Topological maps or topographic maps? by Dave Richeson.
From the post:
While surfing the web the other day I read an article in which the author refers to a “topological map.” I think it is safe to say that he meant to write “topographic map.” This is an error I’ve seen many times before.
A topographic map is a map of a region that shows changes in elevation, usually with contour lines indicating different fixed elevations. This is a map that you would take on a hike.
A topological map is a continuous function between two topological spaces—not the same thing as a topographic map at all!
I thought for sure that there was no cartographic meaning for topological map. It turns out, however, that there is.
A topological map is a map that is only concerned with relative locations of features on the map, not on exact locations. A famous example is the graph that we use to solve the Bridges of Königsberg problem.
A useful reminder.
Although I would use even topological maps of concepts, establishing relative locations, with caution. Concepts have no universal metric and therefore placement on a topological map is largely arbitrary.