Politics of geography 3

Lieo95

chapter1.pptx

Home >Political Science homework help >Politics of geography 3

Objectives and Tools of World Regional Geography

Chapter 1

Objectives

This chapter will enable you to:

Learn about the scope of geography as an academic discipline

Get acquainted with the essential themes, elements, and standards of geography

Learn some key concepts in geography

Appreciate the book’s overall objectives

Objectives (cont’d.)

Learn the basic language of maps

Explore the “geospatial revolution,” geographic information systems (GIS), and remote sensing

See how geographic knowledge is put to work in the job market

What is Where, Why There, and Why Care?

What is “geography”?

Term was first used by the Greek scholar Eratosthenes in the 3rd Century B.C.E.

Literally means “description of the Earth”

Best summed up as “the study of the Earth as the home of humankind”

Branches of the discipline

Physical geography

Human geography

Subfields of Geography

Figure 1.2 Selected subfields of geography. These are the main subject areas in human geography and physical geography and their links with the most closely related disciplines in the social and natural sciences

Six Essential Elements of Geography

The World in Spatial Terms

Places and Regions

Physical Systems

Human Systems

Environment and Society

Uses of Geography

Human-Environment Interaction

Important early geographers

Alexander von Humboldt (German)

Carl Sauer (American)

Founded landscape perspective in American geography

Studied the transformation through time of a natural landscape to a cultural landscape

Human-Environment Interaction (cont’d.)

Landscape

Physical and human features on the Earth’s surface

Culture

Underlies decisions about use of landscape

System of values, beliefs, and attitudes that shapes and influences perception and behavior

The World Regional Approach to Geography

Region – a convenience and a generalization

Types of regions used by geographers

Formal Region (uniform / homogeneous)

Population shares defining trait(s)

Functional Region (nodal)

Spatial unit characterized by a central focus on some activity

Vernacular Region (perceptual)

Exists in the minds of many people

World Regions

Figure 1.3 World regions as identified and used in this book.

Vernacular Region

Figure 1.4 Definitions of a vernacular region, the American South. Purple shading represents three state-based delineations; colored lines delimit various religious, linguistic, and cultural “Souths.” These are just a few of the many different interpretations of the region.

Objectives of This Book

To become geographically literate

To understand Earth’s problems and their potential solutions

To use geographic critical thinking to understand the world

To understand the geography of current events

To develop the ability to interpret places and “read” landscapes

The Language of Maps

A map is a representation of various phenomena over all or a part of Earth’s surface, usually rendered on a flat surface such as paper or a computer monitor

Maps are essential tools of geographers

Help in understanding the spatial context of things

The Language of Maps (cont’d.)

Cartography

Art and science of making maps

Map elements

Scale

Coordinate systems

Projections

Symbolization

Scale

The size ratio represented by a map

Representative fraction

Scale of 1:10,000

1 linear unit (e.g., inch or cm) on the map represents 10,000 such real-world units on the ground

Scale (cont’d.)

Large scale

Large representative fraction (ex: 1:10,000 or 1:100)

Small area shown in more detail

Small scale

Small representative fraction (ex: 1:1,000,000)

Large area shown in more generalized terms

Small-Scale Map Small representative fraction Portrays large area

Large-Scale Map Large representative fraction Portrays small area

Comparing Maps

Figure 1.6 (a) Small-scale and (b) large-scale maps of San Francisco and environs.

Coordinate Systems

Location

Relative

Defines a place in relationship to other places

Absolute

Provides a unique address for each place

Coordinate Systems (cont’d.)

Grids of horizontal and vertical lines covering the globe

Intersections of these lines create the addresses

Latitude and Longitude most commonly used

Measured in Degrees (°), Minutes (’), and Seconds (”)

1 degree is made up of 60 minutes

1 minute is made up of 60 seconds

Coordinate Systems – Latitude

Equator has a latitude of 0°

Parallels

Divides Northern and Southern Hemispheres

Important Latitudes

North Pole 90.00° North

Arctic Circle 66.56° North

Tropic of Cancer 23.44° North

Equator 0.00°

Tropic of Capricorn 23.44° South

Antarctic Circle 66.56° South

South Pole 90.00° South

Coordinate Systems – Longitude

Meridians of longitude

Straight lines connecting the poles

Converge at the poles; farthest apart at Equator

Prime meridian has a longitude of 0°

Runs through the Royal Astronomical Observatory in Greenwich, England

Divides Western and Eastern Hemispheres

Coordinate Systems – Longitude (cont’d.)

International Date Line has a longitude of 180°

Halfway around the world from the Prime Meridian

Separates two consecutive calendar days

Parallels of Latitude Range from 90°N to 90°S Equator at 0°

Meridians of Longitude Range from 180°W to 180°E

Prime Meridian at 0°

Latitude Vs. Longitude

Figure 1.7 (a) Earth’s lines of latitude (parallels) in increments of 30 degrees, from the equator (0 degrees) to the North Pole (90 degrees north latitude). (b) Earth’s lines of longitude (meridians) in increments of 30 degrees.

Land Hemisphere 80% of the world’s land area

90% of the world’s population

Water Hemisphere 20% of the world’s land area

10% of the world’s population

Hemispheres

Figure 1.A In the left map, note how the major landmasses are grouped around the margins of the Atlantic and Arctic Oceans. The British Isles and the northwestern coast of Europe lie in the center of the “land hemisphere,” which constitutes 80 percent of the world’s total land area and has about 90 percent of the world’s population. In the map on the right, New Zealand lies near the center of the opposite hemisphere, or “water hemisphere,” which has only 20 percent of the land and about 10 percent of the population.

Projections

Map projection

Depicting the curved surface of the Earth on a flat surface

Metric relationships on the globe

Area, shape, distance, direction

A flat map cannot replicate all of these simultaneously

Most projections can preserve only one of these

Inevitably, there will be distortion on a flat map

Projections (cont’d.)

Common map projection families:

Azimuthal

Plane

Polar regions

Cylindrical

Cylinder

Areas around the Equator

Conic

Cone

Middle latitudes

Common Map Projections

Figure 1.8 Examples of different map projections.

The Mercator Projection

Most widely recognized map projection

Figure 1.C The Mercator Projection

Symbolization

Maps and symbolization

Cartographic abstraction

No map is a complete record of an area

Symbols used to represent a selection of certain important details

All maps must “lie” to some degree to inform their readers

Types of Maps

Reference maps

Concerned with locations of various features of the Earth’s surface and their relationship with each other

Thematic maps

Show the distribution of a particular phenomenon

Geographic Technologies and Careers

“The Geospatial Revolution”

Geographic Information Systems (GIS)

Computer-based tool that allows people to create, view, manipulate, analyze, and store geospatial data

Spatial data stored in “layers”

Soils, hydrology, road networks, demographics, etc.

Global Positioning Systems (GPS)

Geographic Technologies and Careers (cont’d.)

Remote sensing (Earth observation)

Science of acquiring information about the Earth’s surface without being in direct contact with it

Data sources

Aerial photography

Radar

LIDAR

GIS at Work

Figure 1.11 Geographic information systems (GIS) create and use layers of spatial data. GIS data, images, and models have an enormous range of applications.

GIS

Advantages

Natural resource management

Business

Defense

Emergency preparedness and response

Communications and media

Planning

Careers in Geography

U.S. Department of Labor identified geospatial technology as one of the most important emerging and evolving fields in the technology industry

Anticipated 20% growth in jobs for geographers, geoscientists, cartographers, urban and regional planners, and other geographic professionals through 2018