Chapter 1
“Basic Concepts”
A general introduction to Human Geography
Why Geography Matters!
Let’s look at some interesting quotes:
• Geography matters because specific
places provide the settings for people’s
daily lives. It is in these settings that
important events happen, and it is from
them that significant changes spread and
diffuse.
• Places and regions are highly
interdependent, each filling specialized
roles in complex and ever-changing
networks of interaction and change.
• Some of the most important aspects of the
interdependence between geographical scales
are provided by the relationships between the
global and the local.
• Human geography provides ways of
understanding places, regions, and spatial
relationships as the products of a series of
interrelated forces that stem from nature,
culture, and individual human action.
• The first law of geography is that "everything is
related to everything else, but near things are
more related than distant things."
• Friction of Distance - Distance Decay
• Distance is one aspect of this law, but
connectivity is also important, because contact
and interaction are dependent on channels of
communication and transportation.
Why Geography and Places Matter!
Geographic knowledge is important
because the world is increasingly
characterized by:
• instant global communications – news
travels fast
• unfamiliar international relationships –
dealing with cultures that we do not fully
understand
• unexpected local changes – events that
occur day to day
• growing evidence of environmental
degradation – climate change, pollution etc.
Will globalization
render geography obsolete?
Far from it. In fact:
…
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
Site and Situation: Singapore
Site – actual location of a place
Situation – the location of a place in relation to its
surrounding area. How the site interacts with the
surrounding area. What is Toronto’s site and situation?
3. REGION: …Transition Zone
4. MOVEMENTS: …Communication and
Transportation
5. HUMAN-ENVIRONMENTAL INTERACTION: …
Possibilism and Determinism
Cultural Ecology – The geographic study of humanenvironment relationships
Environmental Determinism – “The environment
determines how humans adapt. Climate and Terrain are
the dominant forces in determining Cultural directions.” Carl
Ritter
Possibilism – Humans have choices in the way they
interact and respond to their physical settings. The
environment provides its human occupants with a range of
opportunities for action and with a set of choices to make
in responding to their immediate physical setting. “There
are no necessities, but everywhere possibilities; and man,
as master of the possibilities, is the judge of their use.”
Febvre
A word about - Distance
• Absolute distance
– …
• Relative distance
– …
• Social distance
-…
• Cognitive distance
-…
Why is it that sometimes it seems to take longer getting there than
coming back!
When you have something to do in the car - the time passes
quicker!
These five themes depend on the main
Geographer’s tool – THE MAP!
A MAP is said to take the observer from reality
to artificial. A map is a two dimensional
representation of the surface of the earth.
How can we show the third dimension of height?
No map can perfectly represent reality.
(especially Altitude and Projection) Explain this!
Maps can alter your perception of what you see.
(You can lie with maps) Expand on this!
When creating a map, the cartographer must select
the objects to be shown, evaluate their relative
importance, and find some way to simplify their
form. In attempting to generalize the data, the
cartographer is limited by the purpose of the map,
its scale, the methods to produce it, and the
accuracy of the data.
• Map Projections - …
• Simplification - …
• Scale - …
• Aggregation - …
• Classification - …
• Symbolization - …
• Induction - …
•Types of Maps - …
Large
Scale
Small
Scale
U.S.A. Elections 2000/2008: Aggregation!
Presidential elections by county and by state. What do you see?
Types of Maps – There are many types of Maps to
choose from:
•
Reference Maps
•
Choropleth Maps (Thematic)
•
Isoline Maps
• Proportional Symbol Maps
• Dot Maps
• Statistical Maps
• Mental Maps
• Cartograms or Isodemographic Maps – …
Below is a CRQ question that appeared on an AP exam based on a
Cartogram:
Shown above is a special type of graphic used by geographers.
1. Identify the type of graphic by name.
2. What qualities does it have that qualify it as a graph?
3. What qualities would qualify it as a map?
Now comes an important point. The Geographer
must now analyze the map. The geographer looks
at the map for Distributions, Densities,
Concentrations, Inter-relations and Patterns!
Density, Concentration, and Pattern
- the above are types of distributions
Density – the frequency that something occurs in
space
a. Arithmetic Density b. Physiological Density
c. Agricultural Density
All – 82 Acres
24 houses
Concentration – The extent of a feature’s spread
over space – clustered or dispersed
Pattern – the geometric arrangement of objects in
space
Linear, circular, square, grid or radial patterns
32 houses
32 houses
The top plan for a residential area has a lower
density than the middle plan. Both are
dispersed concentrations. The middle and
lower plans have the same density but the
houses are more clustered in the lower plan.
The lower plan preserves more woods and
fields, where as the middle plan provides
more private yard space for each house.
Density and Concentration of
Baseball Teams, 1952–2000
The changing distribution of North
American baseball teams illustrates the
differences between density and
concentration. Explain this statement.
If a geographer were to visit a particular place –
they would be looking at the Landscape of that
place.
“The material character of a place, the complex of
natural features, human structures, and other
tangible objects that give a place a particular
form.” de Blij
“The appearance of an area, the assemblage of
objects (both Natural and Built) used to produce
that appearance” Johnston
“an area made up of a distinct association of
forms, both physical and cultural” Sauer
Cultural Landscape – the visible imprint of
human activity on the landscape. Any cultural
landscape has layers of imprints from years of
human activity. As successive occupiers arrive,
they bring their own technological and cultural
traditions and transform the landscape.
