Land

A land feature is defined as either a man-made or a natural polygon feature that describes the surface cover and area to which it is applied. This includes both natural and man-made slopes and cliffs. All general features are also placed in the Land theme. There are some exceptions to this, such as routes of communication and buildings.

Landform features, such as slopes and cliffs, behave slightly differently from other features as in the instances that they are represented as line features, they can cross other line features without being broken at the intersection of the line. Additionally, when they are polygon features, they can overlap other polygon features instead of sitting adjacent to them.

The Land theme encompasses those areas that do not form part of another theme. For example, a grass verge next to a road would appear in the Roads, Tracks, and Paths theme, whereas a grass area within a park would be in the Land theme.

The limits of geographic features such as hills and valleys are not recorded, although the distinctive names of these geographic features are shown when applicable.

Physical features shown in the Land theme include:

• Recreation areas such as Parks, Playing Fields, Football Pitches, and Golf Courses

• Slopes and Cliffs

• Car Parks

• Gardens

• Woodlands

• Areas of Vegetation (including scrub, heath, rough grass, and marshland) The Land theme also contains text features that describe the physical features.

In the image below, different types of vegetation cover have been identified on the edges of a settlement. Each type of vegetation has been labelled using the attribution within OS MasterMap Topography Layer:

Different types of vegetation cover in the Land theme.