iGCSE Geography Paper 2 Skills Revision Guide & Workbook Notes
Geographical Skills Key Terms
Aerial Photograph: A photograph taken directly from above, providing a 'birds-eye view.'
Altitude: Height above sea level, measured in meters.
Annotate: To add explanatory labels to a diagram, map, or photograph.
Aspect: The direction a place is facing.
Contours: Lines on a map that connect points of equal elevation.
Cross Section: A diagram showing the shape of the land in profile.
Density: How closely packed something is, such as population density (number of people in an area) or building density (number of buildings in an area).
Dispersed Settlement: A settlement pattern where individual buildings are spread out across an area.
Distribution: The way something is spread out, such as population distribution (e.g., unevenly spread, grouped together).
Evaluation: A discussion of the strengths and weaknesses of something.
GIS (Geographical Information System): A layered digital system with a map as a base and layers of other information on top.
Hypothesis: A testable statement.
Label: A simple descriptive point.
Linear Settlement: A settlement pattern where buildings are located along a line, such as a main road.
Nucleated Settlement: A settlement pattern where buildings are grouped together, often at crossroads or around a village green.
Oblique Aerial Photograph: A photograph taken from above but at an angle.
Pattern: Trends or regularities in something.
Relief: The height and shape of the land.
Satellite Image: A picture of the earth taken from space.
Scale: The ratio between a distance on a map and the corresponding distance on the ground (e.g., 1:50,000).
Site: The land on which a settlement is built.
Situation: The position of a settlement in relation to its surroundings.
Topography: The shape and features of the earth’s surface.
Trend: A relationship or correlation between data, such as a positive trend or positive correlation.
Basic Skills
Labelling and Annotation
Label: A simple descriptive point (e.g., ocean trench, volcano).
Annotation: A more detailed description or explanatory point (e.g., ocean trench - long narrow canyon formed where one plate is subducted under another).
Interpretation of Photographs
Satellite Images: Images taken from satellites in space, providing realistic photographic images or using infrared imagery to detect heat patterns.
*Uses: monitoring volcanoes, detecting rising magma.Vertical Aerial Photographs: Taken looking straight down, providing a 'birds-eye view.'
Oblique Aerial Photographs: Taken from an angle, allowing more detail of features to be seen.
When interpreting aerial photographs, describe both physical features (relief, rivers) and human features (land use, settlements).
Cartographic Skills
Atlas Maps
Describing patterns of human and physical features:
General Statement of Location: Identify locations using north, east, south, west, etc.
Adding Place Specific Detail: Use names of places (e.g., River Severn, the equator).
Identify Patterns: Describe concentrations, dense populations, uneven spreads, and coastal distributions.
Sketch Maps
Simplify the original map, do not recreate detail.
Draw a box frame and add grid lines as guidelines.
Add relevant features and labels.
Use pencil/black pen only in exams.
Ordnance Survey Maps
Direction
Describe the position of places in relation to other places.
Use the 8-point compass. {N, NW, W, SW, S, SE, E, NE}
Bearings can be given in degrees or compass directions.
North: 0^\circ
South: 180^\circ
South West: 225^\circ
North West: 315^\circ
Scale
The link between real-life distances and map distances.
As a statement (e.g., 1 cm stands for 0.5 km).
As a ratio (e.g., 1:50,000).
As a scale bar.
Measuring distances:
Direct Distance: Straight line distance.
Actual Distance: Following a route.
On a 1:50,000 OS map, 2 cm = 1 km, and one grid square = 1 \text{km}^2
Grid References
4-Figure Grid References: Locate an individual square on a map.
6-Figure Grid References: Pinpoint an exact location within a grid square.
Steps to find 6 figure grid references:Divide the grid square into tenths.
Go 'along the corridor' (horizontally) to estimate the tenth.
Go 'up the stairs' (vertically) to estimate the tenth.
Symbols
You must make good use of a key on a map. Examples include:
Coniferous Woodland
Car Park / Park and Ride
Picnic Site
Camp Site / Caravan Site
Marsh or Salting
Bus Stop
Golf Course
Public House
Place of Worship with a Tower
Estimating Area
On a 1:50,000 map, 1 grid square = 1 \text{km}^2
Estimate the fraction of the square occupied by a feature.
Describing Physical and Human Features
Relief: Contour patterns, landforms, steepness of slopes, heights.
Drainage: Valleys, number of rivers, direction of flow, width, tributaries, lakes, marsh.
Vegetation: Woodland, rough pasture.
Communications: Type of road, direction, influence of settlement.
Land-Use: Settlement, vegetation, communications, industrial, recreational, agricultural, residential.
Settlement:
Site: Height, slope, landforms, water supply.
Situation: Relation to relief, drainage, other settlements.
Shape: linear, dispersed, nucleated.
Interpreting Contour Lines
Closer contour lines indicate a steeper slope.
Further apart contour lines indicate a flatter slope.
*When drawing and interpreting cross sections, the examiner may ask you to INTERPRET / ANNOTATE features on a cross-section.
Describing Site, Situation, and Shape of Settlements
Site: The land on which a settlement is built (Slope, Height, Aspect, Water Supply, Land)
Situation: The location of a place in relation to its surroundings (Places, Accessibility, Relief, Communications).
