Q: Why not just use a topo map? People who have problems with steep hills have probably learned to use a topo map to avoid bad routes. Give them the sort of map they're used to looking at instead of something totally new.
I like color-coded height maps, they can give you an intuitive feel for how a city lies on top of its terrain. It's very hard to make out moderate slopes though, e.g. if the city has high hills. I would most prefer a color-coded map showing the gradient.
Incidentally, if anyone has pointers to where this kind of map could be obtained (mostly for european cities in my case, but any resource would be helpful), I would appreciate it. Right now, I just try my luck with google when visiting a new city.
http://www.tobyeglesfield.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/DRC...
https://www.openstreetmap.org/#map=15/-45.0344/168.6630&laye...
Topo maps miss bridges too.
The one issue of using topo maps for city navigation is that the contour lines are sometimes hard to make out when having buildings, streets and other noise in the foreground (I'm using OsmAnd contours as an example).
The blog post itself is really nice of how it goes in-depth. The final product reminds me of those ski-resort maps that show the downhills. The final product works really well as a tourist informational map.