Question
If you are interpreting cultural features of a topographical sheet, what information would you like to seek and how would you derive this information? Discuss with the help of suitable examples.
Solution
The cultural features are settlements, railway and roads, buildings. These features and their distribution pattern help in understanding the area. We will seek the information about these features. The information on means of transport and communication is sought from the given sheet through the questions such as : What are the means of transport in the region? How adequate are they ? And are there post office and telephone lines ? etc.
The next information will be derived about human settlements. This information will indicate the occupation, the land use etc., we will come to know that how many urban centres and industrial centres are there? How dense are the rural settlements? Are they uniformly distributed ? Nucleated settlements with uniform
distribution occur in relatively flat alluvial plains as in Uttar Pradesh. Along the coastal plains in Kerala we find linear pattern of settlements following old sand dense parallel to the coast.
