Contour line

The bottom part of the diagram shows some contour lines with a straight line running through the location of the maximum value. The curve at the top represents the values along that straight line.

A two-dimensional contour graph of the three-dimensional surface in the above picture.

Contour lines or isolines are used when plotting a function. All the points where the function has the same value are connected. Two well-known examples, where such lines are commonly are height lines on topographical maps, and showing areas with the same pressure or temperature on weather charts. Contour lines are an application of level sets.

A map of Stove, with height lines
A map showing magnetic lines, for the year 2000
Weather diagram showing Meltemi winds over Greece and Turkey
Temperature diagram of Norway. Areas with the same temperature have the same color
The 10 degree isobar is commonly used to define the Arctic region

Contour Line Media

A three-dimensional surface, whose contour graph is below.
Edmond Halley's New and Correct Chart Shewing the Variations of the Compass (1701)
Isohyetal map of precipitation
Video loop of isallobars showing the motion of a cold front
Topographic map of Stowe, Vermont. The brown contour lines represent the elevation. The contour interval is 20 feet.
Isogonic lines for the year 2000. The agonic lines are thicker and labeled with "0".
From economics, an indifference map with three indifference curves shown. All points on a particular indifference curve have the same value of the utility function, whose values implicitly come out of the page in the unshown third dimension.