Geography - the science that deals with the description of the Earth’s surface
Geo - the earth
Graph - to write
A multi-disciplinary field that studies spatial patterns and phenomena.
Branches of Cultural Geography
Cultural Geography - the study of the many cultural aspects found throughout the world and how they relate to the spaces and places where they originate and then travel as people continually move across various areas
The relationship between different cultures and places
Drivers and outcomes
Human geography - the study of human populations
Environmental Geography - the study of how people are affected by and change the natural environment
The interactions and impacts between humans and the natural world
Links aspects of human geography with physical geography
Physical geography - the study of the natural environment
Environmental interactions
Scale - the relationship of an object or place to the earth as a whole
Economic Geography - the manner in which products are usually produced and consequently distributed in their respective niche markets
Also, the way in which wealth is distributed in various regions over the planet.
Spatial interaction
Regions and landscapes
Political Geography - the investigation of every aspect of politics with regard to the boundaries of a country, the states it has, and the development strategies it has in place.
Pattern and process
Space and place
Space and Place
Space - the way in which objects are placed on the Earth’s surface that is defined by their location and are separated by some degree of distance from other things.
Location
Geography
Physical
Measurable
Functional
Practical
Location in space - what is where on the Earth and why it’s there and not somewhere else
Place - an area of bounded space of some human importance
Feeling
Connection
Identity
Meaningful
Cultural
Personal
Spatial Thinking
Spatial thinking - understanding the pattern and distribution of objects and analyzing their relationship, connectedness, movement, growth, and change across space and over time.
Geographic Perspective - the discipline that helps us understand why something %%we know here%%, in this location, %%may be wrong %%in some other location.
Human environment interaction: How do traits and links interact in that location?
Place: What’s there?
Location: Where is it?
Link: How is it connected?
Religion: What else is like there?
Geography’s First Law
“Everything is related to everything else, but near things are more related than distant things.” (Tobler, 1970)
Tobler’s Law - states that all places are interrelated, but closer places are more related than farther ones.
Developed by American-Swiss geographer Waldo Tobler.
Spatio-temporal Thinking
Movement - how and why do things move (change location) over time?