arabic		‏سمات سطح الارض, ‏طوبوغرافيا الرسم الدقيق. (various references)

Bulgarian		топография. (various references)

Chinese		地势, 地形 (terrain). (various references)

Czech		topografie, místopis. (various references)

Danish		topografi. (various references)

Dutch		topografie (land topography, relief). (various references)

Farsi		مکان نگاری , مساحی (Prospect), نقشه برداری (Survey). (various references)

Finnish		topografia. (various references)

French		topographie (land topography). (various references)

German		Topographie. (various references)

Greek		τοπογραφία (land topography, relief). (various references)

Hungarian		topográfia, tereprajz. (various references)

Italian		topografia (land topography, relief). (various references)

Japanese Kanji		風土記 , 風土 (climate, natural features, spiritual features), 地誌学 (regional geography), 地誌 , 地形学 (geomorphology), 地形 (geographical features, terrain), 地勢 . (various references)

Japanese Katakana		ふうど (climate, natural features, spiritual features), ふどき, じぎょう (business, enterprise, geographical features, industry, operations, project, terrain), ちしがく (regional geography), ちせい (dynasty, intelligence, peaceful times, regime, reign, rule), ちけいがく (geomorphology), ちけい (geographical features, terrain), ちし (fatal, lethal, resignation, seventy years of age, wisdom tooth). (various references)

Korean		지세. (various references)

Manx		boayl-oaylleeaght. (various references)

Pig Latin		opographytay

Portuguese		topografia (land topography, relief). (various references)

Romanian		topografie (surveying). (various references)

Russian		топография (terrain). (various references)

Serbo-Croatian		topografija. (various references)

Spanish		topografía (surveying). (various references)

Swedish		topografi. (various references)

Turkish		topografya, bölge anatomisi. (various references)

Ukrainian		топографія. (various references)

Vietnamese		phép đo vẽ địa hình địa thế, địa hình địa chỉ. (various references)
Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references.

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Ancestral Language Translations: Topography

Language	Period	Translations
Greek	700 BCE-300 CE	topographia. (various references)
Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

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Misspellings: Topography

Misspellings
	"Topography" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: Tomograph, tomography, topgraphy, topigraphy, topograph, topographys, topograpy. (additional references)
Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references).

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Rhyming with "Topography"

# of Phoneme Matches	Pronunciation	Word(s) rhyming with "topography" (pronounced tupÄ"grufē)
9	t u p Ä" g r u f ē	typography.
6	-Ä" g r u f ē	astrophotography, autobiography, bibliography, biography, choreography, chromatography, cinematography, crystallography, demography, geography, hagiography, historiography, iconography, lithography, mammography, oceanography, orthography, photography, phytogeography, polarography, pornography, radiography.
5	-g r u f ē	calligraphy, discography.
4	-r u f ē	apostrophe, atrophy, catastrophe, dystrophy.
3	-u f ē	philosophy.
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits.

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Anagrams: Topography

Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams
	Words within the letters "a-g-h-o-o-p-p-r-t-y"
	-1 letter: typograph.
	-3 letters: agoroth, atrophy.
	-4 letters: agorot, hooray, photog, ragtop, trophy.
	-5 letters: aport, argot, atopy, gappy, garth, gator, goopy, graph, grapy, groat, happy, harpy, hoagy, hoary, hooty, hoppy, ortho, pargo, party, payor, photo, porgy, rhyta, rooty, thoro, thorp, torah, troop, yahoo.
	Words containing the letters "a-g-h-o-o-p-p-r-t-y"
	+1 letter: photography.
	+3 letters: anthropophagy.
	+4 letters: phytogeography.
	+5 letters: antipornography, phosphorylating, phototelegraphy, phytogeographer, phytogeographic, telephotography, topographically.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro.