Iwaszko 2013-2014
9 Human Geography
Unit 01 Intro, Resource #3.3
Name_______________ Per.___
Place Characteristics
Be prepared to define and/or provide synonyms for words/terms in boldface. Answer all written response questions using complete
sentences. You may typically use these assignments along with notes to complete any assessments.
Page 1 of 3
Other characteristics of Forest Lake, MN.
1- Access Google maps. Note how to switch between a map view, a satellite view, and perhaps an Earth view. Google maps
are a form of GIS (geographic information system) because it has the ability to layer information onto or off of a map.
2- Locate parts of Forest Lake shoreline (the lake itself) that obviously seem to have been modified by people.
3- Explain in a sentence why people might be motivated to dig/dredge channels and inlets in the lake.
4- Explain in a sentence at least one reason it is no longer allowed to modify the lakeshore without government permission.
5- An example of a failed site facility location in Forest Lake was the skate park. It was removed due to some misuse by a few
individuals. Use Google maps to locate the old skate park site. It was just South of Ruddy’s rentals and on the North side of
the City inspection building. All that remains is a nearly square patch of blacktop. The skate park was located in an isolated
place. Geographical questions to consider include:
-Was the location picked because it was otherwise unused?
-Was misuse invited by the park’s isolated location?
-Was the isolated location picked on purpose to keep possible misuse from spilling over into more public parks used by different
populations?
An upcoming writing snapshot (Resource 01-3.4) will have you proposing and explaining an appropriate location for either a
skate park or another type of shared public space activity within Forest Lake.
6- Many large stores in Forest Lake choose to clump together in similar locations rather than isolate themselves. An example is
Target and Walmart. Explain a reason why they might choose to do so.
7- Explain where and why you think a new Fleet Farm store would be most likely to be located within Forest Lake if one were
to be built here. Fleet Farms tend to not cluster and they share some aspects with Menards, Home Depot, Walmart, and
target.
8- Using Google Maps, find a facility either public or private that you think chose a wise location. Explain using sentences the
facility you chose and why you think their location is a wise choice.
Benchmark(s) addressed or prepped
for:
Essential Question or I can statement
prepped for:
(The daily objective may just be a piece
of this or a preparatory concept)
9.3.1.2.1 (#3)- Use geospatial technologies to make and justify decisions about the best location for facilities.
For example: Technologies—Geographic Information Systems (GIS), online atlases and databases, Google Earth or similar programs. Decision about location of facilities—
determine the best location for an international airport in a given region.
9.3.1.2.2 (#4)- Use geospatial technologies to develop plans for analyzing and solving local and regional problems that have spatial dimensions.
For example: Geospatial technology—Geographic Information Systems (GIS), online atlases and databases, Google Earth or similar programs. Regional problems that have
spatial dimensions might relate to urban development, environmental concerns, transportation issues, flood control.
9.3.2.3.1 (#5)- Make inferences and draw conclusions about the physical and human characteristics of places based on a comparison of maps and other geographic
representations and geospatial technologies. For example: Physical characteristics—landforms (Rocky Mountains), ecosystems (forest), bodies of water (Mississippi River,
Hudson Bay), vegetation, weather and climate. Human characteristics—bridges (Golden Gate Bridge), Erie Canal, cities, political boundaries, population distribution, settlement
patterns, language, ethnicity, nationality, religious beliefs.
9.3.1.2.1 (1) I can make a decision about locations for future facilities by using geospatial technologies.
9.3.1.2.2 (1) I can plan and solve spatial dimension problems using geospatial technologies.
9.3.2.3.1 (1) I can identify and locate various physical characteristics of planet Earth by using a variety of geographic representations.
(2) I can identify and locate various human characteristics by using a variety of geographic representations.
(3) I can examine and analyze the relationships between humans and physical characteristics and their influence on one another.
Iwaszko 2013-2014
9 Human Geography
Unit 01 Intro, Resource #3.3
Name_______________ Per.___
Place Characteristics
Be prepared to define and/or provide synonyms for words/terms in boldface. Answer all written response questions using complete
sentences. You may typically use these assignments along with notes to complete any assessments.
Page 2 of 3
Infrastructure typically refers to the manmade items that support human activity in a place. Examples include roads, bridges, water
supply, sewers, electrical grids and telecommunication facilities and equipment. They take time to plan, build, maintain, and replace.
People try to put them where they are or are predicted to be needed and people tend to build where infrastructure is already in
place. Replacement infrastructure tends to go right beside or on top of old infrastructure.
Forest Lake started where it is because of the lake. The railroad came through as a stop on the way between the Twin Cities and
Duluth. The village grew into a town right by the train stop. Other surrounding villages stayed the same size as Forest Lake grew.
The downtown area helped determine where Highway 61 went through. Building the interstate freeway west of downtown helped
shape the later development of Broadway. Look at Google maps and picture how it might look if the railroad had gone past on the
East side of the lake instead.
9- Look at the landscape East of Forest Lake and explain a reason for the railroad route not being run there. Note that it could
have been built there is someone had their heart set on it, but that it would have cost more money to do so.
http://projects.wchsmn.org/communities/forest-lake/
Go to the link above to read about the history and development of Forest Lake in order to get a feel of how geographic features and
earlier decisions nudge along current and upcoming development decisions in a place.
(This is really interesting stuff with many connecting links!)
10- Look again at where the tracks were and how the downtown area grew to write a sentence guessing where you think the
first train station was built in Forest Lake.
