Contour Lines

To watch the video got to ‘Contour Lines’

So you're looking at a Site plan and you notice these random wavy lines running all over the place with no set pattern. 

What are they and what are they for? 

Well they are Contour Lines and they are there to give you an idea of the shape of the site.

A Contour line joins points of equal height and therefore they can be given a Reduced Level, (R.L.).

Contour Line are similar to the lines left on a beach when the tide comes in.

The spacing of the Contour Line is determine by the vertical distance that the lines are apart not the horizontal distance, the closer together the lines the steeper the ground.

Sometimes instead of the lines running across the site they form a rough circular shape getting smaller as they get to the middle. This forms a hill or mountain.

Or it could be a hole or depression, this is where you need to look at the R.L.