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Part 1: Geography: It’s Nature and Perspectives 1. Geography (Greek Definition): -The geo part means Earth and the graphy part comes from “graph” which means “to write about” -Literal definition of geography is essentially “to write about the Earth.” 2. Purpose of Early Geography: -The first geographers studied places and regions for practical purposes. They were interested in exploring uncharted territories, mostly for trade. -First geographers included Chinese, Greeks, and North Africans. They were also the first cartographers, making detailed maps and deriving measurements to describe the world as they knew it. 3. Eratosthenes: -Head librarian at Alexandria during the third century B.C. -One of the world’s first cartographers. -Computed the Earth’s circumference based on the dun’s angle at the summer solstice and distance between the two Egyptian cities of Alexandria and Syene. -His calculations were only about 109 miles (175 kilometers) too long. -Responsible for coining the term geography. 4. Ptolemy: -Published his Guide to Geography in second century A.D., which included rough maps of the landmasses as he understood them at the time, and a global grid system. -Efforts represent a significant early contribution to both geography and the technical aspects of early cartography. 5. Exploration: -Beginning in 1400 A.D., knowledge of the globe began to expand rapidly as explorers traveled the Earth mapping landforms, climates, indigenous cultures, and the distribution of plants and animals. -Some of the most influential early explorers include Bartholomeu Dias, Christopher Columbus, and Ferdinand Magellan. -Later important explores include Alexander von Humboldt and the men of the Lewis and Clark expedition. 6. George Perkins Marsh: -An inventor, diplomat, politician, and scholar. -In 1864 wrote Man and Nature, or Physical Geography as Modified by Human Action. -Book provides first description of extent to which natural systems had been impacted by human actions. -Writing was informed and influenced by both extensive travel in Europe and the Middle East and by transcendentalist movement occurring in his native New England. -Warned that people’s willful destruction of the environment could have disastrous consequences like the desertification he witnessed in the Fertile Crescent. 7. Carl Sauer: -One of the first modern geographers, in 1925 argued that cultural landscapes, the products of complex interactions between humans and their environments, should be the fundamental focus of geographic inquiry. -Proposed a method of landscape analysis that allowed geographers to understand and interpret the complex relationship between humans and environment. -Argued that even landscapes appearing to be natural had experienced some form of alteration as a result of human activity. 8. The Quantitative Revolution: -The movement in the 1950’s and 1960’s among social scientists that stressed use of empirical measurements, hypothesis testing, development of mathematical models, and use of computer programs to explain geographic patterns. -Approach reflected influences of both modernist philosophy and technological innovation in the social sciences during this time. -Many geographers credit it for bringing geography into the mainstream of modern science, while others criticize it for limiting the questions geographers can ask and the methods they can use in their investigations. 9. Remote Sensing: -Process of capturing images from Earth’s surface from airborne platforms such as satellites or airplanes. -Images generated can be digital or analog photographs and data can be collected from several bands of the electromagnetic spectrum (e.g., infrared data is often used to collect vegetation data). -Has become an important technique allowing modern geographers access to landscapes otherwise somewhat inaccessible (e.g., the Amazon rainforest). -In combination with other technologies and techniques, can be used to generate precise measurements of land use change. 10. Global Positioning System (GPS): -An integrated network of satellites that orbit the earth, broadcasting location information to handheld receivers on Earth’s surface. -With a handheld receiver, a person standing at any point on the Earth can obtain highly accurate information about geographic location in terms of latitude and longitude. -Becoming increasingly popular in automobiles and other handheld devices because of ability to provide accurate locational information. 14. Human Geography (diagram) 15. Physical Geography 11. Geographical Information System (GIS) A family of software programs that allow geographers to map, analyze, and model spatial data. Most use thematic layers, consisting of individual maps that contain specific features such as roads, stream networks, or elevation contours. Multiple thematic layers may be united into one comprehensive map combining useful features that help geographers understand and analyze spatial relationships between different phenomena. 12. Divisions of Geography Geography is typically divided into three major areas, each consisting of several subdisciplines. Human geography, physical geography, and Earth system science, which results from the intersection of the two. Earth system science is often called human environment relationships (HER), or environmental geography. 