Vertical exaggeration (VE) is a scale that is used in raised-relief maps, plans and technical drawings (cross section perspectives), in order to emphasize vertical features, which might be too small to identify relative to the horizontal scale. [1]
The vertical exaggeration is given by:
where VS is the vertical scale and HS is the horizontal scale, both given as representative fractions.
For example, if 1 centimetre (0.39 in) vertically represents 200 metres (660 ft) and 1 centimetre (0.39 in) horizontally represents 4,000 metres (13,000 ft), the vertical exaggeration, 20×, is given by:
Vertical exaggeration is given as a number; for example 5× means vertical measurements appear 5 times greater than horizontal measurements. A value of 1× indicates that horizontal and vertical scales are identical, and is regarded as having "no vertical exaggeration." Vertical exaggerations less than 1 are not common, but would indicate a reduction in vertical scale (or, equivalently, a horizontal exaggeration).
Some scientists [2] [3] object to vertical exaggeration as a tool that makes an oblique visualization dramatic at the cost of misleading the viewer about the true appearance of the landscape.
In some cases, if the vertical exaggeration is too high, the map reader may get confused.
In analytic geometry, an asymptote of a curve is a line such that the distance between the curve and the line approaches zero as one or both of the x or y coordinates tends to infinity. In projective geometry and related contexts, an asymptote of a curve is a line which is tangent to the curve at a point at infinity.
Conversion of units is the conversion of the unit of measurement in which a quantity is expressed, typically through a multiplicative conversion factor that changes the unit without changing the quantity. This is also often loosely taken to include replacement of a quantity with a corresponding quantity that describes the same physical property.
In geography, latitude is a coordinate that specifies the north–south position of a point on the surface of the Earth or another celestial body. Latitude is given as an angle that ranges from −90° at the south pole to 90° at the north pole, with 0° at the Equator. Lines of constant latitude, or parallels, run east–west as circles parallel to the equator. Latitude and longitude are used together as a coordinate pair to specify a location on the surface of the Earth.
Pressure is the force applied perpendicular to the surface of an object per unit area over which that force is distributed. Gauge pressure is the pressure relative to the ambient pressure.
In mathematics, the slope or gradient of a line is a number that describes the direction of the line on a plane. Often denoted by the letter m, slope is calculated as the ratio of the vertical change to the horizontal change between two distinct points on the line, giving the same number for any choice of points.
Relative density, also called specific gravity, is a dimensionless quantity defined as the ratio of the density of a substance to the density of a given reference material. Specific gravity for solids and liquids is nearly always measured with respect to water at its densest ; for gases, the reference is air at room temperature. The term "relative density" is preferred in SI, whereas the term "specific gravity" is gradually being abandoned.
In a mixture of gases, each constituent gas has a partial pressure which is the notional pressure of that constituent gas as if it alone occupied the entire volume of the original mixture at the same temperature. The total pressure of an ideal gas mixture is the sum of the partial pressures of the gases in the mixture.
Physical geodesy is the study of the physical properties of Earth's gravity and its potential field, with a view to their application in geodesy.
The grade (US) or gradient (UK) of a physical feature, landform or constructed line refers to the tangent of the angle of that surface to the horizontal. It is a special case of the slope, where zero indicates horizontality. A larger number indicates higher or steeper degree of "tilt". Often slope is calculated as a ratio of "rise" to "run", or as a fraction in which run is the horizontal distance and rise is the vertical distance.
A sub-orbital spaceflight is a spaceflight in which the spacecraft reaches outer space, but its trajectory intersects the surface of the gravitating body from which it was launched. Hence, it will not complete one orbital revolution, will not become an artificial satellite nor will it reach escape velocity.
Pixels per inch (ppi) and pixels per centimetre are measurements of the pixel density of an electronic image device, such as a computer monitor or television display, or image digitizing device such as a camera or image scanner. Horizontal and vertical density are usually the same, as most devices have square pixels, but differ on devices that have non-square pixels. Pixel density is not the same as resolution — where the former describes the amount of detail on a physical surface or device, the latter describes the amount of pixel information regardless of its scale. Considered in another way, a pixel has no inherent size or unit, but when it is printed, displayed, or scanned, then the pixel has both a physical size (dimension) and a pixel density (ppi).
Psychrometrics is the field of engineering concerned with the physical and thermodynamic properties of gas-vapor mixtures.
The scale of a map is the ratio of a distance on the map to the corresponding distance on the ground. This simple concept is complicated by the curvature of the Earth's surface, which forces scale to vary across a map. Because of this variation, the concept of scale becomes meaningful in two distinct ways.
Solar irradiance is the power per unit area received from the Sun in the form of electromagnetic radiation in the wavelength range of the measuring instrument. Solar irradiance is measured in watts per square metre (W/m2) in SI units.
In science and engineering, hydraulic conductivity, is a property of porous materials, soils and rocks, that describes the ease with which a fluid can move through the pore space, or fracture network. It depends on the intrinsic permeability of the material, the degree of saturation, and on the density and viscosity of the fluid. Saturated hydraulic conductivity, Ksat, describes water movement through saturated media. By definition, hydraulic conductivity is the ratio of volume flux to hydraulic gradient yielding a quantitative measure of a saturated soil's ability to transmit water when subjected to a hydraulic gradient.
The gravity of Earth, denoted by g, is the net acceleration that is imparted to objects due to the combined effect of gravitation and the centrifugal force . It is a vector quantity, whose direction coincides with a plumb bob and strength or magnitude is given by the norm .
In physical oceanography, the significant wave height (SWH, HTSGW or Hs) is defined traditionally as the mean wave height (trough to crest) of the highest third of the waves (H1/3). It is usually defined as four times the standard deviation of the surface elevation – or equivalently as four times the square root of the zeroth-order moment (area) of the wave spectrum. The symbol Hm0 is usually used for that latter definition. The significant wave height (Hs) may thus refer to Hm0 or H1/3; the difference in magnitude between the two definitions is only a few percent. SWH is used to characterize sea state, including winds and swell.
Shear velocity, also called friction velocity, is a form by which a shear stress may be re-written in units of velocity. It is useful as a method in fluid mechanics to compare true velocities, such as the velocity of a flow in a stream, to a velocity that relates shear between layers of flow.
In statistics, the phi coefficient is a measure of association for two binary variables.
In semiconductor electrochemistry, a Mott–Schottky plot describes the reciprocal of the square of capacitance versus the potential difference between bulk semiconductor and bulk electrolyte. In many theories, and in many experimental measurements, the plot is linear. The use of Mott–Schottky plots to determine system properties is termed Mott–Schottky analysis.