“Culture is the agent, the natural area is the
medium, the cultural landscape is the result’
- Carl Sauer
Culture – the body of customary beliefs, material
traits, and social forms that together constitute
the distinct tradition of a group of people.
Define: Artifact, Mentifact and Sociofact.
Recently Geographers have also had to deal
with two new ‘buzz’ words when looking at a
place and its inter-relations.
1. Globalization – cultural and economic
interaction amongst the world.
2. Local Diversity – cultural traditions and
economic practices within a community.
What does this
say about
Culture?
What does this
say about
Globalization and
Localization?
Modern technology has helped the cartographer
in the way data is collected, displayed and
analyzed.
• G.I.S. Geographic Information Systems
• Remote Sensing
• G.P.S. Global Positioning System
Geographic Information Systems - G.I.S.
ArcMap is an example
A computer program that combines Spatial coordinates (eg. latitude and longitude) data with
attribute (values for the above locational points.
Prior to GIS, a table of numbers could be
analyzed statistically and the results created
another table. GIS allowed the tables to be seen
spatially. Suddenly regions and patterns could be
seen.
Another important aspect of GIS is its ability to
create a map using separate layers. One layer
could be rivers, another roads and yet another
could be human settlement. This layering gives
the cartographer a lot of analytical power.
What is Raster?
What is Vector?
Remote Sensing is the gathering of data above the
Earth’s surface from a satellite. Remote Sensing
allows the cartographer to gather information about
a place without actually going there.
False Colour Images
Global Positioning Systems - GPS
A GPS is a simple hand held receiver that can
(with the use of orbiting satellites) determine
your exact location and height on the earth.
GPS and GIS go hand in hand.
Other Notes
Formal and Functional Regions
The state of Iowa is an example of a formal
region; the areas of influence of various
television stations are examples of functional
regions. Define Formal and Functional Regions.
Vernacular Regions
A number of factors are often used to define the South as
a vernacular region, each of which identifies somewhat
different boundaries. Define Vernacular region.
Environmental Modification in the Netherlands
This modification was very successful!
Polders and dikes have been used for extensive environmental
modification in the Netherlands. What is a Polder?
Environmental Modification in Florida
This
modification
was not
successful!
Straightening the Kissimmee River has had many
unintended side effects. What could they be?
Space-Time Compression, 1492–1962
The times required to cross the Atlantic, or orbit the
Earth, illustrate how transport improvements have
shrunk the world. What is Space-Time Compression?
One of the most important words in AP Human
Geography is Spatial Diffusion. Diffusion is the
process by which a characteristic spreads across
space from one place to another over time.
Define the following:
1. Relocation Diffusion
2. Expansion Diffusion: Hierarchical Diffusion
Contagious Diffusion
Stimulus Diffusion
Which one is
Contagious?
Relocation?
Hierarchical?
Diffusion of Aids - What type of
Diffusion?
Node
Hearth
Airline Route Networks
Delta Airlines, like many others, has
configured its route network in a “hub
and spoke” system. This is Nodal!
Spatial Diffusion: Think of the H1N1 virus or even
a gaming system like the PS3 or the Xbox.
How about the
virus making a
comeback!
Economies of Scale
The more you buy
or the more you
make the cheaper it
is!
Vocabulary List for Chapter 1
“The following list is an extensive list from the College Board - our goal is
to cover as many as possible!”
Unit I. Geography: Its Nature and Perspectives - Basic Vocabulary and
Concepts
Basic Concepts
•Changing attributes of place (built landscape, sequent occupance)
•Cultural attributes (cultural landscape)
•Density (arithmetic, physiological)
•Diffusion (hearth, relocation, expansion, hierarchical, contagious, stimulus)
•Direction (absolute, relative)
•Dispersion/concentration (dispersed/scattered, clustered/agglomerated)
•Distance (absolute, relative)
•Distribution
•Environmental determinism
•Location (absolute, relative, site, situation, place name)
•Pattern (linear, centralized, random)
•Physical attributes (natural landscape)
•Possibilism
•Region (formal/uniform, functional/nodal, perceptual/vernacular)
•Scale (implied degree of generalization)
•Size
•Spatial (of or pertaining to space on or near Earth’s surface)
•Spatial interaction (accessibility, connectivity, network, distance decay, friction of
distance, time-space compression)
Geographic Tools
•Distortion
•Geographic Information System (GIS)
•Global Positioning System (GPS)
•Grid (North and South Poles, latitude, parallel, equator, longitude, meridian,
prime meridian, international date line)
•Map (Maps are the tool most uniquely identified with geography; the ability to
use and interpret maps is an essential geographic skill.)
•Map scale (distance on a map relative to distance on Earth)
•Map types (thematic, statistical, cartogram, dot, choropleth, isoline)
•Mental map
•Model (a simplified abstraction of reality, structured to clarify causal
relationships): Geographers use models (e.g., Demographic Transition,
Epidemiological Transition, Gravity, Von Thünen, Weber, Stages of Growth
[Rostow], Concentric Circle [Burgess], Sector [Hoyt], Multiple Nuclei, Central
Place [Christaller], and so on) to explain patterns, make informed decisions, and
predict future behaviors.
•Projection
•Remote sensing
•Time zone
The End!