13. Human Geography Broadly defined as the study of human activities on the earth’s surface. Human geographers generally focus their work in more specific subdisciplines including population geography, cultural geography, economic geography, urban geography, agricultural geography, and political geography. Often, human geographers combine two or more subfields in their research, hoping to better understand the spatial dimensions of complex, interlinked social systems. Physical geographers study spatial characteristics of the Earth’s physical and biological systems. Many natural scientists, including meteorologists, climatologists, ecologists, oceanographers, geologists, soil scientists, and hydrologists, study physical geographers. Through understanding of the spatial variability of the phenomena under investigation each of these types of scientists gain insight into why certain phenomena behave the way they do in certain places. 16. Earth System Science A fairly new area of focus for the sciences, it became popular in the last several decades. Arose as a way to study interactions between physical systems on a global scale. Geographers have been at the forefront of this emerging discipline. 17. Systematic Geography Study of the Earth’s integrated systems as a whole, instead of focusing on particular processes in a single place. This approach allows geographers to apply their knowledge of a specific spatial process broadly beyond unique places to other areas across the globe. 18. Environmental Geography Results from the intersection of human and physical geography. Environmental geographers, or geographers who study human environmental relationships (HER), come from almost every academic discipline and frequently occupy prominent positions a the forefront of debates regarding anthropogenic, or human-induced, environmental change; conservation planning; and sustainability. Concerned with anything from the history of a given landscape to the effects of pollution on impoverished neighborhoods, to the creation of nature reserves for endangered species. 19. W. D. Pattison’s Four Traditions of Geography W. D. Pattison was a geographer at the University of Chicago, who, in 1964, published a defining piece on the discipline of geography’s four defining traditions. The Earth-science tradition as defined by Pattison is essentially physical geography. The culture-environment tradition is essentially the same thing as HER or environmental geography. The locational tradition relates to the analysis of spatial data through cartography. The area-analysis tradition refers to regional geography, which involves an investigation and description of a unique piece of the Earth’s surface. 20. Five Themes of Geography Location refers to the position on Earth’s surface. Human/environment interaction refers to cultural ecology or the relationship between culture and environment. Regions are ways to organize or compartmentalize space. Place differs from location in that it refers to associations among phenomena within a particular area. Movement describes the interconnections between areas. 21. Thinking Geographically Geographers, like other social scientists, contribute a unique perspective or way of thinking about the phenomena occurring in the world around them. Thinking geographically involves developing a spatial perspective, an appreciation of scale, and the ability to analyze and int4erpret varied forms of geographic data. 22. The Spatial Perspective An intellectual framework that allows geographers to look at the earth in terms of the relationships between various places. Geographers look at the spatial distribution of different types of phenomena and ask why and how certain phenomena come to occur in certain places. Some major questions of geographers are: How do two places interact economically, socially, and culturally? Why do some places have more in common than others? How are social phenomena conveyed over time and space? 23. The Importance of Scale Geographic scale is a general concept that refers to a conceptual hierarchy of spaces, from small to large, that reflect actual levels of organization in the real world. A characteristic scale in human geography, from small to large is the increase in size from the neighborhood, to the urban area, to the metropolitan area, and finally, to the region. Geographers seek to understand how processes occurring at one scale may affect activities at other scales. Geographers understand that patterns or analysis presented at large scales may not reflect apparent spatial differences at smaller spatial scales. 24. The Region as a Concept One of the fundamental units of analysis in human geography. Regionalizing allows geographers to group pieces of the Earth’s surface area together according to certain similarities. Regions do not exist as well-defined unites in the landscape; instead they are conceptual constructions that geographers use for convenience and comparison. 25. Regional Geography Regional geography, or Pattison’s areaanalysis tradition, is the study of regions. Regions vary in size; a region may be an entire continent, for example, North America, or a smaller area, such as southern Florida. Regional geographers, no matter the size of the region under study, investigate the unique characteristics, patterns, and processes existent within that place. 26. Qualitative vs. Quantitative Data Human Geographers work with various types of data that come in two main forms: qualitative and quantitative. Qualitative data are often associated within cultural or regional geography because they are more unique to descriptive of particular places and processes. Qualitative data are not suited to statistical analyses and modeling and are often collected through interviews, empirical observations, or the interpretation of texts, artwork, old maps, and other archives. Quantitative data approaches use rigorous mathematical techniques, are particularly important in economic, political, and population geography, as well as physical geography. 