Lesson video

Hello, my name is Chloe and I'm a geography field today's tutor.

This lesson is called "Describing landscapes using maps" and it forms part of the "Geographical skills" unit of work.

I'm gonna be showing you lots of techniques you can use to add lots of detailed to your descriptions when you're using map sources.

Let's get started.

By the end of today's lesson, you'll be able to describe a landscape from a map.

There are some keywords to go over today, so let's start with those.

First of all, linear.

This is a description for a feature, such as a settlement, that resembles a line.

Sinuosity is how straight or curvy a river is, and in fact, sinuous means curvy.

Nucleated is a description for a feature, again, like a settlement that is wrapped around a central point.

Today's lesson is in three parts.

First of all, how can relief and drainage be described on a map? How can land cover be described on a map? Then finally, how can settlements be described on a map? Let's start with that first one about relief and drainage.

So the relief, or the shape, of the land is generally described in terms of its elevation.

That's its height above sea level, or you can use its gradient, how flat or sloping the land is.

In fact, geographers tend to use both all the time.

So in describing relief, it's not accurate enough to say that the land is high or that it's steep.

'Cause these are quite relative terms and they don't really mean very much on their own.

So wherever possible, geographers use figures to describe the elevation of a location.

And you can see on the map extract here, you've got spot heights, you've got triangulation point, and you've got some contour lines as well.

So you've got lots of clues to tell you how high the land is.

So the gradient, which is measured in degrees, that's not quoted on the map.

So you have to do something a bit cleverer with it.

Instead, geographers quote how high the land rises or falls, over a set distance.

So here we've got a map extract to describe.

So on the southwest slope of Week Down, the land's elevation decreases by 30 metres over a distance of 200 metres.

So it would take a little bit of working out to actually come up with those figures.

If you want to continue the description, you can then say that further down the slope, it flattens out with a 10-meter drop in elevation every 200 metres.

You'd have to pay close attention to the contour lines here.

More linear features such as valleys, spurs, ridges, they can be described by their orientation.

So we've got a valley in the map extract here.

How would Sam describe the orientation of the valley using compass directions? So here's our valley running through the map, you can see I know that 'cause that's the way that the streams are flowing.

So Sam would say, "The Swincombe Head valley lies on a northwest-to-southeast orientation." You can see that's the way that the valley is aligned.

Features can also be described in terms of their aspect.

Here in the map extract, we've got an escarpment.

Where a feature has a slope, its aspect is the direction it faces.

So on this escarpment and the ridge of the escarpment is actually the footpath, which is labelled the Staffordshire way.

So this escarpment has a steep slope with a northwesterly aspect.

So the steep slope is facing the northwest and the gentle slope on the other side is facing the southeast.

So let's check our understanding of those ideas so far.

Complete the sentences of the paragraphs here with the missing words.

Pause the video and have a think about it and then I'll tell you the right answers.

Okay, what did you come up with? So to describe a landscape, one can discuss the orientation of a linear feature by saying which way it is angled.

Other features that have slopes can be described according to the way the slope faces.

And what is that known as? Aspect, well done.

Geographers also discuss elevation and gradient.

A landscape's relief and whether water is present are strongly connected.

On most maps, rivers are shown as blue lines with their names written on them.

And as the channel widens, so does the line as it's shown on the map.

And you can see quite a wide river, here the River Severn on our map extract.

Geographers might use maps to measure the length and width of rivers.

They can count the number of tributaries, they can describe the direction of the flow and they can use that using compass points or bearings.

So actually, there's a lot you can talk about when you're talking about rivers on maps.

So geographers can also use maps to identify the shape of drainage basins.

Remember, a drainage basin is an area of land that feeds a river.

Watersheds.

That's the area between drainage basins will be seen by the ridges that separate two different valleys.

So if you like the edge all the way around the a drainage basin.

All you need to do on a map is then follow where all the ridges are and you'll find where your drainage basin sits.

From that, you'd then be able to calculate the size of the drainage basin.

And you can do that by counting the number of one-kilometer by one-kilometer grid squares that it covers.

Maps can be used by geographers to identify certain features of drainage systems. So if you see lots of straight lines, in fact, unnaturally straight, thin blue lines around the edges of fields, these are most likely to be drainage ditches.

You can see a great example in the map extract there.

Those lines could almost have been drawn with a ruler.

You would also find channels straightening sometimes in cities.

