Which color represents retail and commercial uses on a land use map?

• A. Yellow
• B. Brown
• C. Red
• D. Purple

Answer: (C)

Color-coding on land use maps helps you read the map quickly by assigning each use a distinct color. Red is commonly used to indicate commercial or retail zones because it stands out and is widely adopted in planning legends and GIS datasets. This makes it easy to spot shopping districts and office areas at a glance, especially when you’re analyzing access, density, and land use patterns. Always check the map legend, since colors can vary, but the standard convention you’ll see in many planning contexts is red for retail and commercial. Yellow usually represents residential, while purple or brown are more often used for industrial or other uses, so those colors are not used for retail.