Ordnance Survey maps: grid references, scale and relief
An OS map answers questions a photograph cannot: how steep, how far, how high, and what is hidden behind the hill.
Part of your national curriculum
- Geographical skills and fieldwork: Build on knowledge of globes, maps and atlases and apply and develop this knowledge routinely in the classroom and in the field
- Geographical skills and fieldwork: Interpret Ordnance Survey maps, including using grid references, scale, topographical and other thematic mapping, and aerial and satellite photographs
Lesson overview
What you'll learn in this lesson
Use grid references, scale, direction and contour patterns to describe a place.
Key learning points
- • Grid references
- • Scale and distance
- • Relief and contours
- • Describing a place properly
This lesson at a glance
- 25 minutes
- 17 parts to scroll through
- 4 quick checks
- Marked quiz at the end
- Gentle pace: short sittings with pauses
Words to know
Scroll down — the lesson carries on below
Watch & discover
Part 1 of 17
Watch first
Ordnance Survey maps: grid references, scale and relief
An English teaching video on this topic from Evans Woolfe Media. Watch it, then scroll down for the lesson.
In a nutshell
Use grid references, scale, direction and contour patterns to describe a place.
Learning cycle
Part 2 of 17
Learning cycle 1 of 2
Part 1 · Grid references
A short piece of teaching, then a check to make sure it has landed.
Explore the idea
Part 3 of 17
Learn
Grid references
Always read along the corridor then up the stairs: eastings first, northings second. A four-figure reference identifies a whole square, for example 3721. A six-figure reference divides each square into tenths and pinpoints a feature to about 100 metres, for example 375218. Practise by finding a church, then a bridge, then a spot height, and checking each against the key.
Explore the idea
Part 4 of 17
Learn
Scale and distance
On a 1:25 000 map, 4 cm on paper is 1 km on the ground, and the blue grid squares are 1 km across. On 1:50 000, 2 cm is 1 km. Measure a straight distance with a ruler; for a winding road or river, lay a piece of string or mark the edge of paper in short straight steps, then compare against the scale bar.
Quick check
Part 5 of 17
Quick check
Which grid reference format pinpoints a feature to about 100 m?
Quick check
Part 6 of 17
Quick check
On a 1:25 000 map, 1 km on the ground is
Learning cycle
Part 7 of 17
Learning cycle 2 of 2
Part 2 · Relief and contours
A short piece of teaching, then a check to make sure it has landed.
Reset break
Part 8 of 17
Pause
That's sitting 1 of 2 done
Stretch, get a drink, look out of the window. There is no timer and nothing is counting down — your place is saved, so you can come back in five minutes or tomorrow.
Explore the idea
Part 9 of 17
Learn
Relief and contours
Contours join points of equal height, usually every 5 or 10 metres. Close together means steep; far apart means gentle. Concentric rings mean a hill, with the smallest ring highest. Contours bending upstream in a V mark a valley. Spot heights and triangulation pillars give exact heights. Reading relief lets you describe a landscape, justify where a settlement grew, or explain why a road follows a particular route.
Explore the idea
Part 10 of 17
Learn
Describing a place properly
A strong description uses evidence, not impressions: name the feature, give a grid reference, give a direction and a measured distance. 'A nucleated village at 372218, roughly 2 km north east of the bridge, on gently sloping land below the 100 m contour and beside the A-road' earns marks. 'It is in the countryside near a river' does not.
Quick check
Part 11 of 17
Quick check
Contour lines drawn very close together show
Quick check
Part 12 of 17
Quick check
Which order do you read a grid reference?
Explore the idea
Part 13 of 17
Worked example
Worked answer: describe the site and situation of a settlement using map evidence (4 marks)
State the site first: the settlement occupies gently sloping land between the 80 and 100 metre contours on the inside of a river meander, which is flat enough to build on and above the floodplain (2). Then the situation: it lies about 3 km south west of the market town, at a crossing point of the river where two B-roads meet, giving it access to trade routes (2). Every clause is tied to something visible on the map, which is exactly what the examiner is checking.
Challenge round
Part 14 of 17
Game · Sort it
Which of these are true?
Drag each card into the right column. Tap a card first if dragging is fiddly.
True
Not true
Challenge round
Part 15 of 17
Game · Fill the gaps
Finish the sentences
Choose the word that belongs in each gap.
Measure a straight ____ with a ruler; for a winding road or river, lay a piece of string or mark the edge of paper in short straight steps, then compare against the scale bar.
A strong description uses evidence, not impressions: name the feature, give a grid reference, give a ____ and a measured distance.
'A nucleated village at 372218, roughly 2 km north east of the bridge, on gently sloping land below the 100 m ____ and beside the A-road' earns marks.
Mastery quiz
Part 16 of 17
Marked quiz
End of lesson quiz: Ordnance Survey maps: grid references, scale and relief
4 questions, marked with the reasoning shown. No timer.
1. Which grid reference format pinpoints a feature to about 100 m?
2. On a 1:25 000 map, 1 km on the ground is
3. Contour lines drawn very close together show
4. Which order do you read a grid reference?
Lesson round-up
Part 17 of 17
Lesson round-up
Ready when you are
Quiz score
Not sat
Games
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Points this lesson
0
Best run
0 in a row
Luna: 0 out of 4 on the practice checks. Only if you feel up to it — one more?
Ask LunaDo the work
Your written work for this lesson
This is the part you'd do in your book at school. Pick the pieces below, write here or on paper, and photograph anything you draw or work out.
Flooding on the River Calder
The town of Harbrook sits where a steep valley opens onto a flat floodplain. In December 2015, 120 mm of rain fell in 36 hours onto ground that was already saturated. The river rose 2.4 m in five hours, and 380 homes and 54 businesses flooded. Two roads and the railway closed for eleven days.
Geographers pointed to physical causes — steep slopes, impermeable rock, heavy rainfall — and human causes: moorland drained upstream, new housing built on the floodplain, and drains designed for smaller storms.
Since then the town has planted 40 hectares of woodland upstream, built leaky dams in small streams, and raised flood walls to 1.8 m. In the storm of 2020 the peak river level was 0.3 m lower and 40 homes flooded, not 380.
Written for Good Learning Co.
Reading questions
- List two physical and two human causes of the 2015 flood.
- Explain how planting woodland upstream lowers the river's peak level.
- Using the figures, judge how successful the scheme has been. Quote data in your answer.
Case study notes
WritingWrite the place, the facts and the figures from this lesson so you can revise them later.
Half a page
Explain answer
WritingAnswer in full sentences, giving causes and effects. Use one figure or place name as evidence.
8–10 sentences
Map or sketch
DiagramDraw the map, cross-section or field sketch with a key, title and labels, then photograph it.
1 map with a key
Data work
Working outPlot your figures as a graph on paper and write one sentence about the pattern.
1 graph + 1 sentence
Saved as you type.
Part 1 of 17 · Watch & discover
How this is going
- Not looked at yet
Build on knowledge of globes, maps and atlases and apply and develop this knowledge routinely in the classroom and in the field
- Not looked at yet
Interpret Ordnance Survey maps, including using grid references, scale, topographical and other thematic mapping, and aerial and satellite photographs