GEOGRAPHY

What is Geography? *It is the study of earth OR *Anything that can be mapped or studied! BMR

Why do you need geography? Watch the video, then record your thoughts below.video BMR

GEOGRAPHY Provide an example of something that you might do in life that will be affected by geography. BMR

*mixes up the physical and human aspects of our world into one field of study *shows the relationship between people and the environment Geography BMR

What is a geographer? *Someone who analyzes the Earth from many points of view. BMR

THE FIVE THEMES OF GEOGRAPHY  There are five ways to look at the earth  When geographers work, they are guided by two basic questions: 1) Where are things located? 2) Why are they there? To find these answers, geographers use five themes to organize information

Things that geographers study: *oceans *plant life *landforms *people *how the Earth and its people affect each other BMR

THE FIVE THEMES: 1) Location – Geographers begin to study a place by finding where it is 2) Place – Geographers study the physical and human features of a location 3) Human-Environment Interaction – Geographers study how people affect or shape physical characteristics of their natural surroundings and how does their environment affect them?

BMR 4) Movement – Helps explain how people, goods, and ideas get from one place to another 5) Regions – Geographers compare the climate, land, population, or history of one place to another THE FIVE THEMES:

BMR LOCATION There are two ways to think about location: *absolute location – describes the place’s exact position on the Earth Washington, D.C. 39 °N 77°W *relative location – explains where a place is by describing places near it Selinsgrove is south of Lewisburg, north of Liverpool, west of Sunbury and east of Middleburg

BMR PLACE This includes a location’s physical and human features. *To describe physical features, you might say that the climate is hot or cold or that there are mountains and rivers *To describe human features, you might discuss how many people live there, what language they speak, what religion they practice

MOVEMENT *Explains how people, goods, and ideas move from one place to another *Helps geographers understand cultural changes BMR

HUMAN-ENVIRONMENT INTERACTION *How do people modify (change) to and change their environment? *How do people adapt to the environment? *How do people depend on the environment? *Geographers also use interaction to study the consequences of people’s actions. BMR

REGIONS *A region has a unifying characteristic, like climate, land, population, or history *Regions can be formal (boundaries), functional (newspaper publishing) or perceptual (Middle East) *On maps, geographers use color and shape or special symbols to show regions

BMR GEOGRAPHER’S TOOLS Globes and Maps: *People collected information about the earth as they explored *Mapmakers (cartographers) wanted to present this information accurately *The best way was to put it on a globe, a sphere that represented the Earth

BMR *Globes are not practical or easy to use or to carry in your pocket, so flat maps were created *Cartographers have the problem of making an accurate representation of a three-dimensional object, the earth, on a flat two-dimensional surface, a map *Paper has only height and width, not depth and as a result there are distortions or changes in what is being shown GEOGRAPHER’S TOOLS

*Cartographers try to represent one or more of the four aspects of the earth’s surface: distance, direction, area and shape *One map, or projection, can never show all of the earth’s features correctly. *Cartographers must decide on which aspect is most important and choose a (map) projection that suits the purpose. GEOGRAPHER’S TOOLS BMR

*Compare the size of Greenland with the size of South America. *Greenland is not as big as South America even though it appears to be in this Mercator projection. *This is distortion. *It would take 8.2 Greenlands to fill South America. BMR

*Around 1569, a geographer, Gerardus Mercator, designed a flat map to help sailors navigate long journeys across the open seas. MAPS/PROJECTIONS *The Mercator keeps the true shape of the landmasses and true direction. *Distances are distorted especially near the poles where landmasses are greatly exaggerated. *There are other types of projections that represent the Earth. BMR

*The Goode (interrupted) projection is the most accurate flat map in the aspects of size and shape. *Distances and relationships are hard to picture on this projection. *True proportions of land and water are presented on this projection. MAPS/PROJECTIONS BMR

*The Robinson projection presents the best overall picture of the world. *The Robinson projection presents the shapes and relative positions without much distortion. MAPS/PROJECTIONS BMR

*A great circle is any imaginary line which circles the earth and divides the earth into two equal parts. *You can pick any two points on Earth and draw a great circle that will go through both points and divide the earth into two equal halves. *Travel along a great circle route between any two points on Earth will always allow you to travel the shortest distance between those points. MAPS/PROJECTIONS BMR

THE HEMISPHERES

*All maps have a title that tells what the map is describing. *Most maps show direction with an arrow that points north. *The scale on a map tells you the relative distance on the map to the real world. PARTS OF A MAP *A key (also known as a legend) is a table which explains the meanings of signs, symbols, colors and abbreviations used on a corresponding map or chart. BMR

PARTS OF A MAP Latitude and Longitude Lines (Absolute Location) BMR

*Grid System - an interlocking set of lines created by lines of latitude and longitude helps us to find an exact location. PARTS OF A MAP BMR