1. A system comprising: a topology sensing platform that produces a topology measurement of a surface along a vehicle's flight path; safety criteria comprising at least one topological criterion wherein each topological criterion specifies terrain characteristics for safe landing or unsafe landing; an analysis module that produces a two dimensional hazard map by applying the safety criteria to the topology measurement wherein the two-dimensional hazard map is color coded to indicate geographical areas that are safe to land on and to indicate geographical areas that are not safe to land on; and a presentation module that presents the two-dimensional hazard map to a user.