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OS Maps: Landscape Features

Ordnance Survey maps show both natural and human landscape features. Learn how to recognise quarries, reservoirs, valleys, and slopes so you can visualise places from symbols alone.

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Fascinating Fact:

Human landscape features, such as quarries, embankments, cuttings, and reservoirs, are mapped with specific symbols that show how people have modified the land.

In GCSE Geography, OS map skills include recognising landscape features and understanding how they are shown with symbols, colours, and contour patterns. By interpreting these features, pupils can describe land use, relief, and potential hazards more accurately in exam questions and fieldwork tasks.

Key Terms

Landscape feature: A physical or human element of the landscape, such as a valley, quarry, road, or reservoir, shown on an OS map.
Human feature: A man-made element of the landscape, for example a settlement, quarry, railway, embankment, or cutting.
Contour line: A line on a map that joins points of equal height above sea level, used to show the shape and steepness of the land.

Frequently Asked Questions (Click to see answers)

What are landscape features on an OS map?

On an OS map, landscape features are the physical and human parts of the area, including hills, valleys, rivers, quarries, roads, and reservoirs, each shown with specific symbols or patterns.

How can I recognise human features on OS maps?

Human features are shown with map symbols such as black squares for buildings, blue shapes for reservoirs, and special symbols for quarries, embankments, and cuttings. The map key explains each symbol.

Why are contour lines important in GCSE Geography?

Contour lines are important because they show height and slope angle. They help you identify valleys, ridges, steep slopes, and flat areas, which is essential for route planning and landscape analysis.

Try These Related Quizzes

To see a larger image, click on the picture.

1 .

This landscape feature is a:

pyramidal peak

valley

spur

lake

V-shaped patterns of contour lines indicate spurs or valleys, in this case, the height is lower towards the point of the V-shape therefore it is a spur

2 .

Which of the following statements is correct?

This diagram represents a frost shattered peak in a mountain range

This diagram represents an area where stone has been quarried

This diagram represents the lower course of a river

This diagram represents part of the upper course of a river

The clues are that the contour lines show very high ground, contour lines close together, the sharp V-shape of the contour lines and the thin blue line with no meanders showing the stream

3 .

This sketch map was made by a geographer carrying out their fieldwork. What landscape feature would be seen in the area indicated by the red ring on the sketch?

Railway

Rocky outcrops

A vertical cliff

Moorland

The small black curves are used to indicate and area where there are a lot of surface rocks visible

4 .

This sketch map was prepared for a 1:50,000 scale OS map. The green area on it shows:

a mixed woodland

a broadleafed woodland

an orchard

a field

Broadleafed woodland would have small broadleaf trees drawn on it, a conifer woodland would have small pine trees drawn on it. An area of plain green on an OS 1:50,000 map indicates a mixed woodland with both conifers and broadleafed trees

5 .

What landscape feature would be seen in the area that is outlined in red on this sketch map?

River

Waterfall

Cliff

Ox-bow lake

This is only a small cliff, the contour lines indicate that it is less than 10m in height

6 .

What landscape feature did the geographer see on the east side of the hill (north is at the top)?

A wave-cut platform

A cliff

An escarpment

Scree

A scree is a mass of angular unsorted rocks lying on a slope of a hill or mountain or at the base of a cliff. It can also be referred to as talus

7 .

A student preparing for fieldwork made several sketches of landscape features they expected to see. This sketch represents:

a fast-flowing mountain stream

the confluence of two rivers

a wave-cut platform

a road junction

Wide blue lines on OS maps represent rivers and where two rivers join is called a confluence

8 .

What landscape feature would you be looking at if you saw this pattern of contours on your OS map?

A meander

A spur

A hill

A valley

On OS maps, V-shaped patterns of the contour lines indicate there is a valley

9 .

This pattern of contour lines shows:

a valley

an escarpment

a ridge

a conical shaped hill

The contours are uniformly spaced and more or less circular

10 .

What landscape feature is represented by this sketch taken from an OS map?

Village

Woodland

Valley

Trunk road

Landscape features include human-made items too

You can find more about this topic by visiting BBC Bitesize - Cartographic skills

Author: Kev Woodward (PGCE, Science & Chemistry Teacher, Quiz Writer)

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