Past geographical decisions may or may not have been wise choices. Their tendency of past decisions to continue to influence
current and future decisions is the result of historical momentum or historical inertia to resist a change in direction or to resist
change to start rather than proof that past decisions were correct. Also, any new decisions changing past geographical decisions do
not prove that past decisions were wrong.
Benchmark(s) addressed or prepped
for:
Essential Question or I can statement
prepped for:
(The daily objective may just be a piece
of this or a preparatory concept)
9.3.1.2.1 (#3)- Use geospatial technologies to make and justify decisions about the best location for facilities.
For example: Technologies—Geographic Information Systems (GIS), online atlases and databases, Google Earth or similar programs. Decision about location of facilities—
determine the best location for an international airport in a given region.
9.3.1.2.2 (#4)- Use geospatial technologies to develop plans for analyzing and solving local and regional problems that have spatial dimensions.
For example: Geospatial technology—Geographic Information Systems (GIS), online atlases and databases, Google Earth or similar programs. Regional problems that have
spatial dimensions might relate to urban development, environmental concerns, transportation issues, flood control.
9.3.2.3.1 (#5)- Make inferences and draw conclusions about the physical and human characteristics of places based on a comparison of maps and other geographic
representations and geospatial technologies. For example: Physical characteristics—landforms (Rocky Mountains), ecosystems (forest), bodies of water (Mississippi River,
Hudson Bay), vegetation, weather and climate. Human characteristics—bridges (Golden Gate Bridge), Erie Canal, cities, political boundaries, population distribution, settlement
patterns, language, ethnicity, nationality, religious beliefs.
9.3.1.2.1 (1) I can make a decision about locations for future facilities by using geospatial technologies.
9.3.1.2.2 (1) I can plan and solve spatial dimension problems using geospatial technologies.
9.3.2.3.1 (1) I can identify and locate various physical characteristics of planet Earth by using a variety of geographic representations.
(2) I can identify and locate various human characteristics by using a variety of geographic representations.
(3) I can examine and analyze the relationships between humans and physical characteristics and their influence on one another.
Iwaszko 2013-2014
9 Human Geography
Unit 01 Intro, Resource #3.3
Name_______________ Per.___
Place Characteristics
Be prepared to define and/or provide synonyms for words/terms in boldface. Answer all written response questions using complete
sentences. You may typically use these assignments along with notes to complete any assessments.
Page 3 of 3
Environmental Determinism
Some early Geographers overemphasized how a physical environment limited and shaped the people living there. This idea was
called “Environmental Determinism” It was a static model that presumed that people did not and could not change themselves nor
their environment significantly.
It tended to teach people the idea that physical environments did not just shape and nudge human culture but instead, controlled
human cultures (way of life). It de-emphasized the responsibilities of people to acknowledge the need to interact responsibly. It
assumed that cause and effect generally went in one direction only (physical factors of a place forced specific human responses and
“superior environments” produced “superior cultures” and “superior individuals”).
Possibilism
Nowadays, rather than concentrating on how an environment limits human activity. We try to acknowledge how both physical and
human factors adjust and change each other as they interact over time. We also acknowledge that people can choose how they
respond to, interact with, and change their environment.
An example of how these two viewpoints can shape opinion and decisions might be that an Environmental Determinist before the
Civil war might have argued that the landscape down South required plantation farming and that plantation farming demanded
slavery. The use of slavery then was a condition required by the environment rather than a human cultural decision. A possibilist
would view slavery as moreso just one of many possible choices.
11- Given the two viewpoints of “Environmental Determinism” and “Possibilism”, explain which of them is more
likely to result in resistance to having a situation change.
Further explanations of Environmental determinism and possibilism are found in The Contemporary Human Geography
book by Rubenstein (1st edition pages 6, 7 & 25 or 2nd edition pages 26, 27 & 30).
Benchmark(s) addressed or prepped
for:
Essential Question or I can statement
prepped for:
(The daily objective may just be a piece
of this or a preparatory concept)
9.3.1.2.1 (#3)- Use geospatial technologies to make and justify decisions about the best location for facilities.
For example: Technologies—Geographic Information Systems (GIS), online atlases and databases, Google Earth or similar programs. Decision about location of facilities—
determine the best location for an international airport in a given region.
9.3.1.2.2 (#4)- Use geospatial technologies to develop plans for analyzing and solving local and regional problems that have spatial dimensions.
For example: Geospatial technology—Geographic Information Systems (GIS), online atlases and databases, Google Earth or similar programs. Regional problems that have
spatial dimensions might relate to urban development, environmental concerns, transportation issues, flood control.
9.3.2.3.1 (#5)- Make inferences and draw conclusions about the physical and human characteristics of places based on a comparison of maps and other geographic
representations and geospatial technologies. For example: Physical characteristics—landforms (Rocky Mountains), ecosystems (forest), bodies of water (Mississippi River,
Hudson Bay), vegetation, weather and climate. Human characteristics—bridges (Golden Gate Bridge), Erie Canal, cities, political boundaries, population distribution, settlement
patterns, language, ethnicity, nationality, religious beliefs.
9.3.1.2.1 (1) I can make a decision about locations for future facilities by using geospatial technologies.
9.3.1.2.2 (1) I can plan and solve spatial dimension problems using geospatial technologies.
9.3.2.3.1 (1) I can identify and locate various physical characteristics of planet Earth by using a variety of geographic representations.
(2) I can identify and locate various human characteristics by using a variety of geographic representations.
(3) I can examine and analyze the relationships between humans and physical characteristics and their influence on one another.