In cartography, what do you call the line that separates land from water?

Question

I am discussing cartographic conventions. For instance, "rivers should be blue" and "country borders should be black".

In such a discussion, how should I refer to a line that separates land from a large body of water?
I am looking for a single term that works for ocean, sea, lake (rivers not needed).

My attempts:

• coast
• shore
• seaside line
• seaside
• bank

Is there a more appropriate term?

Answer 1

Shoreline is a more general term than coastline, encompassing not only oceans and seas, but lakes and large rivers as well.

Answer 2

You can use coastline for oceans, seas, and lakes, but not for rivers. You can use boundary/boundaries for rivers.

Answer 3

The best word depends on the classification of the body of water:

The boundary between land and the ocean is the coastline (or coast).

The boundary between land and a sea is the shoreline (or shore or seashore).

The boundary between land and a lake is the shoreline (or shore).

The boundary between land and a river is the riverbank (or bank).

Seaside is a more generic term, and refers to the land or attractions that are next to the sea. For instance, a hotel next to the sea might be part of a seaside resort.

In the context of cartography, native speakers would normally refer to the boundary around continents as the coast, the boundaries of lakes and internal seas as shores and to refer to rivers directly (i.e. as rivers), rather than riverbanks.