Describing Routes
Geography: KS3, topic 1.1.7
Describing routes
We can describe a route in detail using the different features of an OS map.
Locations
- Grid references can give the start and finish locations of a walk, e.g. a meeting point in a car park.
- Symbol recognition would allow you to include buildings and features of the land to help give directions, e.g. PH as a public house on an OS map.
Directions
- The scale can instruct the reader to walk a certain distance, e.g. follow the path for 500 m.
- Compass directions let the reader know which direction to go in, e.g. follow the track that heads in a south-easterly direction so as to reach the footpath.
- Contour lines allow a description of the steepness of a road or path. They would also indicate a dangerous cliff.
Example
- Map skills can be easily combined to form directions of a route.
- For example, starting at the car park at 678359, walk on a public footpath up a gentle slope in a south-easterly direction for 400 m.
- At the youth hostel, take to minor road westwards for 1 km to the castle, a National Trust property.
Test yourself on Describing Routes
Which feature of an OS map lets you describe how long a path is?
Which feature of an OS map best warns you of a dangerously steep cliff in a journey?
Which feature of an OS map would let you include details of a castle along a journey?