In addition to contour lines, relief shading helps visualise the terrain. Hills and valleys are shaded as if they were illuminated from the north-west.
Relief layers were generated for each sheet, and specifically for use in the Topo50 map series. There may be subtle differences in the relief shading of adjacent map sheets.
The Topo50 map series provides topographic mapping for the New Zealand mainland and Chatham Islands, at 1:50,000 scale.
Further information on Topo50: http://www.linz.govt.nz/topography/topo-maps/topo50