Relief Relief refers to the shape of the land’s surface. It is important to be able to make out and understand the different heights of land from an OS map. There are six different relief features.
Relief Feature Definition Upland
Lowland Mountain Hill
Ridge Valley
Coloured yellow or brown on OS map – a large area of land over 200 metres in height.
Coloured green on OS map – a large area of land less than 200 metres in height.
Dark brown on OS map – a steep-sided landform that is over 400 metres in height.
A raised area of land under 400 metres. A long narrow upland area with steep sides.
A long and often narrow area of land usually featuring a river.
Have a go at matching the relief of these mountains (1–6) as you would see them on an OS map with their side view (A–F).
