Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary - topography

 noun  Etymology: Middle English topographie, from Late Latin topographia, from Greek, from topographein to describe a place, from topos place + graphein to write — more at carve  Date: 15th century  1.  a. the art or practice of graphic delineation in detail usually on maps or charts of natural and man-made features of a place or region especially in a way to show their relative positions and elevations  b. topographical surveying  2.  a. the configuration of a surface including its relief and the position of its natural and man-made features  b. the physical or natural features of an object or entity and their structural relationships the ~ of human chromosomes the political ~ of our time