-------- Original Message --------
Subject:        Re: Difference between a Bird's-eye View and a Pictorial
Relief Map
Date:   Fri, 12 Aug 2011 13:34:56 -0400
From:   Joel Kovarsky <[log in to unmask]>
To:     Maps, Air Photo, GIS Forum - Map Librarianship
<[log in to unmask]>



On 8/12/2011 9:29 AM, Angie Cope, American Geographical Society Library,
UW Milwaukee wrote:
> Could someone explain the difference to me between a Bird’s-Eye View map
> and a Pictorial Relief Map? I have read the definitions in the
> Cartographic Materials manual and I am still not sure of what I have.
>
> Are they both drawings?
>
> I have a colorful drawing of a map of our ski area, showing all the ski
> runs and the ski area boundaries, as seen from above. This is no scale
> given. There are a few pictorial symbols for map legend, but no text
> except the names of the ski runs.
>

  From my perspective, a birds-eye view is something that dates to
classical times, literally representing the landscape from the
perspective of a bird. It is not necessarily even a map, and can be a
town/city/landscape. It does not require a precise indication of scale,
and many early varieties are quite fanciful. Aerial views are arguably
the same as or similar to birds-eye views, but if direct images they
would generally be more precise. Before aerial photography birds-eye
views were simply represented from a high vantage point, such as a hill,
mountain or tower.

A pictorial relief map, for me (and as implied in /Cartographic
Materials/) would require some more specific depiction of relief (such
as contour lines, hachures, specialized shading or hypsometric tints).
The focus is directed to these sorts of topographic depictions with an
emphasis on more precise representation of those (planimetric) details.

What you were describing, in terms of what sounds like a tourist map of
a ski area, would likely be more along the lines of a birds-eye view.
This is emphasized by the absence of scale, and other details that would
be required for a pictorial relief map.

Joel Kovarsky

--
Joel Kovarsky
The Prime Meridian
1839 Clay Dr., Crozet, VA 22932 USA
Phone: 434-823-5696
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