Human geo unit 1

spatial perspective

ask: where is it located? why is it located there? why does its location matter?

space

• areas we occupy as humans; no value until we make it our own

  • 1. place (toponym), 2. site, 3. situation, 4. absolute location

place

how we modify spaced based on who we are as a group of people

sense of place

the subjective feelings and emotional attachment people have towards a location

placelessness

a group/person doesn’t feel connection to a place

toponym

name given to a place on Earth. can be named after a person, a religion, resources, or features of physical environment

• philippines - kind philip II of spain (colonized)

site

• immediate surrounding

• physical character of a place, including climate, water sources, topography, soil, vegetation, latitude, and elevation

situation (relative location)

• the location of a place relative to other places

• helps us find an unfamiliar place by comparing its location with a familiar one

• situation helps us understand the importance of a location

  • ex: NDP is 10mins away from Calvert Hall

absolute location (lat/long addy)

description of location described mathematically by meridians and parallels 2 sets of imaginary arcs

meridians

• arcs drawn between north and south poles

• numbering system of meridians called longitude

• the prime meridian is 0° longitude

• all other meridians measured East → West of prime meridian

parallel

a circle drawn around the globe parallel to the equator at right angles to meridians, numbering system called latitude

pin-pointing locations

GPS-gives us an absolute or mathematical location (lat and long)

GPS

• global positioning system

• satellites placed in predetermined orbits

• tracking stations to monitor and control satellites

• receiver that can locate satellites, figure out its distance from each other

applications

turn by turn directions

GIS

• layering data

• geographic info system is a comp system that captures, stores, queries, analyzes

• data stored in layers that are compared to show relationships between info

remote sensing

• digital images or vids by satellite

• gather data about

  • urban sprawl - city growth, drought, agricultural landuse

map scale

• the relation of a features size on the map to actual size

• small scale or small fraction maps show a large area on the earth such as 1/1,000,000

  • more distortion, less detail, big fraction

• large scale or large fraction maps show a small area on the surface such as 1/24,000 or 1/1,000

  • more detail, smaller fraction

scale

territorial extent of idea/object

scale of analysis: global

looks at a geographic phenomena across entire world. ex: world pollution map

scale of analysis: regional

analyze data within specific region. ex: compare average income in European Union countries vs. non - EU countries

scale of analysis: national

analyze data for specific country. ex: why is average income in Vietnam much higher than in Myanmar?

spatial distribution

geographers are concerned about the arrangement of features on the earth’s surface properties

density

the frequency (#of) something occurs in a given space (the # of people per square mile in MD versus wyoming). people/land area

concentration or dispersion

how spread out something is. If close, its described as clustered (or agglomerated). if spread out its described as dispersed or scattered

pattern

refers, like concetrtion to pattern but focuses on design rather than spacing

projection

• scientific method of transferring locations on earth’s surface to a flat map is called projection

• earth as 3D being drawn in 2D = all maps distorted in some way

4 types of distortion

1. shape - of an area can be distorted

2. distance - between points may become increased or decreased

3. area (siz) - of diff areas can be altered

4. direction - between points can be distorted

mercadors projection

• cartographer Mercador 1569; map allowed navigations to understand the coasts of the New World

• perserves direction - useful for navigation

• distorts sizes near the poles, more distortion further from equator

• africa is 14x bigger than greenland but they look the same on the map

the peters projection

• focuses on keeping land masses = in area. shapes are distorted as seen by Africa being vertically elongated and Russia horizontally crushed toward north pole

• elongated but significantly more accurate

the robinson projection

• tries to correct for the mercators projections distortions by curving distorted areas inwards

• attempts to balance all distortions by making errors in all 4 ways - shape, size, distance, direction

reference maps

• show locations of places and geographic features

• absolute locations

• focus on places

  • car GPS, Google maps, NYC subway map

thematic maps

• use reference map to layer specific them onto baseline map

• tell a story about the degree of an attribute, the pattern of its distribution, or its movement

• focus on data

isoline maps

use lines of equal value to represent data like elevation, barometric pressure or temp

choropleth mpas

a thematic map in which a variable is depicted with shading patterns or colors

dot map

a thematic map in which a dot represents some frequency of the mapped variable

proportional symbol

size of the symbol corresponds to the magnitude of the mapped feature

cartogram

distorted thematic map which exaggerates or shrinks some places according to the info the creator of the map is trying to display

spacial interaction

the movement and connections between places, goods, ideas, and people. influenced by accessibility

accesability

how easily places can be reached

distance

the space separating 2 locations

absolute distance

straight-line distance

relative distance

measured in travel time, cost, or effort, most practical

cognitive distance

perceived distance

distance decay

as the distance between 2 places increases, the interaction decreases

time-space compression

the reduction in the time it takes to diffuse something to a distant place advances in tech and comm the effects of distance

globalization of economy

the elimination of national boundaries through greater integration of people, companies, and governments across the world

transnational corps

global company. ex: iphone HQ → cupertino, functions → asia, raw materials → africa

regions

a way of subdividing space into categorizable geographic units

formal regions

one or more traits in common. ex: cultural, religion, language, ethnicity, physical-defined boundaries

functional/nodal regions

an area organized around a node or focal point. ex: pizza shop → node, delivery area → region

perceptual regions

regions that people construct in their mind. ex “The South” - confederate, enslaved people, bible belt, accent/dialect, mason-dixon

regionalism

a group’s perceived identification with a particular region at any scale. ex: canada opts to keep french heritage while rest of canada adopts american living style

diffusion

the movement of people, ideas, or goods from a point of origin to another location over time

relocation

the diffusion of a particular phenomenon that results from the migration of people who practice that phenonmeon. ex: COVID

expansion diffusion

ideas/practices spread throughout population, from area to area, so that total # of knowers/users and area of occurrence increase

contagious

spread of phenonmeon to to nearby places

hierarchical

movement of phenonmeon from person of importance or place of power

stimulus

spread pf an underlying principle, even though characteristic itself fails to diffuse. ex: yoga is adapted; animals, clothes, hot, red light

reverse hierarchical diffusion

walmart started in Arkansas. bottom-up

environmental determinism (outdated) :(

• theory that human culture is caused by the environment a society lives in

• used to overgeneralize people, races, and areas of the world

• generally discredited today as racist and imperialist

• ex: ppl who take siestas are lazy

possibilism :)

• humans make it possible

• humans creatively develop own culture, but with constraints set by the environment

• much more accepted