UNIT 1 Key Process 1
What is Geography?
Geography is the study of what is where and why it’s there.
Mike Reed
Five “Key Themes” of Geography
• 1. Location – specific location, where?
• 2. Place – unique properties of a place
• 3. Movement – diffusion, communications
• 4. Region – an area’s uniform characteristics
• 5. Human-Earth Relationships –
human interaction with an environment
Okay, but what exactly is it?
Well, it’s a way of thinking about intellectual problems, both natural and
societal, which emphasizes the importance of spatial relationships between
culture and the environment. Take any social or environmental question or
problem and ask yourself whether there is a spatial aspect to its answer.
Chances are that space and place play a role in the explanation of that
issue.
Mike Reed, Making It Up As I Go
For example:
Why are so many plant and animal species becoming extinct at the end of
the twentieth century?
Why do there always seem to be been so many wars in Africa?
How did human beings come to be in North America if they evolved in
Africa? Why are the largest animals still alive in Africa but not in Europe or
North America, even though people came later to those regions?
Why is corn such an important part of a traditional Mexican diet?
Why are some beers known as India Pale Ales?
Divisions of Geography
• Physical Geography
•
Rocks and Minerals
•
Landforms
•
Soils
• Animals
•
Plants
•
Water
• Atmosphere
•
Rivers and Other Water Bodies
•
Environment
•
Climate and Weather
Human Geography
Population
Settlements
Economic Activities
Transportation
Recreational Activities
Religion
Political Systems
Social Traditions
Human Migration
Agricultural Systems
• Geography is a bridge between the natural and social sciences. Geography is a
holistic or synthesizing science.
The Geography of Breakfast
•Take a minute to write down all of the
food and drink you ate before coming to
class today.
Breakfast Foods
Food
Place of Origin
Current Production
coffee
Ethiopia
Tropics
oranges
South Asia, India
US, Mediterranean
pork
China, South Asia
Worldwide
wheat
Near East
US, Russia, Argentina
tea
China
Asia
oats
Near East
Temperate Climates
pepper
South America
S. America, Worldwide
COFFEE
Top Ten Coffee Growing Countries (Yellow)
First domesticated in Ethiopia, coffee has come to be a major export crop for colonial countries
and continues to provide much of the export income in these less developed countries. In
Uganda, 70-80% of export revenue is generated by coffee. Many issues are raised by the
continuation of such colonial economics.
Unit 1: Basic Concepts
Learning Outcome 1.1.1:
Explain differences between early maps and contemporary maps
Geography: study of where things are found on Earth’s surface and the reasons
for the locations.
Geographers ask 2 questions:
1. Where are people and activities found on Earth?
2. Why are they found there?
MAPS
Map: two-dimensional or flat-scale model of Earth’s surface, or a portion of it
Cartography: mapmaking
Maps serve 2 purposes:
a. As a reference tool
b. As a communication tool
ex. directions, location
ex. distribution of human activity (farming)
What all maps should have: TODALSIGS
Two Types of Maps:
Reference Maps
- Show locations of
places and geographic
features
- Absolute locations
Thematic Maps
- Tell a story about the
degree of an attribute,
the pattern of its
distribution, or its
movement.
- Relative locations
What are reference maps
used for?
What are thematic maps
used for?
Reference
Map
Thematic
Map
What story
about median
income in the
Washington, DC
area is this map
telling?
Geographers of the Past
Eratosthenes: 1st person to use word geography,
prepared one of the earliest known maps
Ptolemy: produced very accurate maps based on
information collected by merchants and soldiers who
traveled throughout the Roman Empire
- after Ptolemy maps made in Europe made little
progress and showed Earth as a flat disk
Pei Xiu: created an elaborate map of China in 267 A.D.
Muhammad al-Idrisi: Muslim cartographer who built
upon Ptolemy’s work creating a world map in 1154
PTOLEMY MAP
Changes in Cartography
 Age of Exploration created a need for more accurate maps
-information was collected by explorers
Martin Waldsemuller (1470-1520): produced the 1st map with
“America” on it
Abraham Ortelius (1527-1598): created 1st modern atlas
By 17th century most maps accurately displayed outline of most
continents and oceans
Bernhardus Varenius (1622-1650): produced Geographia
Generalis, which stood for more than a century as the
standard treatise on systematic geography
Map Scale
Learning Outcome 1.1.2:
Describe the role of map scale and projections in making
maps
Map scale: relationship of a feature’s size on a map to its
actual size on Earth
determines level of detail and the amount of area
covered on a map
Ratio or Fraction: shows the numerical ratio between
distance on the map & the Earth’s surface
Ex. 1:10,000 means 1 unit of measure on the map
=10,000 units of measure on the Earth’s surface
Map Scale cont…
Written scale: describes relationship between map
and Earth distances in words
Ex. I in. = 1 mile
Graphic scale: usually consists of a bar line marked
to show distance on Earth’s surface
Ex.
