Key terms of position

Cardinal directions (compass points)

The four cardinal directions, or compass points, are the directions north, east, south, and
west.

Points between the four main cardinal directions are the intercardinal directions. These are
northeast, southeast, southwest, and northwest.

Also note that in English you do not need a capital letter for them – they can work as
adjectives – in the southwestern corner / or simply in the northeast as a noun.

Prepositions of place
There are currently 18,300,000 articles already published on this subject, so no need to go
into detail here.

However, here are a few advanced prepositions and adverbs I couldn't resist including:

Perpendicular to - at right angles to.

The main road is perpendicular to the train station.

Clockwise - following the rotating direction of the clock hands.

Moving in a clockwise direction from the hospital, we can see the new car park.

Along - nearby

Along the roadside we can see a new retail area and more office developments.

Map description verbs

Here we have included verbs for describing maps and change.

Build: Three new hospitals were built.

Construct: A new road was constructed next to the town.

Extend: The main road into town was extended by 20 meters.

Expand: The car park was expanded to accommodate an extra 50 cars.

Span: The bridge spans the width of the river.

Remove: The developers removed the old post box near the retail area.

Area: length, width, depth and height

We use the nouns length, width, depth and height and the adjectives long, wide, deep and
high to talk about area and size.

The width of the carpark is over 100 meters

The length of the pond is probably just under 20 meters.

The height of the first building is almost 70 meters.

Map specific vocabulary

City / town

Community greens: Shared open green spaces in residential neighborhoods.

Green belt: A policy used in urban planning to retain a “belt” of the natural environment
around urban areas.

Greenfield land: Untouched and pristine land. Fields and forests.

Greyfield land: Buildings or real estate land that is economically useless. Disused car parks
or abandoned factories.

Grid plan: A plan in the shape of a grid.

Pavement / sidewalk: The part of the street dedicated to just pedestrians.

Roundabout: circular intersection for leaving and entering other roadways.

Roadside: The side of the road. At the roadside there are three retailers.

Zone of transition: An area that is moving from one status to another. The area between the
city centre and the green belt.

Landscape

Bay: small sea

Archipelago: a group of islands

Bog: wet spongy ground, swamp

Canal: man made navigable water way

Canyon: deep, narrow valley with steep sides, carved by a river

Hedge: row of shrubs forming a boundary

Moor: open land on hills with shrubs, heath

Strait: narrow waterway connecting two large bodies of water

Stream: very small river

Summit: highest point of a mountain

Tide: rise and fall of sea level

Tributary: stream leading to a bigger river

Valley: long depression between two hills

Useful grammar

• Present passive

Overall there are significant changes can be found in the island particularly the new
accommodation facilities.

• Future passive

Overall, the resort will be built on the island and will include a hotel, a reception, houses, an
artIficial lake and a pier.

• Perfect passive

Overall, the island has been transformed into a new resort which includes…

Example sentences

• On the western side - On the western side of the lake there are no longer any greyfield
sites or wasteland.
• In the north western corner - In the north western corner of the rubric we can see the
tallest of the three buildings.
• To the south - To the south of the lake we can see a new footpath, leading to a lake.
• In the centre - In the center of the island there is a new hotel.
• To the east of - To the east of the first car park we can see three new buildings.
• Significant - There were significant developments in the second map.