the.com/topography
The art of teaching flat paper to confess where the mountains hide.
means The detailed description and mapping of a place's physical features — its hills, valleys, rivers, and elevations.
from From Greek topos (place) plus graphein (to write), literally place-writing — describing the lay of the land before satellites did it for us.
Contour linesCloser together means steeper terrain ahead.
Not topologyTopology bends shapes; topography measures real dirt.
Ancient rootsGreek writer Strabo used the term firsthand.