Shape:
Nucleated: Buildings clustered around a central point.
Linear: Buildings along a main road or coastline.
Dispersed: Buildings spread out over an area.
Graphical Skills
Bar Graphs
Used to display discrete data in separate columns.
Select an appropriate layout and scale.
Label axes and add a title.
Color each bar differently and add a key.
Advantages:
Can easily compare two or three data sets.
Values can be estimated at a glance.
Summarises large data sets in a visual form.
Disadvantages:Can only be used with discrete data.
Histograms
Used to show continuous data.
Bars are drawn touching each other.
Advantages:
Can compare data to the normal distribution and identify if data is skewed.
Disadvantages:Can only be used with continuous data.
Compound Bar Graphs
Subdivision of bars is used to show the relative % of a sub-component.
Pyramid Charts
Commonly used to show population structure (population pyramids).
Can also be used to show any continuous data split into two.
Located Bar Chart
Drawn at an appropriate place on the map to give spatial relevance to the data.
Line Graphs and Compound Line Graphs
Used to show changes over time and how one variable changes in relation to another.
Advantages:
Possible to show two sets of data on the same graph.
Good for showing absolute changes in data.
Disadvantages:Sometimes when comparing two sets of data, different scales make it difficult to compare actual change (log graphs may be needed).
Isolines
Join places of equal value and show the distribution of a variable over an area.
Contour Lines: Equal height.
Isohyets: Equal rainfall.
Isochrones: Equal time distance.
Isobars: Equal air pressure.
Isovels: Equal velocity.
Advantages:
Good for showing gradual changes over space.
Avoids the abrupt changes shown on choropleth maps.
Disadvantages:Requires a large amount of data for accurate drawing.
Unsuitable for showing discontinuous / patchy distributions.
Flow Lines
Show movement between places, direction, and volume of flow.
Advantage:
Good for showing flows of movement between places.
Gives strong visual impression of both volume of movement and direction of movement.
Disadvantages:Parts of the map can get very crowded (particularly near to the destination).
Pie-Charts
Graphical techniques which can be used to show a quantity which can be divided into segments.
Advantages:
Visually very clear.
Shows % total for each category and provides an easy comparison.
Disadvantages:Don’t provide exact numerical data.
Hard to compare 2 data sets.
Wind Rose / Radial Diagrams
Show data such as the source and volume of migrants.
Advantage:
Can show the direction as well as volume of a movement (if both width and length of line to scale).
Disadvantages:If width used to show volume of a movement, where there are large amount of data to be plotted from a central area - it can be more difficult to interpret due to overlaps.
Triangular Graphs
Classify a large amount of data for a dataset with 3 parts in % adding up to 100%.
Advantages:
A large number of data can shown on one graph.
Groups can easily be identified.
Disadvantages:Can be difficult & time consuming to construct.
Can only be used for data with 3 components given in % form and which adds up to 100%.
Choropleth Maps
Show relative density per area, shaded according to a pre-arranged range.
Ranges selection tip: Data should be arranged in ascending or descending order.
Advantages:
Give a good visual impression of the data and changes over space.
Easy to complete.
Disadvantages:Hides variations within an area.
If too many categories it can be difficult to distinguish between shades.
Proportional Symbols
Drawn in a proportion that represents the size of the value being presented.
Advantages:
Proportional Symbol maps are not dependent on the size of the area associated with the variable so all areas have equal visual importance.
Provides a quick visual comparison in a spatial context – i.e. differences between places.
Disadvantages:If very large amounts of data and subtle variations it can be difficult to provide visually meaningful comparison
Scatter Graphs
Used to see if two sets of data are related to each other (i.e., if there is a correlation).
Advantages:
Enables us to identify if a relationship exists between two data sets.
Can be used to identify the nature of any relationship that exists and indicate the strength of it
Disadvantages:Data on both axes must be continuous.
Whilst a line of best fit line can suggest a relationship, a statistical test will be required to test for the significance of the relationship
Topological Diagrams/Maps
Simplify reality, distorting real distance and direction to produce a simpler map.
*Examples: maps showing routes/ areas such as countries.
*Advantages: Simplify information/ distort distance and direction to allow inaccuracies.
*Disadvantages: It is not possible to tell the exact direction that you are travelling/ No scale is give so distance can not be calculated
Geographical Enquiry Skills
Identification of Issue, Question, Problem: Recognize a topic through observation, discussion, reading, or previous study.
Formulation of Design of Work: Define objectives and decide on data relevance and collection methods.
Collection of Data: Collect primary data (questionnaires, mapping, sketching) and gather secondary data (Census, Internet, maps, books).
Selection and Collation of Data: Teacher collates data for class use/ Candidates select data to develop the aims or hypotheses for the topic
Representation and Recording of Results: Record results and represent findings using maps, graphs, etc.
Analysis and Interpretation: Analyse findings in response to the issue/question/problem, referencing geographical concepts.
Conclusions, Suggesting Solutions, Evaluation: Draw conclusions, make evaluations, and comment on limitations and possibilities for further study. In exams, the examiner may also ask you to:
* Develop hypotheses to answer a question.
* Evaluate a particular data presentation technique or the findings of a study - improving it/ what were the problems. etc.