thinking geographically: nature and perspectives

THINKING GEOGRAPHICALLY: NATURE AND PERSPECTIVES

Human Geography

Physical Geography

Five themes of Geography1. Location (absolute and relative)2. Movement (ideas, people, goods)3. Regions – what do areas have kin common4. Place – what is unique about a

location5. Human Environment Interaction

a. Modify b. adapt

Famous Geographers: Erastosthones – Father of Geography – circumference of the Earth

Ptolmey: Compiled first Atlas “ Guide to Geography”. It was Ptolmey’s incorrect map that Columbus used to determine he could sail around the world.

Location:

Site: physical character of a place

Situation: Relative location – location in relation to other places.

Longitude, latitude ----meridians, parallels

Prime Meridian, International Dateline

Greenwich Mean Time

Time Zones (degrees?)

Country with no time zones?

MAPS AND MAP PROJECTIONS:

All maps have distortion.The type of projection is determined by the projection.

The Mercator projection distorts shapes around the poles. Perfect for ship navigation.

A Robinson projection distorts all features a little but is one with as little distortion as can be expected.

A Peter’s projection “spreads “ countries near the equator but squashes them near the poles.

An azimuthal map shows the earth from a particular point. Doesn’t show all of the planet.

Map Scale

Large scale map1” = 5 miles. Would be used on a local map.

Small scale map

1” = 500 miles. Would be used on a larger map.

Chloropleth Maps

Cartogram

Dot Map

Isoline map

Geographic Information Systems (GIS)

Satellite imaging takes photos of “layers” of the surface. These can be separated and studied for a particular purpose.

Scale can also be used to identify the importance of an occurance.

If 25 people die in a flood in Burkina Faso, the scale of the tragedy is important there, but not on a world scale.

If 250,000 people die in a Tsunami in the Indian Ocean, the scale is important on a worldwide scale.

Think ZOOM

REGIONS

Formal States, counties, countries

Functional(nodal)

The “range” of a central location (node.)

The coverage of a radio station, newspaper

Perceptual(Vernacular)

A region that people know exists, although there are no formal boundaries.

The South, East Texas, Cy-Fair

DIFFUSION

EXPANSION DIFFUSION

RELOCATION DIFFUSIONSpread of an idea from the physical movement of people.

Hierarchal Diffusion: spread of an idea from persons or nodes of authority to other persons or places. (top down diffusion)

Contagious Diffusion: The rapid and widespread diffusion of a characteristic throughout a population.

Stimulus diffusion: The spread of a principle even though the characteristic itself does not diffuse. Apple vs Microsoft

GENERAL INFORMATION

Space-time compression

The reduction in time it takes something to diffuse to a distant place. (technology)

Toponyms: Place namesSan Antonio, Red Bluff Mountain, Houston Oaks Golf Club

Sequent occupance

The change over time as to what is “occupying” a particular space.

Prairie to sod hut to house to apartments to vacant lot

Environmental Determinism: the environment determines the relative success of failure of a group of people. The physical environment causes and restricts human development.

Distance decay: the diminishing importance and eventual disappearance of a phenomena the further away it is from its origin.

Possiblism: the environment may set limits on development, but people have the ability to overcome their environments.

Density

Pattern

Concentration-Irregular

Arithmetic

Concentration - regular

dispersed

Linear or clustered?

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