viewshed n. the landscape or topography visible from a geographic point, especially that having aesthetic value. Etymological Note: This term is directly related to watershed ‘an area or ridge of land that separates waters flowing to different rivers, basins, or seas.’ The suffix -shed in both cases means, according to the Oxford English Dictionary, a “distinction, discrimination, separation (of one thing from another.” (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
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During the late 19th and early 20th century, thousands of volunteers helped crowdsource the Oxford English Dictionary. This venerable reference work includes citations sent in by inventors, eccentrics, scientists and educators, an Arctic explorer —...