Information taken from
https://us.forum.elvenar.com/index.php?threads/mykans-guide-to-elvenar.3966/
When you scout on the world map there are "rings" around your town that represent distance. See screenshot below from wiki for illustration
You can count the distance from your town to where you are exploring. Another way to work it out is once scouted look at the ranking points you earn from a province
Anything at distance 11 or more will have the orc resource requirement. The devs don't expect people to reach 222 provinces until after the wood elve chapter. Players with large differences in scouted provinces create balancing issues for the devs so the orc resource is a way to limit the difference as is the chest requirement with a minimum number of provinces.