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Thursday, February 26, 2015

Geography 01:

Introduction to Geography

What Is Geography?

►Physical

►Human

►Cultural

►Cartography

►Geographic Information Systems (GIS)

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Geography

The study of the interaction of all physical and human phenomena

at individual places and of how interactions among places

form patterns and organize space.

Development of Geography

► Classical Western World

Erastosthenes (275-195 B.C.)

Hipparchus (180-127 B.C.)

► Non-European World

Al-Edrisi (1099-1154)

Ibn-Battuta (1304-1378)

Ibn-Khaldun (1332-1406)

The Tribute of Yu

Phei Hsiu

Kangido

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Since the 1400’s…

► General geography (1650) Bernhard Varen

Special geography = regional geography

General geography = topical/systematic geography

► Human-environment tradition Alexander von Humboldt (1769-1859)

► Cosmos

George Perkins Marsh (1801-1882)

►Man and Nature (1864)

Contemporary Geography

► Three approaches

Area analysis

Spatial or locational analysis

Geographic systems analysis

“The information that any citizen needs in order to make an informed decision on an important question of the day is largely geographic.”

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Area Analysis

►Site Exact location of a place

►Situation or relative location Location of a place relative to other places

Accessibility

Constant change

Scale

►Globalization

► Important trading centers during the time when land routes were the only method of moving goods between Asia and Europe.

► These locations have lost importance after the introduction of sailing vessels and the sea routes.

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Regions

►Formal regions

Exhibit uniformity across a cultural or physical characteristic

►Functional regions

Defined by interactions among places

►Vernacular regions

Widespread popular perception of existence

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The Region as a Concept

►Region Unit of the earth’s surface

Contains distinct patterns of physical features or human activities

►Determining regions is difficult Rarely determined systematically

Important for dividing world into understandable fragments

The Region as a Concept

►Why do we like to categorize things?

►Can you think of things we categorize?

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The Region as a Concept

►Why do we like to categorize things?

SIMPLIFY complex things

Help make CONNECTIONS between things

See PATTERNS within the subject area

CREATE COMMONALITIES across researchers

►Can you think of things we categorize?

The Region as a Concept

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The Region as a Concept

►How do we determine different regions? What criteria might you

use to divide up a place?

Let’s see how you might do it

►You must regionalize the United States Based on your a priori (at hand) knowledge,

you need to come up with a methodology to differentiate different regions of the USA.

Cool, fun and/or unique regional names are a bonus!

The Region as a Concept

http://www.buzzfeed.com/colinheasley/land-of-the-free-home-of-the-stuffed-crust-pizza

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Spatial Analysis

►Distribution

► Three properties of distribution

Density

Concentration

Pattern

Movement

►Distance Measurements

►Absolute

►Time

►Cost

Friction of distance

►Distance decay As distance increases, importance

of a particular phenomena decreases

►Ex. Newspaper circulation

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Three Types of Diffusion

►Relocation diffusion Spreads point to point

►Contiguous diffusion Spread by contact (disease)

►Hierarchical diffusion Higher to lower levels

►Barriers to diffusion Cultural barriers

►Oceans, deserts, distance, time

►Political boundaries, cultural differences

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Gypsy Moth Spread

4 Physical Systems

►Atmosphere (air)

► Lithosphere (Earth’s solid rocks)

►Hydrosphere (water)

► Biosphere (living organisms)

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Human-Environmental Interaction

►Reciprocal interaction

►Culture

Language, food, religion, social ceremonies

►Natural landscapes

Without evidence of human activity

►Cultural landscapes

Reveals how humans modify local environment

The Geographic Grid

► Longitude Measures distance east and west around the globe

beginning at the Prime Meridian

Prime Meridian

International Date Line

0-180 degrees East or West

► Latitude Location on the Earth’s surface between the equator

and either the north or south pole

Parallels

0-90 degrees North or South

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Map Making

►Cartography

► Scale Fraction 1/24,000

Ratio 1:24,000

Written statement “1 inch equals 1 mile”

Bar style

► Detail and area Small scale map = less detail, large denominator

(1:1,000,000)

Large scale map = more detail, small denominator (1:100,000)

0 1 2 4 3

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Projection

►Scientific method of transferring locations on Earth’s surface to a flat map

►4 types of distortion

Shape

Distance

Relative size

Direction

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MAPS

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Geographic Information Technology

►Automated cartography

Manual techniques expensive

Computer Assisted Drawing (CAD)

►Sophisticated, specialized digital cartography systems

►Easier, less expensive editing

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Remote Sensing

Acquisition of data about Earth’s surface

from a satellite orbiting the planet or from high-flying aircraft

Satellites

► Landsat

1972; 1999

Sensors measure radiation of colors of visible light

Pixel size (resolution): 59x59 m

IKONOS resolution: 1.5x1.5 m

►Weather satellites

Very large pixels

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Remotely Sensed Data

►Human activities

Changes in plant growth

Drainage patterns

Erosion associated with agriculture

Logging and forest management

Wetland monitoring

►Wartime applications

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GIS

►Database software for digital information Contains same information as regular database

PLUS ►Spatial characteristics ( boundary information or coordinates)

►An identifying characteristic that locates the item in space (i.e., address)

► Layers Information with specific characteristics

►Soils, hydrology, land ownership

Can be combined for analysis

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Digital Geographic Information

►Raster Grid cells of data

►Remote sensing images

►Pixels

►Vector Point, line, polygon data

X and Y coordinates

►Different uses and spatial accuracies

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Digital Data

►Conversion of paper to digital formats

►Digital database creation

Remote sensing images

Digitizing

►Tracing lines

►Available types of data

Topographic maps

►DRG and DLG

US Fish and Wildlife Service National Wetlands Inventory

Census Bureau TIGER files

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GIS Spatial Analysis

►Calculating densities and distribution of population

►“Counting” lakes

►Monitoring environmental changes with satellite images

►Analyzing changes in food production and land use

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Forest Loss &

Agriculture Spread

Urban Growth

Forest Loss