Interpreting Physical and Human Landscapes

From finding features to interpreting a landscape

A map can show individual features, but it also reveals how those features fit together. Physical features include hills, valleys and rivers. Human features include settlements, roads and other evidence of people’s use of the land. Interpreting a landscape means recognising their patterns and using evidence to suggest connections between them.

Begin with the map’s title, geographical extent, date, scale and key. An atlas map can reveal a national or global pattern; a detailed OS extract can show how a road, village and river occupy one valley. The scale affects which features can be shown, so a feature missing from a small-scale map is not necessarily absent on the ground.

Describing distributions on atlas maps

A distribution describes where something occurs, not why it occurs. Look across the whole map before listing places. Is the feature concentrated in one region, scattered across the area, arranged along a line, or largely absent from certain places? Then locate the pattern using compass directions and named areas. Include exceptions rather than forcing every observation into one rule.

UK relief provides a concrete example. Upland areas are concentrated in the north and west, including the Scottish Highlands, the Lake District, the Pennines and much of Wales. Lower, flatter land is more extensive in the south and east, including the Fens of East Anglia. Dartmoor and Exmoor are important exceptions to a simple north–south division because they are uplands in the far south-west.

The same approach works for human features. On a population map, identify areas of higher and lower population using the key’s values or categories. On a transport map, describe where routes are concentrated and how they connect settlements. For population movements, read how the key represents movement, identify origins and destinations, and only compare amounts if the map supplies a measure of them.

Comparing patterns without assuming a cause

Thematic maps focus on particular subjects, such as relief, rainfall or population. Comparing maps of the same area can reveal an association: two patterns occurring together.

For example, settlements and transport routes might occupy lower ground while nearby uplands have fewer of both. First describe each pattern separately. Then identify where they overlap and where they do not. Gentler ground may offer easier routes and more space for construction, but overlap alone does not prove that relief caused the settlement pattern. Historical development and economic activity may also matter.

Check that the maps cover comparable areas and dates. Read their keys independently: darker shading might mean higher elevation on one map and greater population density on another.

Reading relief and drainage together

On an OS map, contour lines join places of equal height above sea level. Their values tell you how high the land is; their spacing helps you judge its steepness. Closely spaced contours indicate steep slopes, while widely spaced contours indicate gentler slopes. Spot heights give the elevation of particular points.

Build a description from both height and shape. A high area could be a broad, gently sloping upland rather than a sharp peak. A valley may have steep sides but a relatively flat floor. Read the labelled heights around it instead of judging its shape from one contour alone.

Next examine the drainage. Identify the main river, tributaries joining it, and whether the channels occupy narrow valleys or wind across broader low ground. Rivers flow downhill, so surrounding heights help establish the likely direction of flow. The direction towards the top of the page is not automatically upstream.

A worked interpretation of a fictional map

The following teaching diagram uses its own simple key, not official OS symbols. It represents an invented place so that the reasoning is clear. Only selected contours from 100 m upwards are shown; lower contours, including the 50 m contour, are omitted. It is therefore not a complete contour sequence.

The western ground reaches 300 m and has closely spaced contours beside the valley. This supports a description of higher ground with steep valley-side slopes. The displayed contours rise in equal 50 m steps, so their closer spacing on the western valley side indicates steeper slopes than the wider spacing on the eastern side.

Spot heights on the lower valley floor decrease from 60 m in the north, through 50 m, to 40 m in the south. Together with the flow arrows, these support the southward direction of river flow. Because lower contours are omitted, the blank space between the two 100 m contours does not represent a single complete height band.

Woodland is concentrated on the western slopes, with a smaller isolated patch in the south-east. This is a distribution statement: it locates the main concentration and an exception without claiming to know why the woodland grows there.

The river passes through the lower valley, and the road and settlement follow the same corridor. The buildings form a line along the road rather than being evenly scattered. A reasonable inference is that the valley offers an accessible route and gentler ground for development. The map supports that possibility, but does not tell us when the settlement developed or why its first inhabitants chose the site.

The labelled visitor centre and campsite, together with paths leading towards the upland, suggest tourism and outdoor recreation. The combination is stronger evidence than scenery alone: attractive relief does not prove that tourists visit. Nor do these facilities reveal visitor numbers or the time of year when they are busiest.

Transfer this method to an actual OS extract by replacing the teaching diagram’s labels with evidence from the extract’s own key, contours, names and grid references. Read the actual extract’s contour interval rather than assuming it matches this simplified diagram. The fictional diagram demonstrates interpretation; it is not evidence about any real place.

Interpreting settlement, communications and land-use

Settlement layout concerns the arrangement of buildings. Describe whether they form a compact cluster, a line following a route, or a scattered pattern. Then consider their relationship to rivers, slopes and transport connections.

Communications include routes connecting places, such as roads and railways. Follow where they run, where they meet and where they cross rivers. A route following a valley is an observable relationship; suggesting that it avoids steeper slopes is an inference.

For land-use, distinguish what is explicitly identified from what is merely possible. Woodland can be recognised from its mapped representation, but its presence does not establish whether it is managed for timber, conservation or recreation. Similarly, a building symbol alone does not reveal the building’s function. Names, labels and other nearby features can strengthen an interpretation.

River and glacial landscapes on detailed maps

AQA requires interpretation of large-scale maps of two of three landscape types: coastlines, fluvial landscapes and glacial landscapes. Here the focus is river and glacial landscapes.

In a river landscape, describe the channel alongside the surrounding relief. A river in a narrow valley with tightly spaced contours along its sides occupies steep-sided terrain. A winding channel across a broad floor with more widely spaced contours nearby occupies gentler terrain. Describe the bends, tributaries and valley shape actually shown rather than assuming that every river has the same characteristics.

Glacial landscapes can contain deep troughs carved by ice, such as those in the Lake District. When interpreting a valley, examine the width of its floor and the steepness of both sides. A broad floor bordered by steep slopes contrasts with a narrow valley whose slopes approach the channel closely. Combine this relief evidence with the landscape context before identifying a glacial trough: a present-day river in the valley does not mean that the river alone created its overall shape.

Across both landscape types, finish by connecting physical and human evidence. Consider where settlements and routes occupy the valley, where steeper ground limits access, and whether mapped visitor facilities support an inference about tourism.

Describe a distribution

• State the overall pattern: clustered, scattered, linear or uneven.
• Locate concentrations and gaps using directions and named areas.
• Add evidence from the key and identify exceptions.

Read the physical landscape

• Height: contour values and spot heights.
• Steepness: close contours = steep; wide spacing = gentle. Compare equal height steps and check whether contours are omitted.
• Shape: hills, ridges, valley sides and valley floors.
• Drainage: main river, tributaries, bends and downhill direction.

Interpret human patterns

Identify settlement layout, transport connections and mapped land-use. Relate them to relief and drainage.

Evidence → relationship → cautious inference.

Visitor facilities plus access routes can suggest tourism; scenery alone cannot establish it.

Compare maps

Read each key and check extent, scale and date. Identify overlapping patterns and exceptions. Association is not proof of causation.

Landscape focus

• Fluvial: describe river channels and their surrounding valley relief.
• Glacial: examine broad valley floors and steep sides alongside the landscape context.
• AQA specifies detailed-map interpretation of two of coastlines, fluvial and glacial landscapes, not necessarily all three.