Chapter 1 - Basic Concepts
Part 1 – Explains the purpose of geography, geographers’
tools, mapping, geographic grids, maps, map projection,
scale and time zones.
In this section you will be able to explore:
•How do geographers describe where things are?
•What is the significance of maps?
•How location is determined and displayed?
•How time is calculated around the globe?
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How Do Geographers Describe Where
Things Are?
• Geography is the study of where things
are found on Earth’s surface and the
reasons for the locations.
• Human geographers ask two simple
questions…
1. Where are people and activities found on
Earth?
2. Why are they found there?
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Maps
• A map is a two-dimensional or flat-scale
model of Earth’s surface, or a portion of it.
• Cartography is the science of mapmaking.
• Maps serve two purposes…
1. As a reference tool to identify an object’s
absolute and relative location. (We will explore
the meaning of absolute and relative locations
later in this chapter)
2. As a communications tool to convey the
distribution of human activities or physical
features.
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Early Mapmaking
• Earliest maps were reference tools—simple
navigation devices to show a traveler how to
get from Point A to Point B.
• First world map prepared by
Eratosthenes(276–194 B.C.)
– Improvements to world map later made by
Ptolemy.
– After Ptolemy, advancements in cartography
primarily made outside of Europe by Chinese
and Islamic world.
• Mapmaking revived during the Age of Exploration
and Discovery.
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Map of the World by Eratosthenes
Notice how many continents are shown, pay attention to their
relative size and location. Which continents are missing?
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Contemporary Mapping
• Shift from simply a tool that provides
location reference to a tool used by
geographers to communicate complex
geographic phenomena.
• Current mapping techniques use GPS and
geospatial tools, satellite imagery, aerial
photo and LIDAR data for complete and
accurate mapping.
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Map Scale
• Level of detail and the amount of area
covered on the map depend on its map
scale.
– Relationship of a feature’s size on a map to its
actual size on Earth
• Map scale is presented in many different
ways. The most common representation is
a verbal scale such as 1 inch= 10 miles,
which means one inch distance on the
map is equal to 10 miles in the real world.
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Using computerized mapping
techniques, we can store
location information at various
scales.
The smallest scale will be the
global view where you may see
a larger area but smaller detail.
On the right hand side the
topmost image is a smaller
scale, where as the bottom
image is a larger scale with
zoomed-in view of the park.
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Map Projection
• Scientific method of transferring locations
on Earth’s surface to a flat map is called
map projection.
• Earth’s spherical shape causes distortion
when drawing it on a flat piece of paper.
– Four types of distortion
1. Shape of an area can be distorted.
2. Distance between points may become increased
or decreased.
3. Relative size of different areas can be altered.
4. Direction between points can be distorted.
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The following example indicates how the actual shape and
size have been distorted in each of these projections that are
drawn on flat paper.
As stated earlier the reason is that Earth’s spherical shape
causes distortion when drawing it on a flat piece of paper.
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Geographic Grid
• Geographic grid is a system of
imaginary arcs drawn in a grid pattern
on Earth’s surface.
– Meridians are arcs drawn
between the North and South
poles. Each is numbered,
according to a system known as
longitude.
• Values range from 0º (prime
meridian) to 180º east or
west longitude.
– Parallels are arcs drawn parallel
to the equator and at right angles
to meridians. Each is numbered,
according to a system known as
latitude. On the above diagram vertical
lines are Meridians (longitude)
• Values range from 0º
and horizontal lines are Parallels
(equator) to 90º north or (latitudes)
south.
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Telling Time
• Earth as a sphere is divided into 360º of longitude.
– Divide 360º by 24 time zones (one for each hour of day) equals 15º.
• Each 15º band of longitude is assigned to a standard time zone.
• Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) is…
– Located at the prime meridian (0º longitude).
• Passes through Royal Observatory at Greenwich, England
– Master reference time for all points on Earth.
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Contemporary Tools
• Geographic Information Science
(GIScience) involves the development and
analysis of data about Earth acquired
through satellite and other electronic
information technologies.
• These involve data collection techniques
such as:
Remote Sensing, and
Global Positioning Systems.
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Why Is Each Point on Earth Unique?
• A place is a specific point on Earth
distinguished by a particular characteristic.
• Describing the features of a place is an
essential building block for geographers to
explain similarities, differences, and
changes across Earth.
• Geographers describe a feature’s place on
Earth by identifying its location, the
position that something occupies on
Earth’s surface.
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Why Is Each Point on Earth Unique?
• Location can be identified in three ways.
1. Place Names
• A toponym is the name given to a place on Earth.
– Names derived from people of prominence, religious
affiliation, physical features, or origins of its settlers
2. Site
• Site is the physical character of a place.
– Characteristics include climate, water sources,
topography, soil, vegetation, latitude, and elevation.
3. Situation
• Situation is the location of a place relative to
other places.
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Why Is Each Point on Earth Unique?
• Region: A Unique Area
– An area on Earth defined by one or more
distinctive characteristics is a region.
