Final answer:
The best representation of pictorial realism is displaying altitude with high altitudes at the top of the display, consistent with atmospheric perspective.
Step-by-step explanation:
The situation that would best represent the principle of pictorial realism in the given scenarios is: Display altitude with high altitudes at the top of the display. This approach is most consistent with atmospheric perspective, which reflects how objects that are further away from the observer appear smaller and higher in the field of view, replicating the natural way we perceive distance and depth in the environment, such as in Albert Bierstadt's The Rocky Mountains, Lander's Peak. This is opposite to the artistic representations in two-dimensional art where the perspective is flatter and more symbolic, as seen in the Third Court of the Topkapi Palace painting from fourteenth-century Turkey.
Displaying altitude with low altitudes at the top of the display, displaying altitude using a circular format, or displaying altitude with low altitudes on the left and high altitudes on the right, do not conform with the ecological or atmospheric perspective and thus would not represent pictorial realism as effectively.