So this could be part of a flood management plan.

It will look kind of similar to our agricultural land, but it will definitely be in a built-up area.

And you can see there's some channels straightening in this area here where they've clearly actually done that to avoid the city from flooding.

Now, the upper, middle and lower courses of a river can be identified by certain features on a map.

Let's start with the upper course.

This is characterised by steep slopes and thin tributaries.

As Laura says here, "I can see that the blue lines are flowing over the top of contour lines that are really close together." So she's recognised that because the contour lines are close together, she knows that the land is really, really steep.

And you can see you've got little streams running all over that landscape.

If we go to the middle course, this is characterised by gentler slopes and greater sinuosity.

So there's gonna be more curves to the river, it's gonna have more meanders.

So if we look at the river, first of all, you can see it's curving all over the place.

In fact, I can see some very clear meanders and even an oxbow lake on this particular map extract.

I'm also looking at the slopes.

So yeah, I can definitely see some contour lines, but they're much further apart than they were in our last extract.

As Sofia says, "I can see that the blue line is curving through the landscape and that the contour lines are further apart." And finally, the lower course, this is characterised by a flat plain surrounding a wide river.

You can see that the river here has got much wider than it was in our previous slide.

And if you look for contour lines now, they're almost non-existent.

There's just a couple on there.

Jacob says, "I can see that the blue line is now really wide and has raised banks, or levees, either side of the channel." If you look along the blue line that's running through the middle of that map extract, you can see it's almost got like a feathered, dotted edge to it and that's indicating the levees.

"There are few contour lines." I think I can only see maybe two on there.

So we know the land is really flat.

Right, let's check our understanding.

Alex is describing a drainage system on an OS map.

Which features will he not be able to describe from the map? The size of the drainage basin.

The location of the upper course.

The depth of the river channel.

The sinuosity of the river.

The direction of flow.

The likelihood of flooding.

I'll give you a clue here.

There may be more than one answer.

Pause the video, have a think and then come back to me.

Right, let's see what answers you got.

Hopefully, you recognise that on a map, there's no way of knowing what the depth of the river channel would be.

You also don't know how likely it is to flood.

But all of the other ones you would definitely be able to see evidence of on a map.

So our first task of this lesson, sort the images by writing their letters into the correct column of the table.

So upper, middle and lower course.

And you've got six map extracts there.

You just need to sort them into the right place.

So put the right letter in the right place in the table.

Again, pause the video, have a really close look at each of those little extracts and work out which part of the river they represent.

Right, let's see what you got.

So the upper course is c and f.

Let's look at both of those.

So in f particularly, you can see the contour lines are really close together and that's true of c as well to a degree.

Look how close those contour lines are.

You've got very thin streams running through them.

They can only be the upper course.

Now, the middle course, remember we're looking for greater sinuosity in the river.

So lots of curves.

Hmm, let's go a, yeah, you can see it's wiggling around all over the place on that one.

And on e, you can also see that the contour lines are much further apart and the river is starting to curve around that area as well.

Now, the lower course, what we're expecting to see there is very few contour lines and a much wider river.

So it's gotta be b, I mean there's no, you can't see anything except river on that particular extract.

So we know that has to be at the lower course.

It's really, really wide.

And then d as well.

Yes, there is a little bit of sinuosity there, but really it's the lack of contour lines there that tells us it must be the lower course of the river.

I hope you got those right.

But we'll move on to the second part of the lesson now.

How can land cover be described on a map? So many maps use specific shading to show land cover.

And the examples here are from an OS map, but all maps follow the same kind of rules.

So you could have complete blocks of colour.

So things like buildings is a kind of thorny peachy colour on an OS map.

Water, no surprise, it's blue colour.

Mud is a kind of sludgy, muddy colour.

But then there's other ways as well of showing land cover.

So woodland will have little symbols of the type of woodland that it is held on that shading.

Sand and shingle likewise will have repetitive symbols and a marsh will have it as well.

So you have to look a little bit carefully.

It's not just single blocks of colour.

White space on an OS map does not mean there's nothing there.

This indicates that it's grassland or it's farmland.

Now, because that takes up the majority of the UK.

It's easiest if you like for mapmakers to use the colour white to represent that.

Land that has a particular designation may have a shaded boundary.

And again, these are quite specific to our OS maps.

It might be different if you use different types of maps.