27. Idiographic vs. Nomothetic Idiographic refers to facts or features unique to a particular place or region, such as its history or ethnic composition. Nomothetic refers to concepts that are universally applicable. The contrast is similar to the regional/ systematic difference; regional geographers tend to be more idiographic, while systematic geography takes a nomothetic approach by seeking universal laws that can be applied broadly to numerous places on the Earth’s surface. 28. The Geoid The term for the bumpy oblate spheroid that is the Earth’s surface. An oblate spheroid is a sphere that is slightly bigger horizontally than vertically. Approximately 8,000 miles (12,880 kilometers) in diameter and its circumference is about 25,000 miles (40,250 kilometers). 29. Projection Refers to the process by which the threedimensional Earth surface is transferred to a two-dimensional map. Traditionally, maps were made by placing a light source (e.g., a candle or bulb) inside of a translucent globe and then projecting the globe’s features onto another shape (usually a piece of paper) surrounding it. Currently produced through numerous different, complicated, mathematical equations. 30. Map Distortions All flat maps are distorted as a result of projecting a three-dimensional surface onto a two-dimensional surface. The only accurate representation of the Earth’s surface is a globe. Some projections distort certain features in favor of preserving others. Generally, the major features that get distorted or preserved are shape, area, and direction. 31. When Projection Matters Cartographers choose projections according to the purpose of the map. For example, a map of population density by country should use a projection that preserves are (e.g., an equal-area map). Global maps are much more distorted than maps of local places (e.g., state shapes and sizes do not change nearly as much as country shapes and sizes when projected). 32. The Mercator Projection Preserves accurate compass direction but distorts area of landmasses relative to each other. Landmasses become increasingly distorted, or large in size, at high latitude near the North and South Poles. Originally created by projecting the Earth’s features onto a cylinder (a cylindrical projection), which results in lines of latitude becoming parallel rather than intersecting leading to tremendous distortion at the poles. 33. The Peters Projection A cylindrical projection that retains accurate sizes of all the world’s landmasses Reveals how large the landmasses near the equator actually are Often viewed as a political statement-an attempt to focus attention on the world’s poorest countries. 37. Cartographic Scale Also called map scale, refers to the ration between distance on a map and the actual distance on Earth’s surface. Ratio remains constant despite units, for example, a map scale 1:200 means that 1 unit on the map (inches, feet, miles, etc.) On small scale maps, ratio between map units and ground units is small and map represents a larger piece of the Earth’s surface. On large scale maps, ratio between map units and ground units is large, meaning map represents a relatively small piece of the Earth’s surface. 34. The Fuller Projection Maintains the accurate size and shape of landmasses but completely rearranges direction. An example of an attempt to balance projection errors. Does not maintain accurate area, shape, distance, or direction, but minimizes errors in each Provides an aesthetically pleasing balance leading to its frequent use by cartographers at organizations such as the National Geographic Society (which is where the projection was made). 36. Azimuthal Projections Refers to a map’s smallest discernable unit; basically it is the smallest thing visible on a map. If an object has to be 330 feet (100 meters ) long in order to show up on a map, then that map’s resolution is 330 feet (100 meters). Cardinal direction-north, south , east, and west- no longer have any meaning 35. The Robinson Projection 38. Resolution Planar projections, meaning formed when a flat piece of paper is placed on top of the globe and a light source projects the surrounding areas on the map. Either the North Pole or the South Pole is oriented at the center of the map, giving an impression of looking up or down at the Earth. 39. Generalization Averaging over details; in a cartographic context generalization results from scaling changes. Small-scale maps have high generalization, or less detail, but show larger pieces of the Earth’s surface. Large-scale maps have less generalization, or more detail, but show smaller pieces of the Earth’s surface A map of the entire United States (small scale) will not show the small towns and villages that would appear on a map of a local area (large scale) 40. Reference vs. Thematic Maps Generally maps come in two forms: thematic maps and reference maps; form depends on the map’s purpose. Reference maps are used to navigate between places and include topographic maps, atlases, road maps, and other navigational maps. Thematic maps display one or more variables across a specific such as population variables, voting patterns, or economic welfare. Many ways to display thematic data; some common; some common methods include choropleth maps, proportional symbol maps, isoline maps, and cartograms #41 Isoline MapsMaps that use lines to represent quantities of equal value. Most common example is a topographic map, where each line represents a constant elevation. #42 Topographic Map Showing Elevation ContoursSee graph #43 Proportional Symbols MapSize of the chosen symbol indicates relative magnitude of some value for a given geographic region. #44 Dot Density MapUse points to represent particular values; for example, cropland harvested where each dot represents 1000 bushels of corn. Value comes from the ability to facilitate perception of spatial pattern; in example of corn cropland harvested, an obvious spatial pattern would emerge in the Midwest. The disadvantage is that data that does not meet the