ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS Write these down in your notes 1. How does the way geographers look at the world differ from that of others scientists? 2. How has the sense of the world changed from the first maps to today? 3. How does relative location differ from absolute location? 4. What is sense of place? 5. What is the difference between density and distribution? 6. Contrast determinism v. possibilism
UNIT 1 PART 1 GEOGRAPHY ITS NATURE AND PERSPECTIVES
ENDURING UNDERSTANDING (1.A) By the end of this section, you will understand that geography, as a field of inquiry, looks at the world from a spatial perspective.
LEARNING OBJECTIVE (1.A.1) By the end of this section, you will be able to explain the importance of geography as a field of study. Geographic information provides context for understanding spatial relationships and humanenvironment interaction.
PART I: THE SPATIAL PERSPECTIVE Geography is the why of where. Why are things where they are? How did things become distributed as they are? What is changing the pattern of distribution? What are the implications of the spatial distribution for people?
GEOGRAPHY AS A FIELD OF STUDY Geography (Greek) Geo- (earth) -graphy (writing) Subfields Physical elements of the physical environment (weather and climate) Human spatial characteristics of humans and human activities
GEOGRAPHY AS A FIELD OF STUDY Subfields of Human Geography Population health, births, migration, etc. Culture language, religion, popular music, etc. Economics agriculture, level of development, wealth, etc. Urban areas cities, suburbs, challenges from growth, etc. Political - local government, nations, distribution of power, etc.
EARLY HISTORY OF GEOGRAPHY Greeks and Romans were first in western Eurasia Homer s Iliad and Odyssey Aristotle observed Earth s features and how they influenced human behavior Eratosthenes used geometry to calculate Earth s circumference and coined the term geography Ptolemy, 500 years after Eratosthenes, summarized Greek knowledge of geography, including locations and sizes of continents; dominated European thought for 1,000 years.
EARLY HISTORY OF GEOGRAPHY European Middle Ages Europeans rarely ventured outside their region but Muslim culture flourished in the Middle East and North Africa. Built strong trading ties with Africa and East Asia.
MODERN HISTORY OF GEOGRAPHY Age of Exploration Christopher Columbus (1492) launched a new era in exploration, mapping, and description. Gerardus Mercator created a world map for sailors and is still widely used today More Recently Carl Sauer (1889-1975) expanded the focus of geography beyond physical traits of the earth to include human activity
ENDURING UNDERSTANDING (1.B) By the end of this section, you will understand that geography offers a set of concepts, skills, and tools that facilitate critical thinking and problem solving.
LEARNING OBJECTIVE (1.B.1) By the end of this section, you will be able to explain major geographical concepts underlying the geographic perspective. Geographic concepts include location, place, scale, space, pattern, nature and society, networks, flows, regionalization, and globalization.
CONCEPTS Historians look through the lens of time to understand the past. Geographers look through the lens of space to understand place.
LOCATION Absolute location Absolute location - the precise spot where something is according to some system Most widely used: latitude and longitude Latitude: distance north or south of the equator (0 lat) Longitude: distance east or west of the prime meridian (0 long) Prime meridian passes through Greenwich, England International Date Line (180 long)
LOCATION
LOCATION Relative location Relative location - where something is in relation to other things Example: Salt Lake City, Utah is located just south of the Great Salt Lake and just west of the Rocky Mountains Often described in terms of connectivity (how well two locations are tied together by roads or other links) and accessibility (how quickly and easily people in one location can interact with people in another location)
LOCATION Relative location Can change over time and as accessibility changes Example: ghost towns (abandoned settlements) of the western United States once had relative locations near water sources (which dried up), along trade routes (which changed), or near mines (which closed). Their relative locations lost the advantages (resources or trade) but their absolute locations remain the same.
PLACE Place Place refers to the specific human and physical characteristics of a location. A group of places in the same area that share a characteristic form a region. Two ways to refer to place: site and situation Site: characteristics at the immediate location (soil type, climate) Situation: location relative to surroundings
PLACE Place Sense of place humans tend to perceive the characteristics of places in different ways based on their personal beliefs. Example: the characteristics of Rome, Italy, might be described differently by a local resident than by an outsider or by a Catholic than by a Hindu. If a place inspires no strong emotional ties in people, it has placelessness.
