Survey on splash contours vs. elevation contours

Please help us out by taking this quick survey on your preferences for 'splash' contours versus concentric elevation contours for the representation of hills and ridges on a map.
Quick Survey

The contours give the most information, and although they existed, I don't think such maps were in common use on the battlefield during the first half of the century. The style of maps the KS SOW mod uses for napoleonic games is shading via different colors to indicate higher and lower elevations. To see examples, look at the various posts in the AAR thread.

Splash depictions of elevation (also known as 'hatching') is far more in-keeping and in-period than contouring, which came into widespread use in more modern times. Take a look at some contemporary ACW maps. Please go with splash/hatch.

Thanks for expressing your preferences. I am of the same opinion: concentric contours give you much more precise information (and I have seen numerous examples from the Official Atlas of the Civil War) but splash contours (or hatching or 'hachures') just look more authentic.

The voting seems pretty evenly split, too. I'm thinking of including both styles and letting the mapmaker choose (the underlying elevation information will be the same).

I would, however, like to point out that programming the 'splash contour tool' for the mapmaking utility program has been a bit of a coding nightmare that I didn't solve until Friday.