A small notebook on how maps decide what to show
Contourline started as a set of notes compared against paper maps on weekend walks — the kind of small mismatch you only notice when the ground under your boots disagrees with the sheet in your hand. Eventually the notes turned into something worth writing down properly.
We write about the ordinary mechanics of cartography: projection, contour intervals, scale, generalization, datums, and the legends that explain (or don't) what a symbol means. None of it is breaking news. Most of it is old enough that a surveyor from a hundred years ago would recognize the problem, even if the tools have changed.
We are not a mapping agency, a GIS vendor, or a hiking outfitter. We don't sell maps, gear, or subscriptions. Contourline exists because reading a map closely is a small, satisfying skill, and most of what's written about it online is either too technical for a beginner or too thin to be useful to anyone.
Content policy
- Original writing. Every article on Contourline is written for this site. We don't republish or lightly rewrite other people's reporting.
- No numbers presented as certainties. Where a figure is an estimate, a rule of thumb, or a generalization, we say so — "tends to," "roughly," "in most cases" — rather than dressing an approximation as a fact.
- Corrections are logged. When a reader points out an error, we fix the article and note the correction rather than quietly editing it away.
- No disguised advertising. We don't accept payment to feature a product, app, or service inside an article. Waypoint Card is our own project and is always labeled as such.
Who writes it
Spent a decade re-drafting utility and parcel maps before turning to writing about why the drafts looked the way they did.
Leads most of the walks Contourline uses to check a printed contour line against an actual slope.
Keeps the glossary and citations honest, one small revision at a time.
Builds and maintains the companion app, mostly by using it on the same walks everyone else writes about.
Get in touch
Corrections, questions, or a map story worth telling — we read everything sent to notes@contourline.shop.