Download the geographical perspective

THE GEOGRAPHICAL PERSPECTIVE
I.
Thinking Geographically
a. Geographers, like other social scientists, contribute
a unique perspective or way of thinking about
phenomena.
b. This involves developing a spatial perspective,
appreciation of scale, and the ability to analyze and
interpret varied forms of geographic data.
i. Scale
1. Conceptual organization of spaces from
small to large
2. For example: neighborhood – urban area
– metropolitan area – region.
3. How do processes at one scale affect
activities at another?
ii. The Spatial Perspective
1. Intellectual framework allowing
geographers to view the Earth in terms of
relationships between various places.
2. Geographers ask why or how phenomena
occur in certain places
3. Spatial association
a. Describes the distribution of two or
more features and how they
correspond to one another.
b. Allows a geographer to understand
why certain spatial patterns exist.
c. For example: correlations between
socio-economic status and literacy or
disease or crime.
4. Major questions:
a. How do two places interact
economically, socially and
culturally?
II.
b. Why do some places have more in
common than others?
c. How are social phenomena conveyed
over time and space?
Five Themes of Geography in Practice
a. Location
i. Relative location: describes where something is
in relation to something else.
ii. Absolute location: exact coordinates
1. Latitude (parallel) lines circle the Earth
from the equator to the poles
2. Longitude (meridian) lines circle the
Earth from the prime meridian with all
lines intersecting at the poles.
3. The Earth’s graticlue
a. Graticules turn graphics into maps
b. Three fundamental analytical
operations
i. Directional orientation
ii. Scale
iii. Time
c. Characteristics
i. Parallels are parallel
ii. Parallels are spaced equally on
meridians
iii. Meridians and other great
circle arcs are straight lines if
looked at perpendicularly to
the Earth’s surface.
iv. Meridians converge toward the
poles and diverge toward the
equator.
v. Meridians are equally spaced
on the parallels, but their
vi.
vii.
viii.
ix.
x.
distance apart decreases from
the equator to the poles.
Meridians at the equator are
spaced the same as parallels
Meridians at 60° (N or S) are
half as far apart as parallels.
Parallels and meridians cross
each other at right angles
The area of the surface
bounded by any two parallels
and two meridians (a given
distance apart) is the same
anywhere between the same
two parallels.
The scale factor at each point is
the same in any direction.
b. Place
i. Sense of place
1. Characteristics of points of geographic
space
2. Unique physical characteristics
3. Perceived characteristics by humans
ii. Site vs. situation
1. Site = the physical and cultural features
of a place
2. Situation = place’s relationship to other
places
iii. Feature distribution concepts
1. Density = amount of a particular feature
within a given area
2. Dispersion = features sread out from one
another
3. Pattern
iv. Absolute v. relative distance
1. Absolute = exact measure between two
points
2. Relative = less precise but still meaningful
such as measuring distance with time.
v. First Law of Geography: everything is related
to everything else; but near things are more
closely related than far things due to the
friction of distance.
c. Region
i. Definition – pieces of Earth’s surface area that
compartmentalize spaces with common
characteristics for different purposes.
ii. Conceptual, NOT necessarily physical,
constructions geopraphers use for convenience
and comparison.
iii. Types
1. Formal / thematic
a. Defined by one or more common
variables
b. Membership strength varies
throughout the region
c. Boundaries are vague
d. Change between regions is gradual
e. Examples: climate, language,
religion
2. Functional / practical
a. Network of regions each with a node
of interaction
b. For example, public transit or
branch offices of a business.
c. Boundaries are also vague
3. Administrative / political
a. Hierarchical (U.S. federalism)
b. Uniform membership
c. Exact boundaries
4. Cognitive / perceptual / vernacular
a. How people informally organize
places in their mind
b. Usually based on shared culture
c. Boundaries are vague
d. Wilbur Zelinsky
i. Divided U.S. into vernacular
regions in the 1970’s
ii. Developed means to test his
ideas about cultural
boundaries
e. Perceptual regions of the United
States
i. Northwest
ii. West Coast
iii. Inter-mountain West
iv. Southwest
v. Great Plains
vi. Midwest
vii. New England
viii. Mid-Atlantic
ix. South
x. South Florida
d. Movement
i. Connectivity (relative distance) – the measure
of all the means of connction between places
ii. Accessibility – the relative ease by which you
can reach a destination
iii. Networks – real patterns of connections
between places both literal and via mass
communication.
iv. Time-space convergence
1. The idea that with increasing
transportation and communications
technology, absolute distance between
certain places is shrinking
2. Increased transportation technology
makes places more accessible.
3. Increased communication technology has
almost negated the effect of distance on
interaction.
v. Spatial diffusion
1. The ways in which phenomena, such as
technological innovations, cultural trends
or outbreaks of disease travel over space.
2. Relocation diffusion – physical
movement, usually migration, leads to the
spread of phenomena.
3. Expansion diffusion – interaction leads to
the spread of phenomena.
a. Contagious expansion diffusion –
results from direct contact with an
individual (AIDS)
b. Hierarchical expansion diffusion –
phenomena spreads to major nodes
then down a hierarchy (fashion
trends)
c. Stimulus expansion diffusion – a
pattern is diffused but not in
original form (written language)
d. Barriers to diffusion
i. Physical (mountains, oceans,
etc)
ii. Sociocultural (cultural beliefs,
fear, rules)
iii. Psychological (fear, ignorance)
iv. Time-distance decay: the
longer it takes the less likely it
is to spread.
vi. Gravity Model
1. Based on Newton’s law of universal
gravitation
2. Lij = PiPj/DijDij (the interaction between
places I and j equals the population of
place i. times the population of place j,
divided by the distance between places i
and j squared.
3. This implies that large cities may be far
apart and still have extensive interactions.
e. Human Interaction with the Environment
i. Adapt – humans change environment to suit
their needs
ii. Conform – humans change behavior to suit the
environment
iii. Distance decay
1. The further away a place is, the less likely
we are to interact with it.
2. Distance decay curve varies from place to
place. We are less likely to travel 50 miles
to shop at a grocery store; but we are
more likely to travel 50 miles for a
concert with our favorite band.