GEOG200 Notes
Module 1
COVID
Had many far-reaching effects.
Resulted in:
oSocial distancing
oLockdown orders
oTravel restrictions
oClosed borders
Mapping techniques were essential to understanding the threats and responding effectively.
oMaps were the most prominent features in news reports covering COVID-19.
oHigh-tech mapping techniques were used to track people’s travels and potential
exposure to the virus.
Essential supplies were imported through complex global supply chains that had been disrupted.
Almost the entire economy was affected:
oAgriculture and natural resources saw major commodity price fluctuations.
oManufacturing and services
oGlobal trade and tourism
oDigital communications quickly replaced in-person work and education.
oInformation sector workers were able to work remotely, but the grocery store and
meatpacking workers could not, causing them to suffer higher rates of disease.
oPeople didn’t prefer dense urban environments, causing urban land values to change.
Earth systems and human impacts on the environment
COVID-19 reduced air pollution.
What is geography?
Many people think geography is just knowing things are.where
oBut it’s more important to know things happen in certain locations.why
Geography is the study of spatial variation, or how and why things differ from place to place on
the surface of the Earth. It is about Earth space and the content of that space.
oGeographers focus on the interaction of people and social groups with their
environment (planet Earth) and with one another; they seek to understand how and
why physical and cultural spatial patterns evolved through time and continue to change.
oThe content of an area has both physical and cultural aspects, and geography is
concerned with understanding both.
Why are things where they are? What events and processes determine or change their
distribution?
oWe think of and respond to places from the standpoint of not only where places are but
what they contain (or what we think they contain).
Reference to a place or an area usually calls up images about its physical nature
or what people do there, and this suggests to us how those physical features
and activities are related.
Evolution of geography
Started as focused on the physical structure of the Earth and on the nature/activities of the
people who inhabited the known world
Greek and Roman geographers devised the global grid of parallels and meridians.
oDescribed river systems
oCycles of erosion and patterns of deposition
oDangers of deforestation
oVariations in the natural landscape
oConsequences of environmental abuse
oStrabo said that humans were the active elements in a human-environmental
partnership.
Chinese, western, European, Muslim, etc. geographers
oHumboldt was a pioneer.
Geography can be divided into subfields.
oPolitical geography
oUrban geography
oEconomic geography
Three dominating interests of geography
oSpatial variation of physical and human phenomena on the surface of the Earth
Geography examines relations between human societies and the natural
environments they occupy and modify
oA focus on the systems that link physical phenomena and human activities in one area of
the Earth with other areas
oRegional analysis: geography studies human-environmental (or “ecological”)
relationships and spatial systems in specific locational settings
Regional geography
o
Systematic geographers focus their attention on one or a few related aspects of the physical
environment or of human populations and societies (instead of segments of the Earth’s surface)
oPhysical geography directs its attention to the natural environmental side of the human-
environmental structure (e.g. landforms and their distribution, atmospheric conditions
and climatic patterns, soils or vegetation, etc.)
oHuman geography studies the human side, such as where they are, what they're like,
how they interact over space, and what kinds of landscapes of human use they erect on
the natural landscapes they occupy
Three main reasons why geography is important
oIt’s the only discipline concerned with understanding why and how both physical and
cultural phenomena differ from place to place on the surface of the Earth
oA grasp of the broad concerns and topics of geography is vital to an understanding of
the national and international problems that dominate daily news reports (e.g. climate
change, COVID-19, etc.). Geography helps comprehend these problems and develop
solutions to them
oProvides many job opportunities to those who study geography in university
Core geographic concepts
All geographers will ask these questions regarding physical or cultural phenomena:
oWhat is it?
oWhere is it?
oHow did it come to be what and where it is?
oHow is it related to other physical or cultural realities that affect it or are affected by it?
oHow is it a part of a functioning whole?
oHow does its location affect people’s lives and the content of the area in which it is
found?
Recognizing spatial patterns is the essential starting point for understanding how people live on
and shape the Earth’s surface
oThe word “spatial” is an essential modifier in framing questions and forming concepts
related to geography.
oGeography is a spatial science, it is concerned with the spatial distribution of
phenomena, the spatial extent of regions, the spatial behaviour of people, the spatial
relationships between places on Earth’s surface, and the spatial processes that underlie
those behaviours and relationships.
oGeographers use spatial data to identify spatial patterns and analyze spatial systems,
spatial interaction, spatial diffusion, and spatial variation from place to place
“Spatial” is about the idea of the way things are distributed, the way movements occur, and the
way processes operate over the whole or a part of the surface of the Earth
oSpatial phenomena have locations on that surface, and spatial interactions occur
between places, things, and people at different locations of the Earth
Basic Observations
oPlaces have location, direction, and distance with respect to other places
oA place has size; it is large, medium, or small. Scale is important
oA place has both physical structure and cultural content
oThe attributes, or characteristics, or places develop and change over time
oThe content of places is structured and explainable.
oPlaces are connected to other places.
oPlaces may be generalized into regions sharing similar features.
Location, Direction, and Distance
Location
oAbsolute location is the identification of place by a precise and accepted system of
coordinates. Aka mathematical location
Systems like the grid of parallels and meridians (longitude and latitude), street
address)
Unique to each described place, independent of any other characteristic or
observation about that place, and is used in the legal description of places, in
measuring the distance between locations, or finding directions
oRelative location is the position of a place or thing in relation to that of other places or
things
Expresses spatial interconnection and interdependence, and may have social
and economic implications
oSite and situation
Site (absolute) refers to the physical and cultural characteristics/attributes of
the place itself. More than mathematical location, because it tells us something
about the specific features of that place
Situation (relative) refers to the relations between a place and other
places/items of significance
Direction
oAbsolute direction is based on cardinal east, west, north, and south reference points.
