1.4
Interpret Maps/Graphs of Population, Land Use, Natural Features
July 16, 2025
Julia Singer
4
Min Read
AI Summary
These notes explore how maps—specifically population, land use, and natural feature maps—help us understand why people live where they do. By analyzing the relationship between natural landscapes, land use, and population patterns, we can see how human settlement is influenced by resources, income opportunities, and environmental risks.
Objective
To interpret maps relating to population and population density, land use, and natural features to analyze how we use the land.
Core Concept
Where people live is partially determined by the land and how useful it is. Natural features like rivers, plains, or mountains influence how the land is used. As people use the land in different ways, population patterns change and these maps portray it clearly.
Content
Population maps, land use maps, and natural feature maps provide a different type of information which directly shows how and why people live in certain areas.
Map Type | What It Shows | How to Read It | Why It Matters |
Population map | Where people live and how many, population density (the number of people per square kilometer) | Darker colors = more people Lighter colors = fewer. (Like a choropleth map) | Shows urban growth and areas high resource demand. |
Land use map | How land is being utilized – farming, cities, forests, factories. | Colors, patterns, or annotations for the different uses (e.g. green = forest, yellow = farmland) | Shows how humans are extracting materials, interacting with the land, and provides an idea of how they are making income. E.g., an area with fertile soil brings farmers to make a higher income. |
Natural feature map | Physical traits such as mountains, rivers, deserts, or coastlines. | Symbols, shading, and elevation lines. | Helps explain climate, natural hazards, and where people can or cannot live easily. |
Real-World Application
Recognizing patterns and how population correlates with land use and natural features tells us why certain areas are more populated than others. People often settle where the land offers resources, such as places in West Texas and Southern California which have a naturally large oil and gas supply, which causes people working in the oil and gas industry to live near there. This is just one example of how the land influences where people live. However, linking back to the earlier topic, it is important to reduce the risk of natural hazards and challenges as much as possible which is where the natural feature maps allow us to analyze the safety of living in a certain area.