Description

An imaginary line that connects points of equal height value eg the elevation of the land surface above or below a vertical datum, in this case of LINZ topographic mapping, this is Mean Sea Level.

Topo50 description

Contours at a 20m contour interval are held in the data and shown on the Topo50 printed maps. In very flat areas, some supplementary contours with a 10m contour interval are held in the data and shown on the maps. Note that there is no 0m contour, and that the coastline is mean high water mark

Topo250 description

Contours at a 100m contour interval are held in the Topo250 data and shown on the Topo250 printed maps; these are generalised from those shown on the Topo50 series

Ant50 description

Contours at 20m and 50m contour interval are held in the Ant50 data and shown on the Ant50 maps

Map image

Click to enlarge image

Representation specification

Click to enlarge image

Example

Click to enlarge image

Aerial view

Click to enlarge image

Important information: Contours and height_pnts in forest and snow areas may be less accurate.

See also: coastline height_pnt sinkhole_pnt depform_edge

Class attributes

Attribute	Value
Object class	contour
Entity class	GROUND SURFACE
Additional entity class	Not applicable
Object inheritance	graphic_line
Entity source	US Standard Entity
Map series	Topo50 Topo250 Ant50 Topo500
LSLIFF object class	26

Object attributes

Attribute	LSLIFF code Shapefile field Data type	Attribute description	Attribute values*
contour_designation	1023 designated string	Values supplementary A contour added extra to the usual contour interval, added usually only over extensive areas of very low relief.	supplementary {empty}
contour_natural_formation	1024 nat_form string	Values depression Used to depict depressions in the earth surface.	depression {empty}
elevation	1021 elevation real	The elevation above mean sea level	"20" "40" "60"
contour_definition	1126 definition string	Values indefinite the position of the object cannot be placed within the usual accuracy tolerance	indefinite {empty}
UFID	1000 t50_fid integer	A unique identifier for use on Topo50 data in the LINZ Data Service. This is not a universal ID. The intention is to manage these ID’s as persistent, however this is not guaranteed and there will be instances where what appears to be a minor change to a feature may result in a new ID being assigned.	"3254886"

* See explanation of attribute values for more information about how attribute values are represented.

Change log

Feature version	Revised	Description
7	2012-08-28	Updated map image and aerial view; added representation specification and example feature photographs
6	2012-08-28	Added scale-specific definitions
5	2010-01-02	updated comments section
4	2003-06-30	removed attribute
3	2001-11-23	Unspecified update
2	2000-03-31	comments, new attribute
1	1999-03-01	initial status