Geography: Its Nature and Perspectives - Key Concepts

Basic Concepts and Vocabulary

  • Changing Attributes of Place:
    • Built Landscape
    • Sequent Occupance
  • Cultural Attributes:
    • Cultural Landscape
  • Density:
    • Arithmetic
    • Physiological
  • Diffusion:
    • Hearth
    • Relocation
    • Expansion
      • Hierarchical
      • Contagious
      • Stimulus
  • Direction:
    • Absolute
    • Relative
  • Dispersion/Concentration:
    • Dispersed/Scattered
    • Clustered/Agglomerated
  • Distance:
    • Absolute
    • Relative
  • Distribution
  • Environmental Determinism
  • Location:
    • Absolute
    • Relative
    • Site
    • Situation
    • Place Name
  • Pattern:
    • Linear
    • Centralized
    • Random
  • Physical Attributes:
    • Natural Landscape
  • Possibilism
  • Region:
    • Formal/Uniform
    • Functional/Nodal
    • Perceptual/Vernacular
  • Scale:
    • Implied Degree of Generalization
  • Size
  • Spatial:
    • Of or pertaining to space on or near Earth's surface
  • Spatial Interaction:
    • Accessibility
    • Connectivity
    • Network
    • Distance Decay
    • Friction of Distance
    • Time-Space Compression

Geographic Tools

  • Distortion
  • Geographic Information System (GIS)
  • Global Positioning System (GPS)
  • Grid:
    • North and South Poles
    • Latitude
    • Parallel
    • Equator
    • Longitude
    • Meridian
    • Prime Meridian
    • International Date Line
  • Map:
    • Tool most uniquely identified with geography.
    • Essential geographic skill: ability to use and interpret maps.
  • Map Scale:
    • Distance on a map relative to distance on Earth
  • Map Types:
    • Thematic
    • Statistical
    • Cartogram
    • Dot
    • Choropleth
    • Isoline
  • Mental Map
  • Model:
    • A simplified abstraction of reality, structured to clarify causal relationships.
    • Examples: Demographic Transition, Epidemiological Transition, Gravity, Von Thünen, Weber, Stages of Growth [Rostow], Concentric Circle [Burgess], Sector [Hoyt], Multiple Nuclei, Central Place [Christaller].
  • Projection
  • Remote Sensing
  • Time Zones

Key Figures and Concepts

  • Greeks:
    • First society to introduce geography as a subject.
    • Eratosthenes: First person to use the word geography.
      • Geo meaning "Earth"
      • Graphy meaning "to write"
    • Anaximander: Credited with making the first map of the known world.
    • Pythagoras, Aristotle, Socrates, Plato: Furthered the belief that the Earth was round.
  • Five Themes of Geography: Location, region, human-environment interaction, spatial interaction or movement and place.
  • Diffusion: Spread or movement of a principle or phenomenon.
    • Relocation, expansion (hierarchical, contagious, stimulus) are means of diffusion.
  • Three Types of Regions: Formal, functional, and perceptual/vernacular.
  • Three Aspects of Distribution: Density, concentration, and patterns.

Historical Foundations

  • Geography describes the Earth's surface, people, and processes shaping landscapes.
  • Early humans in the Middle East (Iraq) drew first maps on rocks.
  • Geography ranges from the physical Earth down to the building-level scale.
  • Maps are a form of communication and can be drawn to any scale.

Modern Period

  • Environmental Determinism: Theory that cultures are a direct result of their environment.
    • Led by Carl Ritter, Ellen Churchill Semple, and Ellsworth Huntington.
    • Considered prejudicial and largely discredited today.
  • Possibilism: Humans can modify their environment to fit their needs.

Modern Technologies

  • Global Positioning Systems (GPS): Use latitude and longitude to determine exact location.
  • Geographic Information Systems (GIS): Layer geographic information into new maps.
    *Aerial photography, satellite imagery, and remote sensing are revolutionizing geography.

