Mapmakers would find an area's best vantage point - usually the highest point - and climb up to it with drawing boards and sighting devices. Mule pack train was the only way to reach the mostly unsettled West, and cartographer's tools were crude compared with today's. When the USGS first started creating maps - which it did to catalog public land - the process was time-consuming and costly. Developments in aerial photography and satellite imaging make these maps much more accurate and efficient to produce than in the days when they were created by hand. Geological Survey (USGS) produced its first topographic map in 1879, and it still produces them today. This contour and elevation information distinguishes them from other maps. These maps show the land's contours, elevations, mountains, valleys, bodies of water, vegetation and more. What's the difference between a topographic map and a regular map? In a nutshell, topographic maps allow you to see a three-dimensional landscape on a two-dimensional surface.
