Revision Notes: OS Maps and Aerial Photos
Scale: ratio or relationship between distance on a map and
distance on ground
Scales: Representative fraction, linear scale, statement of scale
Measuring distance: Straight line + curved line > practise as much
as possible
Area: Calculating area of graph > count squares across top and
side and multiply the 2
Calculating area of odd shape, calculate squares half or more than
half covered by shape
Grid reference: Remember LEN
LEN > Letter Easting Northing
Revise 6 and 4 figure grid reference
Direction: North, South, West and East as cardinal points
Height: Represented by colour, contours, triangulation stations and
spot heights
Slope: Shown by contours and colours
Even slope> contours evenly spaced
Convex> contours widely spaced at upland, tightly spaced at base
Concave> contours tightly space at top and spaced widely at base
Cross Sections: like a slice taken through a landscape

Sketch Map: Title, border, coastline, required features, directional
north, key, colour, pencil
Relief: Shape of landscape, e.g., gaps, hills, lowland and upland
areas, plateaus, mountains and ridges
Drainage: Water on landscape
Poor drainage> lots of surface water, little settlement
Good drainage> lots of settlement, roads, few rivers
Communications: Roads, railway lines, ports, airports, etc.
Settlement: Ancient> historical sites + antiquities
Rural> individual houses, small villages
Urban> towns and cities
Antiquities> Burial sites, Defensive sites, Places of worship /
religion> p. 144
Rural settlement: Influenced by altitude, aspect, shelter, slope and
drainage
Density of settlement:
Nucleated = lots of houses in small area

Linear = Along a line / road (also called ribboned)
Dispersed = Settlement is scattered
Urban settlement: built up areas that have been located there for
particular reasons:
Relief: most towns develop on flat, gently sloping and fertile land
Rivers: Used historically for transport and defence
Transport links: Where a number of roads meet, canal link or a
port
Functions: Towns have particular functions that you must identify,
they go under the headings industrial, transport, port, market,
tourist, educational, or other
Some towns’ functions change over time
Land – Use: refers to any use to which land is put,
Forestry > Coniferous, Mixed
Agriculture: Farmland with isolated houses
Bogs
Tourism and leisure: Beaches, parks, golf courses, etc.
Placenames; You should be able to identify information on towns
from their placenames, a list of their meanings is on p. 150
Aerial Photos: 2 types
Vertical: Taken directly above the land surface
Oblique: Taken at an angle
Scale on vertical photos is true, however it is not on oblique,
direction must ne identified by also using an OS map, and picking
a point in foreground an 1 in background, drawing a line and doing
the same with the OS map, thereby establishing the relative
direction.
Time of Year> summer can be identified if trees are covered in
foliage, animals can be seen grazing, hay bales are visible, winter
can be identified if there is a lack of foliage, smoke in chimneys,
and a lack of smoke
Urban settlement, functions, tourism and recreational attractions
are all essentially established using the same principles as with an
OS map

Traffic: You must be able to spot points of traffic congestion such
as main streets, where roads meet, bridges narrow roads +
schools and traffic controls such as car parks, yellow boxes,
roundabouts, traffic lights, etc.
You must also be able to identify places where you could build
factories, residential areas schools and shopping centres and
appropriate reasons why > see p. 172
See also p.175 on the ways in which you compare and contrast
OS maps and Aerial photos