PLACE Place Toponyms place names Some provide insights into the physical geography, the history, or the culture of the location Example: coast of Florida (beach names), Salt Lake City, Los Angeles Some can be confusing (Iceland and Greenland) while some are deceiving (Lake City, Iowa not on a lake and Mount Prospect, Illinois is only 665 ft above sea level)
DISTANCE Distance is the measurement of how far or how near things are to one another Proximity indicates the degree of nearness Meters, miles, kilometers, etc. Straight line distance (as the crow flies) or travel distance Example: Milwaukee to Kalamazoo is 130 miles by air but 250 miles by car
DISTANCE Distance and Time Time-space compression is the shrinking time distance between locations because of improved methods of transportation and communication Example: New York and London are separated by an ocean, but the development of air travel greatly reduced travel time between them and now feel much closer today than in the 19 th century Result: global forces are influencing culture everywhere and reducing local diversity more than ever before
DISTANCE Distance and Connection Spatial interaction refers to the contact, movement, and flow of things between locations physical (through roads) or information (through radio or Internet) The increasing connection between places is reflected in the growth of spatial interaction The friction of distance indicates that when things are farther apart, they tend to be less well connected This inverse relationship is called distance-decay
DISTANCE Example: the weakening of a radio signal as it travels across space away from a radio tower friction of distance causes the decay, or weakening, of the signal. Improvements in transportation, communication, and infrastructure have reduced the friction as they have increased the spatial interaction.
DENSITY AND DISTRIBUTION Density Density is the number of something in a specifically defined area Population density is the number of people per square mile count the people and divide by the area Psychological density in a full elevator, one person may think it feels fine while one person feels uncomfortable
DENSITY AND DISTRIBUTION Distribution Distribution is the way a phenomenon is spread out over an area Clustered or sparse For example, two city blocks with the same density (amount of people) might have very different distributions evenly spread out vs. high-rise apartment and empty park Geographers look for patterns in distribution: linear (towns along a railroad line), circular (homes of people who shop at a store), geometric (squares formed by roads), or random (pet owners)
DENSITY AND DISTRIBUTION Distribution Matching patterns of distribution is called spatial association and indicates that two (or more) phenomena may be related, or associated with one another Example: the distribution of malaria matches the distribution of the mosquito that carries it (be careful correlation does not mean causation) Example: distribution of bike shops in a large city might be similar to the distribution of athletic wear stores. One does not cause the other but may reflect the distribution of active people
HUMAN-ENVIRONMENTAL INTERACTION The relationship between humans and the natural world are at the heart of human geography The connection and exchange between them is called humanenvironmental interaction specifically sustainability, pollution, and environmental issues
HUMAN-ENVIRONMENTAL INTERACTION Cultural ecology: the study of how humans adapt to the environment The belief that landforms and climate are the most powerful forces shaping human behavior and societal development is called environmental determinism In the 19 th and early 20 th centuries, some people used this concept to argue that people in some climates were superior to those of other climates
HUMAN-ENVIRONMENTAL INTERACTION In reaction came the view known as possibilism a view that acknowledges limits on the effects of the natural environment and focuses more on the role that human culture plays Different cultures may respond to the same environment in different ways, depending on their beliefs, goals, and available technologies
LEARNING OBJECTIVE (1.B.2) By the end of this section, you will be able to use landscape analysis to examine the human organization of space. Landscape analysis (e.g., field observations, photographic interpretations) provides a context for understanding the location of people, places, regions, and events; human environment relationships; and interconnections between and among places and regions
LANDSCAPE ANALYSIS Landscape analysis is the task of defining and describing land Observation and Interpretation The first part of landscape analysis is field observation Take notes, sketch maps, count, measure, and interview Before technology, this was the only way to gather data about a place
LANDSCAPE ANALYSIS Built environment refers to the physical artifacts that humans have created and that form part of the landscape Examples: buildings, roads, signs, and fences The built environment varies from place to place (think China vs. Germany) Anything built by humans is part of the cultural landscape.
FOUR-LEVEL ANALYSIS One systematic way to study geographic phenomena is to use Four-Level Analysis. Level Description Key Questions 1. Comprehension Establish the basic information clearly What? Where? When? Scale? 2. Identification Identify and describe patterns in phenomena Are phenomena connected? 3. Explanation Explain how individual phenomena might form a pattern 4. Prediction Explain why a pattern is important, and predict what it might lead to Why is something where it is? How did it get there? So what? What if? What are the effects?
ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS Write these down in your notes 1. What tools and techniques do geographers use to analyze the world? 2. Why do we use different scales on different maps?
ENDURING UNDERSTANDING (1.C) By the end of this section, you will understand that geographical skills provide a foundation for analyzing world patterns and processes.
LEARNING OBJECTIVE (1.C.1) By the end of this slide, you will be able to use spatial thinking to analyze the human organization of space. People apply spatial concepts to interpret and understand population and migration; cultural patterns and processes; political organization of space; agriculture, food production, and rural land use; industrialization and economic development; and cities and urban land use.
LEARNING OBJECTIVE (1.C.2) By the end of this section, you will be able to use and interpret maps. Maps are used to represent and identify spatial patterns and processes at different scales Types of maps include reference maps and thematic maps All map projections inevitably distort spatial relationships
PART II: PATTERNS AND PROCESSES Geographers emphasize spatial patterns, general arrangements of things being studied, and the processes, the repeated sequences of events, that create them.