threshold does not appear on the map. #45 Choropleth MapsUse colors or tonal shadings to represent categories of data for given geographic areas; countries, states, or counties most commonly use polygons. A map of population density by county in the United States might use five different colors to classify density values. #46 Cartograms- Transform space so that the political unit, such as state or country, with the greatest value for some type of data is represented by the largest relative area and all other polygons are represented proportionally to that largest polygon. Can be powerful for illustrating comparative patterns. For example, a cartogram of electoral votes in the United States would make some of the larger states by area very small, whereas some smaller states would expand showing a more accurate picture of each state’s influence on the political process. #47 VisualizationsExist digitally and use sophisticated software to create dynamic computer maps, some of which are three-dimensional or interactive. Some allow geographers to investigate features that cannot be seen with the naked eye; others use models to show how landscapes change over time. In some. People can walk through, or fly over, landscapes. #48 SimplificationRefers to the level of detail portrayed on a map. If a cartographer designs a map of the entire United states, he or she would probably not include minute details such as locations of towns smaller than fifty thousand people. Completely depends on the purpose of the map and the size of the area the map is portraying. #49 AggregationAggregation refers to the size of the unit under investigation such as cities, counties, states, or countries. Like simplification, Aggregation completely depends on the purpose of the map. Level also depends on the data geographers have access to. #50 AggregationSee map 51. Power of Maps -ability to make something nonspatial (eg. Population rates), spatial, thereby facilitating the perception of spatial relationships -ability to simply display a large amount of imfo, for example, the only way to see the entire Earth’s surface at once -Can highlight only necessary info: for example, maps of subway systems contain only necessary info for effectively navigating the sys; everything extraneous is removed. 52. Deception of Maps -deceive through simplification and generalization by excluding or generalizing important details. -On many maps, certain features are exaggerated for graphical clarity; for example, reference maps display highways as much thicker than they would appear in reality. -Symbolism can mislead: People associate certain colors with certain landscape features (e.g., greens and browns with vegetation); if colors are not used appropriately, people may misread maps. -b/c of projection, no map can give an accurate picture of size, shape, and direction of land features in relation to one another. 53. Cognitive Maps 56. Absolute vs Relative location -Absolute location is the precise location of any object or place on the Earth’s surface as determined by a standard grid or coordinate system. -The most common system used to determine absolute location is latitude and longitude. -Relative location describes a place’s location in terms of its relationship to places around it. -It is more common in everyday language. 57. Latitude and Longitude -coordinates, which are used for locational purposes, are made up of lines of latitude and longitude. -Lines of longitude, or meridians, originate at the prime meridian, which passes through Greenwich, England, and ends at the International Date Line; all lines of longitude meet at the poles. -A dynamic internal representation of a place or environment. -Lines of latitude run parallel to one another and are often called parallels. They originate at one equator and terminate at the poles. -when an individual is asked to draw a cognitive, it becomes a “sketch map.” 58. The Earth’s Graticule -The sketch map is the external representation of the spatial info that exists in a person’s head. -See Graph -Each cognitive map is highly individual, dependent on info an individual deems important, and is limited by amount and type of experience an individual has with a place. 54. Preference Maps -Show people’s ideas about environmental, social, or economic quality of life in various places. -In general, most Americans rate their home state highly, and most show preferences for coastal areas, especially California, and the East Coast. 55. Preference Map of the U.S. -see map 59. Site vs. Situation -Site refers to the physical and cultural features of a place, independent to other places around it. -Situation describes a place’s relationship to other places around it. -For example, New Orleans’s site is poor; it is essentially a bowl below sea level, its location on the Mississippi River delta makes its situation in relation to the rest of the US very important. 60. Absolute vs. Relative Distance -Absolute distance is an exact measure of the separation between two points using a standard measure. -Relative distance is when less precise but often meaningful measures are used to describe separation between two points. -Most common relative distance measure is time. -For example, New York is typically described as being five hours from LA (by plane). 