It looks familiar, but it is no ordinary map.
It is part of the most detailed topographic map of the world ever made, according the US space agency NASA .
NASA noted that Australia was the flattest continent in the world. "Its low average elevation (300 metres) is caused by its position near the centre of a tectonic plate, where there are no volcanic or other geologic forces of the type that raise the topography of other continents.
"Prominent features of Australia include the Lake Eyre Basin, the darker green region visible in the centre-right. At 16 metres below sea level, this depression is one of the largest inland drainage systems in the world, covering more than 1.3 million square kilometres.
"The crescent-shaped uniform green region in the south, just left of centre, is the Nullarbor Plain, a low-lying limestone plateau, which is so flat that the Trans-Australian railway runs through it in a straight line for more than 483 kilometres."
Colour coding used in the map "is directly related to topographic height, with green at the lower elevations, rising through yellow and tan, to white at the highest elevations".
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