MAPS Scale Maps are a reduction of the actual land it represents Scale is the ratio between the size of things in the real world and the size of those same things on the map Three types: cartographic, geographic, and scale of data
MAPS - SCALE Scale Maps are a reduction of the actual land it represents Scale is the ratio between the size of things in the real world and the size of those same things on the map Three types: cartographic, geographic, and scale of data
MAPS - SCALE Cartographic Scale Refers to the way the map communicates the ratio of its size to the size of what it represents: Words one inch equals ten miles (2.5 inches would equal 25 miles on the surface of the earth Ratio 1/200,000 or 1:200,000 (1 unit on the map equals 200,000 units on the ground) Line length of the line indicates distance on the map
MAPS - SCALE Geographic Scale Sometimes called relative scale, refers to the amount of territory that the map represents Global scale means a map of the entire planet Local scale means a map of a city school attendance boundaries A rise in unemployment might be explained differently depending on the scale
MAPS - SCALE Scale of the Data The scale of the maps might be the same but the scale of the data may be different
MAPS REFERENCE AND THEMATIC Reference Maps Political human-created boundaries (states, cities, etc.) Physical natural features (mountains, rivers, deserts) Road highways, streets, and alleys Plat property lines and land ownership Locator used in books and advertisements to support ad
MAPS REFERENCE AND THEMATIC Thematic Maps Show spatial aspects of information or of a phenomenon Four common types Choropleth Dot distribution Graduated symbol Isoline
MAPS THEMATIC: CHOROPLETH Choropleth Uses various colors, shades of one color, or patterns to show the location and distribution of spatial data
MAPS THEMATIC: DOT DISTRIBUTION Dot Distribution Used to show the specific location and distribution of something across the territory of the map Each dot represents a specified quantity
MAPS THEMATIC: GRADUATED SYMBOL Graduated Symbol Uses symbols of different sizes to indicate different amounts of something The map key determines the exact amount
MAPS THEMATIC: ISOLINE Isoline Uses lines that connect points of equal value to depict variations in the data across space Where lines are close together, change is rapid Most common type: topographic map
MAPS THEMATIC: ISOLINE Topographic Popular among hikers Points of equal elevation are connected creating contours that depict surface features
MAPS CARTOGRAMS Cartograms Sizes of countries are shown according to some specific statistic Useful because they allow data to be compared, like a graph, and distance and distribution are also visible, like on a traditional map.
MAPS CARTOGRAMS
MAPS CARTOGRAMS
ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS Write these down in your notes 1. Why are map projections distorted? 2. What are the three types of regions? 3. What are the geospatial technologies?
PROJECTIONS We know that the earth is round and maps are flat Therefore, all maps distort some aspect of reality (SADD shape, area, distance, or direction) The process of showing a curved surface on a flat surface is done using a map projection There are 5 projections you need to know
PROJECTIONS - MERCATOR Purpose navigation Strengths directions are accurate; lines of latitude and longitude meet at right angles Distortion distance between lines of longitude appear consistent; land masses near the poles appear large.
PROJECTIONS - PETERS Purpose spatial distributions related to area Strengths sizes of land masses are accurate Distortion shapes are inaccurate, especially near the poles
PROJECTIONS PETERS OVER MERCATOR
PROJECTIONS - CONIC Purpose general use in midlatitude countries Strengths lines of longitude converge; lines of latitude are curved; size and shape are close to reality Distortion directions are not constant; longitude lines converge at one pole
PROJECTIONS GOODE-HOMOLOSINE Purpose spatial distribution Strengths area and shape are preserved Distortion interrupts the oceans
ENDURING UNDERSTANDING (1.C) Remember, by the end of this section, you will understand that geographical skills provide a foundation for analyzing world patterns and processes.
LEARNING OBJECTIVE (1.C.3) By the end of this section, you will be able to use and interpret geographic models Geographers use models as generalizations to think systematically about topics such as land use (e.g., von Thünen model, Latin American city model), industrial location (e.g., Weber model), and the distribution of settlements (e.g., Christaller s central place theory)
MODELS IN GEOGRAPHY Geographic models are representations of reality or theories about reality to help them see general spatial patterns, focus on the influence of specific factors, and understand variations from place to place. Models help explain, describe, and sometimes even predict spatial activity and phenomena. Two basic types: spatial and non-spatial
MODELS IN GEOGRAPHY - SPATIAL Spatial models illustrate theories about spatial distributions Example: agricultural land use Von Thünen model Example: industrial location least cost theory Example: distribution of cities central place theory
MODELS IN GEOGRAPHY NON-SPATIAL Non-spatial models illustrate theories and concepts using words, graphs, or tables. They often depict changes over time rather than across space. Example: demographic transition model (DTM) Example: Rostow s modernization model Example: Wallerstein s world-systems theory combines both spatial and non-spatial
FORMULAS AND GRAPHS Formulas help geographers understand how the world works and function much like models Mathematical calculations used to produce statistics Determine CBR and CDR Doubling times for population Population densities Theoretical formulas produce results that are more theoretical Rank-size rule Graphs illustrate population structures (pyramids), geographic concepts (distance-decay), and even models (DTM)
USE OF MODELS Von Thünen Model Generalization based on what people did, he developed a general model about agricultural land use Simplification focused on two variables (transportation and distance) Theoretical could be applied around the world but would never exactly match reality Models are never really right or wrong but are useful in understanding the world
ENDURING UNDERSTANDING (1.C) Remember, by the end of this section, you will understand that geographical skills provide a foundation for analyzing world patterns and processes.
