Unit 1: Thinking Geographically pt. 1

How to understand and interpret geographic data

Spatial Pattern

Where things are located on the earth

One significant tool to find spatial patterns?

Maps!!

Absolute Distance

An exact measure of the separation between two points, using a standard, such such as inches, feet, or miles

Relative Distance

A measure of social, cultural, or political differences or similarities between two locations (social class, richer or poorer difference)

Absolute Direction

Indicates North, South, East, and West

Relative Direction

Describes the location of one thing in relation to another

Clustered

They are close together

Dispersed

They are spread a part

Elevation

Measures the height of geographic features relative to sea level

A scale on a map

Explains how distance on a map relates to distance in the real world; Tells you how much smaller the map is than the real world - Often represented by a ration “1in:1000mi”

Large Scale Map

Focused on a particular feature and the details on the map are larger

Small Scale Map

Zoomed out to a national or global level, the details are smaller

Road Map

The locations of roads and highways

Topographical Map

Shows mountains and valleys - Depicts changes in elevation

Political Map

Shows the boundaries or provinces of states and countries

Reference Maps

Used to display geographic locations

Thematic Maps

Used to display geographic information

Choropleth Map

Visualizes data with different colors (Often used for presidential elections)

Dot Distribution Map

Uses dots to visualize the location of certain data points (Often used for census maps)

One-to-One Dot Distribution Map

One dot equals one unit of data

One-to-Many Dot Distribution Map

One dot represents a group

Graduated Symbol Map

Uses symbols to visualize data (Graduated = Smaller and Bigger)

Isoline Map

Uses line to depict data

Mercator Map Projection

The standard for naval expedition because it preserves accurate shapes and directions, but it is notoriously inaccurate regarding the size of landmasses, particularly near the poles.

Goode Homolosine Projection

An equal-area (equivalent) projection. Shapes, directions, angles, and distances are generally distorted

Quantitative Data

Numbers based - “There are a hundred houses here.” “ Eight million people live there.”

Qualitative Data

Descriptive and language based “This community feels unsatisfied with the traffic in their area”

Geospatial technologies

Any technology that uses hardware or software to examine and measure geographical features on the earth

GIS

Geographic Information Systems

What is GIS

Software that can manipulate geospatial data that can be used for research or problem solving

GPS

Global Positioning system

What is GPS used for?

Finding locations

What is GIS used for?

Finding answers to research based problems

Remote Sensing

A method of data collection that gather info about geographic locations through satellite imagery - Further helping visualize population patterns and other geospatial information

Census Data Collection

1. Place of Residence

2. Race

3. Gender

4. Income

Absolute Location

The precise geographical coordinates of a particular place on the earth’s surface

Latitude Directions

West to East

Longitude Directions

North to South

Relative Location

Describing one place in reference to another, usually measured in distance or time