Reading tourism and recreation maps

The big idea: Option E opens with a data-response read of a real map — a topographic map (like an OS or national-park map), a tourist town map, or a resort/piste map. You are asked to pull facts straight off it.

Four skills do most of the work: grid references (find a feature), scale (measure distance), direction (a compass bearing), and height (read contours and spot heights). A fifth, higher skill is site suitability — judging whether a place suits a tourism, sport or recreation use from what the map shows.

Every mark is read straight off the map, so accuracy and units matter.

Eastings first, then northings: Read a grid reference along the corridor, then up the stairs — the eastings (the numbers along the bottom) come first, then the northings (up the side).

For a six-figure reference, imagine each grid square split into tenths to pin the exact point.

How this is tested: Paper 1, Option E opens with short data_based reads worth 1-2 marks each: Identify the feature at a grid reference, Calculate or Estimate a distance using the scale, and State the compass direction between two places. Quote the units and stay within the marked tolerance.

Turn map distance into real distance: Lay the edge of a paper strip along the route, mark the start and end, then hold the strip against the scale bar to read off the real distance.

On a 1:50 000 map, 2 cm = 1 km, so 1 cm = 500 m. Multiply your map measurement by 500 m (or 0.5 km) per centimetre.

Height questions use contours and spot heights. To find a height difference (or altitude gained on a trek), read the two spot heights and subtract. Close contours mean steep ground; widely spaced contours mean gentle ground - useful when judging whether a site suits walking, skiing or camping.

The Lake District (Keswick) — a festival and walking landscape: On a 1:50 000 OS map of Keswick in the English Lake District, a candidate festival site can be judged from the map: flat valley land by Derwentwater, a bus station and A-roads for access, campsites and a youth hostel for accommodation, and dramatic fell scenery. Reading the spot heights of two nearby tops also gives a height difference - the kind of exact-value (e.g. 135 m) read examiners ask for.

Sagarmatha National Park, Nepal — trekking tourism: On a topographic map of Sagarmatha National Park (the Everest region), trekkers read latitude off the grid (around 27 50' N) and altitude gained between spot heights - for example a 680 m climb between two labelled points. The closely packed contours show why the trails are so steep, shaping where lodges and rest stops are placed.

Aviemore & the Grand Canyon — resort and park maps: A piste map of Aviemore in the Scottish Highlands is read like any map: the funicular railway is identified as the quickest lift from base to top, and the run-difficulty key grades the longest run. On a Grand Canyon National Park map, the scale bar gives the ~76 km length of the Colorado River between two points, and a compass gives the direction of Las Vegas (WNW) from Flagstaff.

How this is tested — Outline + Identify from the map: A tourist or topographic map (often beside a small bar chart comparing two candidate venues) is set, and you must judge a site from the evidence rather than just read a single fact off it. The command terms are Outline [2], Identify [2] and Suggest [2]: why a place would suit a festival, sport or recreation use, or which features make it hard to reach.

The markscheme always wants a reason PLUS specific evidence - name the road, the campsite, the contour, the grid reference, or the figure read off the chart. A bare reason with no evidence caps the mark.

Reason + map evidence: Every suitability mark is reason + evidence. Not "it is accessible" but "it is accessible - an A-road and a bus station lie just south of the site." Quote the actual feature, road or grid reference you can see.