So access land, such as land that's managed by an authority like the National Trust, you can see you've got kind of pinky purple border there.

National parks will have a yellow shaded border and so on.

Linear land uses are shown using coloured lines and you've got examples here.

There's lots of them, but I've just picked out a few motorways and main roads, blues and pinks.

And then you've got footpaths, which are always going to be green, but it could be a variety of different styles of dotted lines.

And then railway lines, a black line with the station indicated by the pink circle.

So let's check our understanding of those points there.

True or false? White space on an OS map means there's no land cover there.

Is that true or false? Pause the video, maybe have a chat with somebody else, see what their opinion is and then come back to me.

Okay, hopefully, you remember that is false.

But why is that false? Right, yes, white space shows the land is grassland or farmland.

It doesn't mean that there's nothing there.

It's a different type of land use.

Geographers can describe the elevation and orientation of polygons of land cover.

They can also describe the situation of different land covers.

Situation is when you are talking about what neighbouring land cover is, like how far it is from other features.

How might a geographer describe the situation of the reservoir? Let's take a look at the map extract together.

So we've got the reservoir right in the centre.

We can see we've got a lot of white space around the outside.

We've got a fairly main road running alongside the eastern edge of the reservoir.

We've got some small settlements and we've got some patches of woodland as well.

So we've actually got quite a lot that we could talk about here.

So let's see how Aisha interprets this.

"The reservoir is mostly surrounded by farmland," right? She's off to a really good start there.

There's lots of white space around the reservoir.

It could be grassland, it could be farmland.

But what she's also recognised is that there's actually the names of farms dotted all over the map.

So she's made a pretty good guess there.

She's also then says, "With some small mixed woodland areas too." And if you look towards the south and west of the reservoir, yet there's lots of woodland there.

"It is directly south of the village of West Hanningfield." So West Hanningfield you can see, is a village towards the north of this map extract and it's almost sits on the reservoir itself.

"And one kilometre west of the A130 dual carriageway." So we can see that green, a road is running along there on the eastern side of our extract.

And yeah, I think she's probably made a good estimation there if it's a kilometre to the west of that road.

How she made that estimation? Well, she's looked at her grid squares and she's reminded that each grid square is one kilometre by one kilometre, so she can see it's roughly that distance.

I would say that's a really good description.

Right, let's check our understanding of some of these ideas about land cover.

What is the majority of the land cover in this grid square? So all four of those options are in the grid square, mud, sand, marsh and mixed woodland.

But which one covers the majority? Pause the video and then come back to me.

Hopefully, you can see that yes, most of the square is made up of marsh.

Whilst there is quite a lot of mud, yet it's marsh.

That is the majority.

Our second task of today's study this map extract of Loweswater.

What elements of a description could a geographer focus on if they were to describe this landscape? Let's look at what we've got here.

You've got a large body of water, you've got some woodland, you've got lots of white space, but you've also got some areas where there's a contour lines that are quite close together.

So we are thinking that might be some high areas of land as well.

What elements would you focus on if you were to describe it? Pause the video.

This is gonna take you a little bit of thought, reflect on everything that you've done so far and then come back to me.

Okay, let's look at what you've got.

So your correct answer should include the orientation of the lake.

That should definitely be included.

So check your answer that you've added each of these points.

Orientation of the lake, the elevation of the lake, how high it is.

So you could have used the contour lines and there's actually a couple of spot types there to help you as well.

The situation of the lake, where it is in relation to the minor road, where it is in relation to the woodland.

You might talk about the size of the lake.

We can look at the small hectare grid squares that we could draw onto it and actually count them up and then work out the size of the lake.

Likewise, you could work out the size of the adjacent woodland.

All of those things would form a really well-rounded description.

Hopefully, you've gotten most of those things in your answer.

Right, we're moving on to our third and final part of the lesson.

How can settlements be described on a map? Geographers might describe settlements by the shape their buildings make on a map.

Let's look at some examples.

So a nucleated settlement radiates out from one central point.

Historically, this is likely to have been a feature such as a market square, or a crossroads or a village green.

In fact, all three of those sometimes appear in the same place.

And they would still be visible on the map today and they're often still the centre of those settlements.

Nucleated settlements are incredibly common across the UK.

They're the most common form of settlement pattern that we will find.

You might have a linear settlement.

Linear settlements may not appear to have a centre, but instead they're kind of spread out along another feature like a road or a river.