• Most often applied at two scales
1. Spanning political states
2. Constrained within one political state.
• A region derives its unified character through the
cultural landscape─a combination of cultural,
religious, and physical features.
– “Culture is the agent, the natural area the medium, the
cultural landscape is the result.” – Carl O. Sauer,
American Geographer
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Why Is Each Point on Earth Unique?
• Region: A Unique Area
– Geographers identify three types of regions.
1. Formal Region (aka uniform region or
homogeneous region)
– An area in which everyone shares in common one or
more distinctive characteristics
» Ex. Common language, economic activity, or climate
» Characteristic may be predominant rather than
universal.
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Why Is Each Point on Earth Unique?
• Region: A Unique Area
– Geographers identify three types of regions .
2. Functional Region (aka nodal region)
– An area organized around a node or focal point
» The characteristic chosen to define a functional region
dominates at a central focus or node and diminishes in
importance outward.
» Ex. Circulation of a newspaper, such as The New York
Times
3. Vernacular Region (aka perceptual region)
– An area that people believe exists as part of their cultural
identity.
» Ex. The American South is a region individuals recognize
as having distinct environmental, cultural, and economic
preferences.
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Why Is Each Point on Earth Unique?
• Regions of Culture
– Culture is the body of customary beliefs,
material traits, and social forms that together
constitute the distinct tradition of a group of
people.
– Origin of word, culture, is the Latin cultus,
which means “to care for.”
• Two meanings
1. To care about
2. To care of
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Why Is Each Point on Earth Unique?
• Regions of Culture
• Geographers study both definitions of culture.
– Culture: What People Care About
» Geographers study why the customary ideas, beliefs,
and values of a people produce a distinctive culture in
a particular place.
» Especially important cultural values derive from a
group’s language, religion, and ethnicity.
– Culture: What People Take Care Of
» The second element of culture of interest is production
of material wealth, such as food, clothing, and shelter
that humans need in order to survive and thrive.
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Why Are Different Places Similar?
• Scale, space, and connections help
geographers explain why similarities among
places and regions do not result from
coincidence.
• Scale is the relationship between the portion
of the Earth being studied and Earth as a
whole.
• Globalization is a force or process that involves the
entire world and results in making something
worldwide in scope.
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Why Are Different Places Similar?
• Globalization of Economy
– Globalization of the economy has been created
primarily by transnational corporations, sometimes
called multinational corporations.
• A transnational corporation conducts research,
operates factories, and sells products in many
countries, not just where its headquarters and
principal shareholders are located.
– Recession that began in 2008 has been called the
first global recession.
• Home buyers in the U.S. to sales clerks in Japan were all
caught in a web of falling demand and lack of credit.
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Why Are Different Places Similar?
• Globalization of Culture
– Geographers observe that increasingly
uniform cultural preferences produce uniform
“global” landscapes of material artifacts and of
cultural values.
• Fast-food restaurants, service stations, and retail
chains deliberately create a visual appearance that
locations differ as little as possible.
– Produces a sense of familiarity for the consumer in what
may be an unfamiliar place overall, such as when
traveling away from one’s hometown
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McDonald’s has more than 32,000 restaurants in 117
countries. To promote global uniformity of its restaurants,
the company erects signs around the world that include two
golden arches.
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Why Are Different Places Similar?
• Space: Distribution of Features
– Space refers to the physical gap or interval
between two objects.
– Geographers think about the arrangement of
people and activities in an attempt to try to
understand why they are in such a
distribution.
• The arrangement of a future in space as long as its
distribution
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Why Are Different Places Similar?
• Space: Distribution of Features
– Geographers identify three main properties of
distribution across Earth.
1. Density- frequency with which something occurs
in space
– Involves the number of a feature and the land area
2. Concentration- extent of a feature’s spread over
space
– Closely spaced together is known as clustered.
– Relatively far apart is known as dispersed.
3. Pattern- geometric arrangement of objects in
space
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DISTRIBUTION OF HOUSES The
top plan for a residential area has a
lower density than the middle plan (24
houses compared to 32 houses on
the same 82-acre piece of land), but
both have dispersed concentrations.
The middle and lower plans have the
same density (32 houses on 82
acres), but the distribution of houses
is more clustered in the lower plan.
The lower plan has shared open
space, whereas the middle plan
provides a larger, private yard
surrounding each house.
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The changing distribution of
North American baseball teams
illustrates the difference
between density and
concentration.
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Why Are Different Places Similar?
• Cultural Identity in Space
– Patterns in space vary according to gender,
ethnicity, sexuality.
– The cultural landscape has the ability to
communicate to people what the accepted norm
is within a place.
• Ex. A bar or park that makes whites feel welcomed
and people of color unwelcomed (or vice versa)
• Ex. An inviting shopping district to people practicing
alternative lifestyles located in close proximity to
where many same-sex couples live
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Why Are Different Places Similar?
• Cultural Identity in Space
– Branches of geography seek to better
understand the dynamics of gender, ethnicity,
and sexuality by looking at the matter through
different lenses.
• Behavioral geography is a branch of human geography
that attempts to understand the psychological basis for
individual human actions.