0
50 100 150 200
 Scale of a small portion of Earth’s surface provides
much detail, while a scale of the entire globe will be
more general in detail
Scale
Differences
Maps of
Washington
State
Fig. 1-3: The effects of scale in maps of Washington State. (Scales from 1:10 million to
1:10,000)
Projection
http://www.youtube.com/watch?playnext=1&index=0
&feature=PlayList&v=n8zBC2dvERM&list=PL9DF42BD3
AD0FB8ED
 Earth’s spherical shape creates problems for cartographers b/c
drawing Earth on a flat surface causes distortion
Projection: scientific method of transferring locations on Earth’s surface
to a flat map
4 main types of distortion can occur:
1. Shape – more elongated or squat than in reality
2. Distance – may be increased or decreased
3. Relative Size – one area may appear larger than another on a
map but is in reality smaller
4. Direction – from one place to another can be distorted
Equal Area Projections: primary benefit of using this type of projection is that
the relative sizes of the land masses on the map are the same as in reality
-areas near the poles become more distorted, but are sparsely
inhabited, so distortion is of little importance
-splits the Eastern & Western Hemispheres into two pieces, known as
interruption
-meridians do not converge at the poles or form right angles wit the
parallels
Robinson Projection:
-useful for displaying information across oceans
-disadvantage is the landmasses are much smaller
Mercator Projection:
-shape is distorted very little, direction is consistent, & map is
rectangular
-disadvantage is that relative size is grossly distorted toward the poles,
making high-latitude places look much larger than they actually are
Latitude and Longitude
Learning Outcome 1.1.3:
Explain how latitude & longitude are used to locate points on Earth’s surface
-Latitude lines run parallel to the
equator
-Equator is 0 degrees latitude, splits
earth into north and south
•Equator is the parallel w/ largest
circumference & has 12 hrs. of
daylight every day
-Longitude lines run parallel to the
prime meridian
-Prime Meridian is 0 degrees
longitude, splits earth into east and
west; located in Greenwich, England
lines of latitude and longitude help to pinpoint
any place on earth, called absolute location
ex. 57 degrees north, 93 degrees east
Latitude then longitude
• Equator divides northern & southern hemispheres
• Prime meridian divides eastern & western hemispheres
Telling Time
Longitude lines determine measure of time
 360 divided by 15 = 24, therefore every 15 degrees
represents 1 time zone
 Greenwich Mean Time (GMT), or Universal Time (UT) is the
master reference for all pts. on Earth, since it is 0 longitude
 Each 15 band of longitude is assigned a time zone
 International Date Line mostly follows 180 longitude, you
move the clock back 24 hrs., or one entire day if you are
heading eastward toward America
(Hint: move West gain time, move East loose time)
World Time Zones
Fig. 1-9: The world’s 24 standard time zones each represent about 15° of longitude. They
are often depicted using the Mercator projection.
Tools of Geographers
Learning Outcome 1.1.4:
Identify contemporary analytic tools, including remote sensing, GPS, &
GIS
Geographic information science (GIScience): involves the development
and analysis of data bout Earth acquired through satellite and other
electronic information technologies
-made possible by satellites
-allows us to know the precise location of something on Earth
and data about that place
Remote sensing: the acquisition of data about Earth’s surface from a
satellite orbiting Earth or from other long-distance methods
-geographers use it to map changing distributions such as
agriculture, drought, urban sprawl
Tools cont…
Global Positioning System (GPS): determines precise location of
something on Earth
U.S. GPS systems include 3 elements:
1. satellites placed in predetermined orbits by U.S. military
2. tracking stations to monitor and control the satellites
3. receiver that can locate at least 4 satellites, figure out the distance
to each, and use the info to pinpoint its own location
Uses for GPS:
a. navigation
ex. -Pilots use it to stay on course
-People use it in cars for directional purposes
-Geographers use the info from GPS systems to layer & create
geographic information systems
Tools cont…
Geographic Information System (GIS): computer system that captures,
stores, queries, analyzes and displays geographic data
-used to produce more accurate and attractive maps
-maps can be created by asking the computer to retrieve a
number of stored objects & combine them to form an
image
-each type of information can be stored in layers to
show relationships among different kinds of information
-enables geographers to calculate whether relationships
between objects on a map are significant
GIS involves 2 types of data:
a. Vector: consists of points and lines (cities, highways, etc.)
b. Raster: consists of areas (landforms)
Mixing Data
Mashup: refers to the practice of overlaying data from
one source on top of one of the mapping services
-can show locations of businesses and activities
near a particular street or within a
neighborhood in a city
-can show precise locations of gas stations with
the lowest prices or traffic accidents on major
highways for example
Layers
of a
GIS
Fig. 1-5: A geographic information system (GIS) stores information about a location
in several layers. Each layer represents a different category of
information.