An Approach to Assessment of Relief Formats for Hardcopy Topographic Maps

The relief assessment test described in this report is designed to assess the effect of supplementing contour lines with other relief formats. It contains eight types of problems and a review of relevant aspects of map reading. It has been produced in three relief formats contour lines, contour lines plus layer tints, and contour lines plus shading. Initial work indicates that addition of layer tints to contour lines can increase speed of reading some types or relief information whereas, addition of shaded relief does not increase map reading speed more than use of layer tints and can cause a decrease in accuracy. Map designers will be interested in this report.