61) Feature Distribution Concepts: Density, Dispersion, Pattern - See graph 65) First Law of Geography - Everything is related to everything else, but near things are more closely related than far things. - Describes “the friction of distance,” meaning that the farther away something is , the less likely someone is to interact with it 66) The Gravity Model - Used to help geographers discover and analyze spatial processes - Density is the amount of a particular feature within a given area. It is not the same thing as dense, which implies a cluster. -First descrived in the 1850s, it is based on Isaac Newton’s law of universal gravitation. - lij= PiPj/Dij^2 -Where -Disperse describe features that are spread out from another. - Features that are clumped together are described as being “clustered” or “concentrated” 62) Spatial Association - Describes the distribution of two or more features and how they do or do not correspond to one another - Powerful concept in spatial analysis as it allows geographers to understand why certain spatial patterns exist -For example, themapping of type 2 diabetes and socioeconomic status (SES) reveals a strong spatial association: the states with the highest rates of type 2 diabetes also have lowest SES 63) Distance Decay -Describes the patter of diminishing likelihood of interaction with a lace with increasing distance from that place - Majority of people who shop at a particular grocery store live or work close by. Few people in that store live far from its location. - Different activities have different distance decay curves; that is, people travel short distances for everyday goods like milk and bread, but travel farther to attend special events such as major concerts or professional sporting events 64) Distance Decay Curve - lij= the interaction between places I an j - PI= the population of place i - Pj= the population of place j - Dij^2= the distance between places I and j, squared -An important implication is large cities may still have extensive interactions despite being separated by great distances; for example, New York and Los Angeles 67) Connectivity - A measure of all the means of connection and communication between places - Virtually synonymous with relative distance as some places are highly connected to one another yet separated by significant distances 68) Accessibility -Relative ease with which you can reach a destination - Determined by a place’s connectivity; the more means there are for interacting with a place, the higher its accessibility. 69) Network - The areal pattern of connections between places - Some describe literal connections between places such as the connections between subway stops on a metro map. However, some are less literal; for example, many emerging Internet sites such as “MySpace” or “Facebook” are social networks, describing all the links between a group of “Friends.” - Examples include climate regions, language , religion, or any other theme that does not correspond to administrative boundaries 78) Administrative Regions - Politically determined, thus their boundaries are exact 70) Time- Space Convergence - The idea that with increasing transportation and communications technology, absolute distance between certain places is, in effect, shrinking. -For example, increased transportation technology has shrunk the distance between NYC and London; it used to take days, even weeks, to cross the Atlantic by boat; it now takes only half a day by plane -Increased communications technology allows places to communicate instantaneously with each other, which, in effect, completely negates distance’s effect on interaction (via voice or text communication) 80) Functional Regions - The boundaries are drawn around an interaction region: every functional region has a node that people interact with; the spatial pattern of that interaction defines the region - For example, commuters to a particular city, newspaper circulation, or branch operations with a major bank - Each node services the surrounding area, and the spatial pattern of that area is described as a functional region -All have vague boundaries 79) Formal Regions - Sometimes called thematic regions because they are defined by one or more variable or theme - Membership strength varies throughout the region; some places represent the theme defining the region more strongly than others - Because of varying membership strength, boundaries are imprecise or vague. A clear line does not separate one area from another; rather, change between regions tends to be gradual. - Are hierarchial or nested; for example, in the US, states exist within the country, counties exist within states, and census tracts exist within counties - Have uniform membership: Everyone within an administrative region is equally a member of that region, or everyone in St. Louis County is equally a resident of St. Louis County. 77) Regions - Generally defined as pieces of Earth’s surface area - Geographers compartmentalize space for different purposes leading to four region types: administrative regions; formal (or thematic) regions; functional regions; and cognitive (or perceptual or vernacular) regions. 76) Time- Distance Decay -The idea that the longer it takes for something to spread or move over space, the less likelihood of interaction withor spread of that phenomena - Essentally description of time as a barrier to spatial diffusion #81 – Cognitive/ Perceptual/ Vernacular Regions – Describe how people informally organize places in their mind. – Even though formed by individuals, usually are shared between people because of culturally shared beliefs. For example, in the United States, most people would draw similar boundaries around the “Deep South.” – Boundaries are imprecise, vague, or variable. #82 - Zelinsky’s Work om Perceptual Regions – In the 1970s, Wilbur Zelinsky divided the United States into what he called vernacular regions based on perceived unique cultural characteristics associated with particular areas. – Following his initial delineation of the common perceptual regions of the United States, Zelinsky defined several methods for testing the robustness of his ideas, including using overtones present in titles of enterprises, from phone books, to assign them to unique areas of the United States. #83 – Perceptual Regions of the United States – See Map.