So they'll often have buildings kind of hugging both sides of the banks of the river or hugging both sides of the main road.

You could have a dispersed settlement.

Now, sometimes, this is a bit tricky 'cause they don't really look like settlements at all 'cause the buildings are so far apart from each other and the buildings are often single buildings.

You will find these definitely more in rural areas and especially in farming communities.

Those single buildings tend to be just single farms. You might find a satellite settlement and this appears on the edge of a town or a city.

It will have its own centre, but that centre will be much smaller than the main town.

So it's like a little kind of branch that comes off the main town.

And it's likely to be built very close to a main road, which is flowing into the middle of the main town as well.

Let's check what we've learned there.

Complete the sentences with the missing words.

Do pause the video and have a really good read of this paragraph and then come back to me.

Right, let's look at your answers.

Geographers describe settlements by their shape.

A nucleated settlement forms around a feature such as a market square, while linear settlements are found along the edges of rivers or roads.

A settlement that is made up of single buildings that are spread out is known as a dispersed settlement.

Well done, hope you got those.

As with many geographical features, geographers describe the size and situation of a settlement.

They might also use maps to describe settlement function.

Now, this is something slightly different.

Function is the main purpose of that settlement.

Settlements with certain functions will contain certain features.

Now, of course, it's worth pointing out that many settlements have more than one function, but it's worth tryna identify certain features on the map that give you a clue as to what the main ones are.

So a coastal settlement might have a harbour or a marina where people would store their boats and this would suggest the settlement has a connection with fishing or maritime tourism.

Settlements with an agricultural function are like to have fields with straight boundaries and footpaths around them.

You can see that in the extract here.

Settlements that attract high numbers of tourists will have particular buildings such as tourist information points, museums and heritage sites.

So it's worth having a little bit of a and working knowledge of those symbols, so you'd be able to pick them out from those types of places.

You can see on the map extract here, it's littered with tourism features.

Residential areas of settlements might be made up of parallel roads, so roads that run in the same direction right next to each other.

Parallel roads of housing or estates with gently curved roads.

They often curve the roads to try to reduce traffic speed.

They're also likely to beat schools nearby, so lots of residential areas will have schools right next to them or within them.

Industrial areas are often placed near road junctions.

Science parks tend to contain buildings that are fairly spread out with water features and greenery in them.

Units in more industrial and heavy industry estates are likely to be much closer together.

Both of them though will be near big road junctions.

Let's check what you've learned there.

What is the most likely function of the settlement seen in the map extract? Is it residential, industrial, agricultural, or tourism? Pause the video, have a good look at the extract, and then come back to me.

Well, I hope you can see in that extract that there are three schools there, which should give you the clue that yes, it is residential, lots of curved roads, a very big estate here and yet, so it has to be that it can't be any of the others.

So your final task of this lesson, choose an area of an OS map to describe.

Avoid choosing somewhere that you already know.

In fact, really challenge yourself.

Choose somewhere perhaps that you've never even heard of.

Describe the settlement in as much detail as you can.

And remember to include all the aspects of a description that you've learned.

Now, remember, some of those will apply much more if you've chosen a rural area.

Some of 'em will apply much more if you've chosen an urban one.

But do keep looking at your description and try to add as many layers of detail as you can.

This will take a little while, so do pause the video and then I'll tell you the kind of things you could have included.

Right, let's look at some of the things that I would expect to see in your description.

I would like you to have mentioned the size of a settlement, the shape of it, its situation, and its function.

Hopefully, you've managed to include all of those things.

Read through your answer again and check that you've included each of those ideas.

It's really important also that you check that've only included evidence that you can actually see from the map.

Don't try and guess as to what something might be.

Only talk about something if you can actually use the map to give you that indicator.

Let's summarise our learning today.

Geographers can describe a landscape according to the relief, the elevation, gradient, aspect and orientation of features, and how water drains through it.

Land cover on a map is often represented by polygons of different shading.

Geographers can measure the size of areas of land cover.

Settlements can be described according to their size, their shape, situation, and function.

Well done, we covered a lot of different ideas there.

Reading a map and writing descriptions about places that you see is a little bit like learning a language.

The more you practise it, the quicker you'll become at identifying certain features on the map, which can inform your descriptions.

At this stage, don't worry if it's taking you quite a long time to write a description of what you see.

The more you do it, the quicker you'll become.