A CRITICAL APPRAISAL OF THE INCLINED CONTOUR TECHNIQUE OF SURFACE REPRESENTATION

ABSTRACT

Since it is impossible to ascertain relative steepnesses of variously oriented slopes from inspection of inclined contours, inclined contour maps should not be utilized to illustrate surface configuration per se. On such maps the geographic orientations of surfaces are frequently more important than their actual declivity in determining both the density and configuration of the inclined contours by which the surfaces are represented. Owing to the average viewer's preconditioning to vertical profiles, inclined contour maps are easily misinterpreted, and even the experienced map reader is not psychologically prepared to interpret surface form accurately from oblique sections. Nonplanimetric fields of vertical profiles seem to produce less misleading renditions of surface form than do planimetric inclined contour maps, which are best suited to highly specialized rather than general uses.