• Humanistic geography is a branch of human geography
that emphasizes the different ways that individuals
perceive their surrounding environment.
• Poststructuralist geography emphasizes the need to
understand multiple perspectives regarding space .
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Why Are Different Places Similar?
• Connections between Places
– People, ideas, and objects move via connections
through one of three types of diffusion.
1. Relocation Diffusion
– Spread of an idea through physical movement of people
from one place to another
» Ex. Language brought to a new locale by a migrant
2. Expansion Diffusion
– Spread the feature from one place to another in an additive
process
» Hierarchical diffusion: spread of an idea from persons or
nodes of authority or power to other persons or places
» Contagious diffusion: rapid, widespread diffusion of a
characteristic throughout the population
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Why Are Different Places Similar?
• Connections between Places
3. Stimulus Diffusion
– Spread of an underlying principle even though a
characteristic itself apparently fails to diffuse.
» Ex. Innovative features of Apple’s iPhone and iPad
have been adopted by competitors.
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Why Are Different Places Similar?
• Spatial Interaction
– The farther away someone is from you, the
less likely you two are to interact.
• Trailing-off phenomenon of diminishing contact with
the increase in distance is called distance decay.
– Electronic communications have almost
removed barriers to interaction between people
who are far apart.
• Access to the technology is of interest to
geographers.
– Core: North America, Western Europe, and Japan
– Periphery: Africa, Asia, and Latin America
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INCOME GAP BETWEEN RICH AND POOR COUNTRIES
Income has increased much more rapidly in developed
countries than in developing ones.
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Why Are Some Human Actions Not
Sustainable?
• Sustainability and Resources
– Geographers observe two major misuses of
resources:
• Humans deplete nonrenewable resources.
• Humans destroyed otherwise renewable resources
through pollution of air, water, and soil.
– Three Pillars of Sustainability
1. Environment Pillar
– Sustainable development can only exist if conservation is
embraced more fully than wasting resources or
preservation of all resources.
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Why Are Some Human Actions Not
Sustainable?
• Sustainability and Resources
– Three Pillars of Sustainability
2. Economy Pillar
– Efforts to set prices of commodities and goods based not
only on supply and demand but also on costs to the
environment.
3. Society Pillar
– Modifying the wants of cultures in regards to shelter,
food, and clothing to objects that are sustainable
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Why Are Some Human Actions Not
Sustainable?
• Earth’s Physical Systems
– Geographers classify natural resources as
part of four interrelated symptoms.
• Abiotic system is one composed of nonliving or
inorganic matter.
– Atmosphere: thin layer of gas surrounding Earth
– Hydrosphere: all water on and near Earth’s surface
– Lithosphere: Earth’s crust and layer just below the crust
• Biotic system is one composed of living organisms.
– Biosphere: all living organisms on Earth
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Why Are Some Human Actions Not
Sustainable?
• Interactions in the Biosphere
– People are now the most important agents of
change on Earth.
– Human modification of the abiotic systems
has ongoing ramifications.
• Examples
– Atmosphere contains pollutants, humans have trouble
breathing.
– Without water, humans waste away and die.
– Excessive extraction of resources from lithosphere limits
availability of materials for building and fuel for energy.
– Excessive erosion or depletion of nutrients limits
biosphere’s ability to provide food for humans.
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Why Are Some Human Actions Not
Sustainable?
• Modifying the Environment
– Few ecosystems have been as thoroughly
modified as those of the Netherlands and
Florida.
• Netherlands
– Much of the Netherlands would be underwater, if it weren’t
for polders- a piece of land that is created by draining water
from an area.
– Dutch have become world leaders in reducing the causes
of global warming and industrial pollution.
• Florida
– Unsustainable modifications made to ecosystem, as a
result of draining portions of the Everglades and water
pollution from cattle grazing
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SUTAINABLE ECOSYSTEM: THE NETHERLANDS
(left) The Dutch people have considerably altered the
site of the Netherlands through creation of polders and
dikes. (right) A polder in North Holland has been
created by pumping the water from the site into the
canal.
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UNSUSTAINABLE
ECOSYSTEM: SOUTH
FLORIDA To control flooding in
central Florida, the U.S. Army
Corps of Engineers straightened
the course of the Kissimmee
River, which had meandered for
160 kilometers (98 miles) from
near Orlando to Lake
Okeechobee. The water was
diverted into a canal 90 meters
wide (300 feet) and 9 meters
deep (30 feet), running in a
straight line for 84 kilometers
(52 miles).
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Summary
• Geography is most fundamentally a spatial
science exhibited by its emphasis on
mapping.
• Every place on Earth is in some respects
unique, although regions of likeness can be
drawn because of the diffusion of people,
objects, and ideas.
• A substance is merely part of nature until a
society has a use for it. If its price disregards
its costs to the environment, then it is often
an unsustainable practice.
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This is end of Ch. 1
• Read the chapter from textbook to get
further explanation of topics covered on
this slide.
• A self-test and sample questions will be
posted separately for you to assess your
progress.
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