I. Spatial Interaction & Distribution

A. Location, Direction, & Distance 1. absolute & relative location: absolute location: a physical place measured by latitude and longitude (the address of a house is also an absolute location) relative location: location in relation to other places Real-time GPS Tracking systems

site & situation: 1.site: the physical and human characteristics of an absolute location. 2. situation: the relationship of a place to other places. Singapore lower Manhattan Island

3. absolute and relative directions: absolute direction: north, south, east, west relative direction: “the middle east,” “west coast,” “deep south” 4. absolute and relative distance: absolute distance: cm, km, miles relative distance: measured by time

B. Size & Scale What is map scale? --a consistent relationship between size on the map & size in real life 1:24,000 scale (one inch = about 0.4 miles) 1:100,000 scale (one inch = about 1.5 miles) Does a large-scale or small-scale map show a larger area of land? small-scale= big area, little detail. Maps of the world which fit on two 8 1/2 by 11 inch pages are very small scale, about 1 to 100 million. large-scale=small area, lot of detail. Large scale maps will have a RF of 1:50,000 or greater (i.e. 1:10,000).

National Level... Deaths from Cancer Lowest Level

State Level... Deaths from Cancer Highest Level

Local Level... Deaths from Cancer

C. Interrelationships Between Places The ideas of relative location & relative distance leads to a fundamental spatial reality: A. Places interact with other places in structured & understandable ways through the following: Accessibility: ability to interact with a particular location Connectivity: interactions between several locations Spatial Distribution: density (measure of the number of something in a defined area) dispersion (amount of something is spread out in space; types: linear, clustered, or scattered dispersion) pattern (the geometric arrangement of objects in space)

Pattern of a distribution to uncover sources of disease? Map of Cholera Victims in London’s Soho District (1854)

Describing Distributions

Spatial behavior of people: population

The Spatial Distribution of Afghan Civilian Casualties Caused by the U The Spatial Distribution of Afghan Civilian Casualties Caused by the U.S. Air War, October 7 - December 6th 2001

B. Regions region: earth areas that display some sort of uniformity 3 types of regions: formal regions: an area which has one or more common distinctive characteristics, such as language or economic activity i.e.: Florida state boundary; US-Mexico border

functional regions: an area defined by its function (interactions & connections) i.e.: a downtown area

Formal & Functional Regions The state of Iowa…formal region Areas of influence of various television stations?

perceptual (or vernacular) regions: emerges from people's “sense of a place” (all about feelings & images of a place) i.e.: The South, “the hood,” Chinatown

FORMAL, FUNCTIONAL, OR PERCEPTUAL? Distribution of predominant world religions: formal

FORMAL, FUNCTIONAL, OR PERCEPTUAL? Kurdistan Formal-Kurds

FORMAL, FUNCTIONAL, OR PERCEPTUAL? World Countries (2005)