Ch 1 Key Issue 5
Connections Between Places
Deep Thought
• To what extent does geographic
distance still play a role in our lives?
Has technology eliminated the idea of
“here” and “there” or will some feeling
of distance always exist?
Ways to Describe Distance
• Time
• Length
• Perception
Space Time Compression
• More and more rapid connections have
reduced the distance across space
between places
• Correlates to world geography theme of
movement
Interesting view of Space
Time Compression
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yx7_y
zypm5w&list=PLD48807A9CC745F4F
Airline Route Networks
Fig. 1-21: Continental Airlines, like many others, has configured its route network
in a “hub and spoke” system.
Spatial Interaction
• Pre-history to A.D. 1800, people
traveled by walking, animals, or
sailboat--virtually no change in speed
• Inventions of trains, steamboats and
automobiles diminished time further, but
still required travel to interact
• mid-1990s internet revolutionizes
communication
Evidence of Compression
• 1492-Columbus needed 37 days to
cross the Atlantic
• 1912-Oceanliners can cross the Atlantic
in 5 days
• 1927-Lindbergh flies across the Atlantic
in 33.5 hours
• 1962 John Glenn orbits the Atlantic in
1/4 hour
Space-Time Compression, 1492-1962
Fig. 1-20: The times required to cross the Atlantic, or orbit the earth, illustrate how
transport improvements have shrunk the world.
Distance Decay
• Contact diminishes with increasing
distance and eventually disappears
• Example: Russia
Russia’s Pre-2011 Time
Zones
Russia’s Current Time Zones
Distance decay is also evident
in town/city centers. It can
refer
to:
• -the number of pedestrians getting further
•
•
•
•
from the center of the Central Business
District(CBD),
-the street quality decreasing as distance
from the center increases
-the quality of shops decreasing as distance
from the center also increases
-the height of buildings decreasing as
distance from the center increases
-the price of land decreasing as distance from
the center increases
Diffusion
• Relocation Diffusion-– Spread of an idea through physical
movement of people
– Examples?
– http://www.npr.org/programs/atc/features/2
001/mar/010309.disease.html
Diffusion
• Expansion Diffusion (snowball effect)
– Hierarchical
– Contagious
– Stimulus
Hierarchical Diffusion
• Political leaders, socially elite, urban
areas start a trend, diffuses to others
• Example: Soap Operas in Brazil
• Other examples?
Contagious Diffusion
• Rapid, widespread diffusion
• Examples: internet memes, YouTube
videos
• Other Examples?
Stimulus Diffusion
• Underlying principles spread, despite
components failing
• Example: Touchscreen technology,
nonstick pans
• Other examples?
Video Analysis
• 1. How does Diamond define “domesticable”
animals?
• 2. Explain the term “geographically blessed”
• 3. Is this an example of environmental
determinsim? Why or why not?
• 4. How might a possibilist respond?
• 5. What sort of diffusion is being described?
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0edh
5Itvhy8