Well duh, bcause they're all ungaured for most part.
They are empty because of 0 quests. But when the content arrives people will travel more. Anyway I miss some kind of location growth since FOnline itself does not have any starting or noob locations designed to have low lvl quests and when one hits certain lvl the quests will send him elsewhere to learn the game mechanics and gain new gaming experiences. That makes FOnline a bit flat, since its all open from the 1st second you get in and thats why too many newbies quit so fast, because the game itself don't guide them through at least first 6-8 levels. Its just "here is the wasteland, good luck" and thats a bit shame.
Anyway larger map would be nice but its something that is imho possible only when the beta is over and as expansion with new content and new challenges. But thats few years that we are talking here and by that time this game may not be even alive. But it would be awesome to get into FT towns one day.