Shaded relief

Shaded relief is like drawing a picture of a mountain with crayons. The crayons make the mountain look like it has bumps and valleys because the colors are darker or lighter depending on how high or low different parts of the mountain are.

But instead of using crayons, shaded relief uses a computer program to color a map or picture of a place where there are mountains or hills. The computer program looks at the height of different spots on the map and colors them using shades of gray or brown to make it look like the sun is shining on the mountains from a certain angle.

So, shaded relief makes a flat map or picture look like it has 3D mountains by adding shadows and highlights where there would be shadows and highlights in real life. It helps people see and understand what the landscape really looks like and how high or low different parts of the mountains are.