The idiom “bird’s eye view” refers to a complete understanding of something, originating from the aerial view seen by birds. It has become popular in business to understand complex designs and scenarios. Modern technology allows for literal bird’s eye views, useful in cartography and planning.
The English idiom “top view” is used to refer to a complete view of something, or in more abstract terms, a full knowledge and understanding of something. The literal meaning of this phrase is the view seen by the eyes of a bird during flight. The figurative meaning of the phrase has become common in business, where those managing projects or companies often want to talk about different perspectives useful in management.
Many attribute the phrase’s origin to the early 1600s. Historians of the word explain that before human flight was common, a bird’s eye view was a way to describe a total aerial view. Cartographers, navigators, or others may have used this phrase extensively, often to refer to a theoretical or inaccessible view.
In general, the phrase “bird’s eye view” has gained popularity over time, with songwriters and others using it, as well as sailors or others involved in navigation, where a bird’s eye view could essentially be useful. Over time, as the beginnings of mechanical flight developed into commercial air travel and even satellite technology, the concept became not only possible, but commonplace; the phrase has remained popular and is used frequently today.
In its most common modern uses, the bird’s eye view describes not a physical view of the terrain, but rather a cognitive view of a complex design. Many business scenarios now involve complex configurations, with international offices, multiple warehouse locations and more, where corporate assets or business processes can be difficult to monitor. In these situations, speaking of “top view” has become a reference to collectively understand all the various parts of a company or project, or to “see” everything that is happening in a larger scenario. Synonymous phrases include “seeing the big picture” or, in the context of the tense, “taking the long-term view.”
More literal uses of the phrase refer to almost any type of aerial view. New cameras and aviation equipment can provide a bird’s eye view of the terrain. The types of images shown in popular visual cartography can also be described as showing a bird’s eye view. This type of technology has helped develop a complete aerial cartography of almost the entire earth’s surface, extremely useful for all types of planning and administration. Smaller documents, such as blueprints, are critical to planning and managing a building or property.
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