This real-time 3D simulation illustrates how topographic maps are created and used to depict changes in elevation. A topographic map is characterized by large-scale detail and quantitative representation of relief using contour lines. Rendered in real-time 3D, it is easy to understand how topographic maps are created since the simulation shows the same virtual environment in both a 3D mesh and 2D map format.
For instance, the Chinese, who had long been reassured by their maps that they occupied the “middle kingdom,” were “extremely exasperated,” the authors write, “when they discovered . . . that they had been relegated to the right edge of a map prepared by the Jesuits.”
For instance, the Chinese, who had long been reassured by their maps that they occupied the “middle kingdom,” were “extremely exasperated,” the authors write, “when they discovered . . . that they had been relegated to the right edge of a map prepared by the Jesuits.”