Sun rises in east, sets in the west; fixed stars
oRelative directions are culturally based locational references, such as the Far West, the
Old South, or the Middle East. i.e., it varies from culture to culture
Distance
oAbsolute distance is the shortest-path separation between two places measured on a
standard unit of length (miles or kilometers, usually); also called real distance.
oRelative distance is a transformation of absolute distance into such relative measures as
time or monetary costs.
Distances between places are constant by absolute terms, but relative distances
may vary with improvements in transportation or communication technology or
with different psychological perceptions of space.
E.g. even if two stores are the same number of miles away, one might be faster
to go due to traffic or street conditions
Also a psychological transformation, e.g. walking late at night in a dangerous
neighborhood feels longer than a daytime stroll in familiar territory
Size and Scale
In cartography, scale is the ratio between length or size of an area on a map and the actual
length or size of that area on the earth’s surface; map scale may be represented verbally,
graphically, or as a fraction.
In more general terms, scale refers to the size of the area studied, from local to global.
Physical and Cultural Attributes
The is the physical environment unaffected by human activities. The duration natural landscape
and near totality of human occupation of the earth’s surface assure that little or no “natural
landscape” so defined remains intact. Opposed to cultural landscape.
oExample attributes are physical characteristics like a place’s climate, soil, water supplies,
mineral resources, terrain features, etc.
oThey help shape but do not dictate how people live. E.g. the resource base is physically
determined but how resources are perceived and utilized is culturally conditioned.
oAll places offer trade-offs in terms of climate favourability, natural hazards, farming and
fishing productivity, natural resources, and natural scenery
The is the natural landscape as modified by human activities and bearing the cultural landscape
imprint of a culture group or society; the built environment.
oEvery human activity leaves its imprint on the Earth’s soil, water, vegetation, animal life,
and other resources, as well as the atmosphere.
Attributes of Place Are Always Changing
Physical environment is always changing
oE.g., islands form and disappear, mountains rise and are worn low, glaciers form and
melt
People used fire to clear forest undergrowth, to maintain or extend grassland, and to clear
openings for rudimentary agriculture
Humans have quickly changed the natural landscape to an industrialized form
Interrelations between Places
Human interaction is the communication and interdependencies between people. Sometimes
the term is used to more specifically identify the locations that are spatial interaction
interacting.
Tobler’s First Law of Geography says that (in a spatial sense) everything is related to everything
else, but relationships are stronger when things are near one another
oTherefore, interaction between places diminishes in intensity and frequency as distance
between them increases – “distance decay”
Accessibility is the relative ease with which a destination may be reached from other locations;
the relative opportunity for spatial interaction. May be measured in geometric, social, or
economic terms.
oIn ancient cities, you could access any part by walking. In modern cities, you need cars,
buses, trains, etc, to go some places
Connectivity is the directness of routes linking pairs of places; all of the tangible and intangible
means of connection and communication between places.
oNetworks (the patterns of routes connecting sets of places) determine the efficiency of
movement and the connectedness of points
Spatial diffusion is The outward spread of a substance, a concept, a practice, or a population
from its point of origin to other areas.
oDiffusion rates are affected by distance, population densities, means of communication,
advantages of the innovation, and importance/prestige of the originating node
Globalization is The increasing interconnection of all parts of the world as the full range of social,
cultural, political, economic, and environmental processes and patterns of change becomes
international in scale and effect.
Place Similarity and Regions
No two places on the surface of the Earth can be the sameexactly
oNot only because of different absolute locations, but also because the precise mix of
physical and cultural characteristics of place is never exactly duplicated
The natural and cultural characteristics of places show patterns of similarity in some areas
oThese similarities let us recognize and define regions.
Regions are an area of the earth that displays a distinctive grouping of physical
or cultural phenomena or is functionally united as a single organizational unit.
oPlaces are both like and unlike other places, creating patterns of areal differences and
spatial similarity
Spatial distributions are the spatial arrangement of environmental, human, or organizational
features selected for study
oWhen two spatial distributions are closely related, they have a spatial association
Regions may be administrative, formal, functional, or perceptual
oAdministrative regions are created by law, treaty, or regulation; includes political
regions such as countries and states and internal regions such as school districts and
voting districts.
E.g., countries, states, cities, etc.
oA formal (uniform) region is a region distinguished by uniformity of one or more
characteristics that can serve as the basis for an areal generalization and of contrast
with adjacent areas.
E.g., Corn Belt
oA functional (nodal) region is a region differentiated by what occurs within it rather than
by a homogeneity of physical or cultural phenomena; an earth area recognized as an
operational unit based on defined organizational criteria.
E.g., trade areas of towns, circulation areas of newspapers, areas that receive a
television station’s signal, etc.
oA perceptual (vernacular, popular) region is A region perceived to exist by its inhabitants
or the general populace. It has reality as an element of popular culture or folk culture
represented in the mental maps of average people.
E.g., New England, Midwest, Chinatown, Little Italy, gang turfs, etc.
Geography’s Themes and Standards
Five fundamental themses
olocation: the meaning of relative and absolute position on the Earth’s surface;
oplace: the distinctive and distinguishing physical and human characteristics of locales;
orelationships within places: the development and consequences of human-
environmental interactions;
omovement: patterns and change in human spatial interaction on the Earth;
oregions: how they form and change.
Organization of This Book
Techniques of geographic analysis are Research methods used by geographers such as
geographic information systems, Global Navigation Satellite Systems, mapmaking, and spatial
analysis.
Physical systems are The systems that produce climate, landforms, soils, and vegetation.
Human systems are The systems of culture, economy, politics, and human settlements.
Environment is the surroundings; the totality of things that in any way may affect an organism,
including both physical and cultural conditions; a region characterized by a certain set of
physical conditions.
