Bird's-eye view
A
bird's-eye view is an elevated view of an object from above, with a perspective as though the observer were a bird, often used in the making of blueprints, floor plans and maps. It can be an aerial photograph, but also a drawing. Before manned flight was common, the term "bird's eye" was used to distinguish views drawn from direct observation at high locations, from those constructed from an imagined perspectives. Bird's eye views as a genre have existed since classical times. The last great flourishing of them was in the mid-to-late 19th century, when bird's eye view prints were popular in the United States and Europe. The terms
aerial view and
aerial viewpoint are also sometimes used synonymous with bird's-eye view. The term
aerial view can refer to any view from a great height, even at a wide angle, as for example when looking sideways from an airplane window or from a mountain top.
Overhead view is fairly synonymous with
bird's-eye view but tends to imply a less lofty vantage point than the latter term.