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Topography is a field of geoscience and planetary science comprising the study of surface shape and features of the Earth and other observable astronomical objects including planets, moons, and asteroids. It is also the description of such surface shapes and features (especially their depiction in maps). The topography of an area could also mean the surface shape and features themselves. In general, topography is concerned with local detail in general, including not only relief but also natural and artificial features, and even local history and culture. This meaning is less common in America, where topographic maps with elevation contours have made "topography" synonymous with relief. The older sense of topography as the study of place still has currency in Europe. Topography in a narrow sense involves the recording of relief or terrain, the three-dimensional quality of the surface, and the identification of specific landforms. This is also known as geomorphometry. In modern usage, this involves generation of elevation data in digital form (DEM). It is often considered to include the graphic representation of the landform on a map by a variety of techniques, including contour lines, hypsometric tints, and relief shading.〔(''What is topography?'' ) – Center for Geographic Information〕〔Definition from WordNet Search – princeton.edu〕〔Definition from Federal Citizen Information Center – pueblo.gsa.gov〕 ==Etymology== The term ''topography'' originated in ancient Greece and continued in ancient Rome, as the detailed description of a place. The word comes from the Greek words (''topos'', "place") and (''-graphia'', "writing").〔(Online Etymology Dictionary ) – etymonline.com〕 In classical literature this refers to writing about a place or places, what is now largely called 'local history'. In Britain and in Europe in general, the word topography is still sometimes used in its original sense.〔For example, see the website of the (London Topographical Society )〕 Detailed military surveys in Britain (beginning in the late eighteenth century) were called Ordnance Surveys, and this term was used into the 20th century as generic for topographic surveys and maps.〔''Oxford English Dictionary'' – "Ordnance Survey"〕 The earliest scientific surveys in France were called the Cassini maps after the family who produced them over four generations. The term "topographic surveys" appears to be American in origin. The earliest detailed surveys in the United States were made by the “Topographical Bureau of the Army,” formed during the War of 1812,〔(Topographical Engineers – History and Personnel )〕 which became the Corps of Topographical Engineers in 1838.〔''Charting the Inland Seas: A History of the U.S. Lake Survey'', Arthur M. Woodford, 1991〕 After the work of national mapping was assumed by the U.S. Geological Survey in 1878, the term topographical remained as a general term for detailed surveys and mapping programs, and has been adopted by most other nations as standard. 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. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「topography」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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