LEARNING OBJECTIVE (1.C.4) By the end of this section, you will be able to define region as a concept, identify world regions, and understand regionalization processes. Definition of region Types of regions World regions By the end of this section, you will be able to explain and evaluate the regionalization process. Regional thinking and regionalism
REGIONALIZATION AND REGIONS Regionalization is the process geographers use to divide and categorize space into smaller areal units the same way a writer divides a book into chapters and then names (classifies) them. Three types of regions Formal Functional Vernacular
TYPES OF REGIONS: FORMAL Formal regions, sometimes called uniform regions or homogenous regions, are united by one or more traits Physical the Sahara, a vast desert in North Africa Cultural southwestern Nigeria, an area where most people speak Yoruba Economic Gold Coast of Africa (Ghana), which exports gold
TYPES OF REGIONS: FUNCTIONAL Functional regions, or nodal regions, are organized around a focal point and are defined by an activity that occurs across the region Often united by communication or transportation that are centered around a node Region: pizza delivery area; Node: pizza shop Region: a country; Node: capital city (political node)
TYPES OF REGIONS: PERCEPTUAL Perceptual regions, or vernacular regions, are defined by the informal sense of place that people ascribe to them and vary widely The American South The Middle East Upstate New York The exact boundaries depend upon the person who is defining them
WORLD REGIONS LARGE REGIONS Geographers divide the world into regions and subregions
WORLD REGIONS SUBREGIONS Subregions are large regions divided into smaller sections They share some characteristics with the rest of the larger region but is distinctive in some ways Example: Latin America covers parts of North and South America, from Mexico to Chile. As in most Latin American countries, most people in Brazil are Roman Catholics. However, most Brazilians speak Portuguese. Because of its language, Brazil is a distinct subregion.
WORLD REGIONS SUBREGIONS
WORLD REGIONS SMALLER REGIONS Subregions can be divided into smaller regions and can be based on elements of physical geography, such as climate and landform, or human geography, such as culture, politics, or economics Any one place is part of many regions or subregions Example: Florida is part of a climate region base on its warm weather, a cultural region known as the South, and an economic region known as the Sun Belt.
ENDURING UNDERSTANDING (1.D) By the end of this section, you will understand that geospatial technologies increase the capability for gathering and analyzing geographic information with applications to everyday life.
LEARNING OBJECTIVE (1.D.1) By the end of this section, you will be able to use and interpret geospatial data Geospatial technologies include GIS, GPS, remote sensing, and online mapping and visualization Geospatial data is used at all scales for personal (navigation), business (marketing), and governmental (environmental planning) purposes
GEOSPATIAL DATA Geospatial data includes all information that can be tied to a specific place Locations, human activities, and traits Examples: Where do speakers of Chinese live? How common is poverty in each U.S. county? Where is the dividing line in a city between students who attend one high school and those who attend another?
GEOSPATIAL DATA OBTAINING DATA Much of the data is obtained through fieldwork observing and recording information on location Census of the population, interviews, informal observations
GEOSPATIAL DATA TECHNOLOGIES Global Positioning System (GPS) Description: GPS receivers on Earth s surface use the locations of multiple satellites to determine and record a receiver s exact location Uses: precisely locating border; navigating ships, aircraft, and cars; mapping lines (trails) or points (fire hydrants)
GEOSPATIAL DATA TECHNOLOGIES Remote Sensing Description: the use of cameras or other sensors mounted on aircraft or satellites to collect digital images of the earth s surface Uses: determining land cover and use; monitoring environmental changes; assessing spread of spatial phenomena; weather
GEOSPATIAL DATA TECHNOLOGIES Geographic Information Systems (GIS) Description: computer system that can store, analyze, and display information from multiple digital maps or geospatial data sets Uses: analysis of crime data; effects of pollution; transportation/travel time analysis; urban planning
THE SUBWAY MAP One of the most useful, yet inaccurate, maps Shows the value of the concept of relative location Passengers did not need to know the twists and turns of the track or the actual distance between stops
THE TOKYO SUBWAY MAP