what is a physical map
1 Physical Map: A physical map is one that shows the physical landscape features of a place. 2  They generally show things like mountains, rivers and lakes and water is always shown with blue. 3  Mountains and elevation changes are usually shown with different colors and shades to show relief. Topographic Map: A topographic map is similar to a physical map in that it shows different physical landscape features. 2  They are different however because they use contour lines instead of colors to show changes in the landscape.