Nature of Geography
 Geographers ask two basic questions:
1. Where?
2. Why there?
 Geography is a Greek word first used by a scholar
by the name of Eratosthenes.
 Geo – Earth
 Graphy – To Write
 When answering the question ‘Where’ –
 5 Geographical themes have to be considered:
1. LOCATION: …Site
2. PLACE: …Situation
3. REGION: …Transition Zone
4. MOVEMENTS: …Communication and Transportation
5. HUMAN-ENVIRONMENTAL INTERACTION: …
Possibilism and Determinism
Location
 Absolute location- defines a point or place on the
map using coordinates
 Relative location- refers to the location of a place
compared to a known place or a geographic feature
Place
 Think of place as an area of bounded space of some
human importance
 When human importance is recognized, it is
common to assign a toponym (a place name)
 The attributes of place change over time
 Sequent occupancy- the succession of groups and
cultural influences throughout a place’s history
 in many places you will find several layers that
contribute to a place-specific culture
Movement
Region
Formal Region
 Sometimes called a uniform region
 A region that has striking similarities in terms of one
or a few physical or cultural features
 Ex. Linguistic region- everyone speaks the same
language
 Regional boundaries can be very simple or very
complex
 Ex. Political boundaries are finite and well defined,
cultural boundaries are fuzzy
Functional Regions
 Also called nodal regions
 Areas that have a central place or a node that is a focus
or point of origin that expresses some practical purpose
 Ex. Market areas
 The influence of this point is strongest in the areas close
to the center, and the strength diminishes as distance
increases from that point
(distance decay)
Tobler’s Law- states that all places are
interrelated, but closer places are more related
than further ones
One more thing about that…
 When the length of distance becomes a factor that
inhibits the interaction of two places, its known as
friction of distance
Perceptual Region
 Also called Vernacular region
 its based upon the perception or collective mental map of
the region’s residents
 Ex. Dixie (America’s south)
 What is America’s south?
-some define it as states of the Civil war, some as the
number of country music bands, some as NASCAR races
*No matter what is used to spatially define the regional
concept, the reason tends to be a point of pride for
residents ***Be careful with your vernacular definitions
(there’s country music and NASCAR everywhere)
Human- Environment Interaction
Scale
 Scale – the relationship of an object or place to the
earth as a whole
 Scale can be thought of in 2 ways
 1) map scale- describes the ratio of distance on a
map and distance in the real world in absolute terms
 2) relative scale- also known as scale of
analysis; this describes the level of aggregation,
which is the level at which you group things together
for examination
Map Scale
Large Scale
Small Scale
Regional Scale
 Local
City
County
State
Regional
National
Continental
International