Maps

  • Fundamental tool for geographers.
  • Distortion: Occurs when conveying a 3D object onto a 2D surface.
    • Larger scale = less distortion.

Scale

  • Relationship of map size to area represented.
  • Small-scale maps show more area in less detail; large-scale maps show a smaller area in greater detail.
  • Expressed in words (one inch equals 100 miles), as a line measuring distance, or as a ratio(1:24,000).

Classes and Types of Maps

  • Equal-Area Projections: Keep size intact but distort shapes.
  • Conformal Maps: Distort area but keep shapes intact.
  • Cylindrical Map: Shows true direction but loses distance (e.g., Mercator).
  • Planar Projection: Shows true direction from one point (azimuthal).
  • Conic Projection: Puts a cone over the Earth, keeps distance intact but loses direction.
  • Oval Projection: Combination of cylindrical and conic (e.g., Molleweide).
  • Thematic maps can be represented as area class maps, area symbol maps, cartograms, choropleth maps, digital images, dot maps, flow-line maps, isoline maps, point symbol maps and proportional symbol maps.

Misuse of Maps

  • Maps can mislead by:
    • Deleting information.
    • Using colors to indicate strength or weakness.
    • Altering the size of items to indicate importance.

Five Themes of Geography

  1. Place: Description of what we see and how we experience an area.
  2. Region: Links places together using chosen parameters; can be formal, functional, or perceptual.
  3. Location: Relative (in reference to another feature) or absolute (latitude and longitude).
  4. Human-Environment Interaction: How people modify the environment.
  5. Spatial Interaction/Movement: How linked a place is to the outside world.

Defining Place

  • Description of what is seen and how we experience the Earth's surface.
  • Descriptions based on cultural attributes (cultural landscape) or physical environment (natural landscapes).

Region Types

  • Formal Regions: Everything inside has the same characteristics (e.g., Germany).
  • Functional Regions: Defined around a node; intensity decreases with distance (e.g., radio station range).
  • Perceptual/Vernacular Regions: Exist in an individual's perception (e.g., "the South").

Location

  • Relative Location: Giving location in reference to another feature.
  • Absolute Location: Using latitude and longitude.
  • Site: Internal, physical characteristics of a place.
  • Situation: External relations of a place.
  • Mental Map: Map a person believes to exist, useful in communication.

Grids

  • Latitude: East/west lines (parallels); equator is 0 degrees.
  • Longitude: North/south lines (meridians); prime meridian is 0 degrees through Greenwich, England.
  • Time zones change every 15 degrees longitude.
  • International Date Line: Roughly 180 degrees longitude, zigzags through the Pacific Ocean.

Human-Environment Interaction

  • Describes how people modify the environment to fit needs.
  • Humans cannot live in the "five toos": too hot, too cold, too wet, too dry, and too hilly.

Spatial Interaction/Movement

  • Linked places together, well connected areas.
  • Situation: How well connected a place is with the outside world.

Six Essential Elements in Geography

  1. The spatial world
  2. Places and regions
  3. Physical systems
  4. Human systems
  5. Environment and society
  6. Uses of geography in today's society

Diffusion

  • Movement of a characteristic from a hearth (origin).
  • Relocation Diffusion: Physical spread through people (e.g., migration).
  • Expansion Diffusion: Spread from a central node.
    • Hierarchical: Spread by social elite.
    • Contagious: Rapid spread, often associated with disease.
    • Stimulus: Part of an idea spreads to create innovation.

Distribution

  • Organization of objects in space.
  • Density: Frequency of an object in an area (arithmetic vs. physiological).
  • Concentration: Proximity of a phenomenon (clustered/agglomerated vs. dispersed/scattered).
  • Pattern: How objects are organized (linear, centralized, random).
    *Models: Examine behavior, infer meaning, and predict future occurrences, essential for examining location and features on the landscape.