How big is the Universe? Hubble Deep Field View /2004/07/image/ahttp://hubblesite.org/newscenter/newsdesk/archive/releases /2004/07/image/a The Hubble Telescope was pointed at a ‘dark’ part of the sky Located in the constellation Fornax, the region is so empty that only a handful of stars within the Milky Way galaxy can be seen in the image. rsof10/ rsof10/

The Great galaxy in Andromeda… a spiral galaxy similar to our own

Our sun is but one single middle sized and middle aged star hanging out along the edge of average sized galaxy

Our Earth is planet # 3 in a system of Nine Planets

So here we have our Earth, fundamentally the only planet we have explored… GEOGRAPHY Is the science of describing this planet… literally, “Writing about Earth”

SUBJECT MATTER From the Greek Language “geo” = Earth “graphia” = description or depiction Eratosthenes, a 3rd century B.C. Greek Scholar and chief librarian at the famous Library of Alexandria was perhaps the first person to use the term “Geography.”

DEFINITIONS The world and all that is in it. Spatial perspective on people, places and environment. Geography is a social science that focuses on the spatial distribution of human and physical phenomena. The science and art of understanding the spatial relations among people, place, and environment. Geography is the study of pattern and processes associated with the Earth. The focus of the geographer is on spatial patterns and how phenomena that share common space interact spatially.

DEFINITIONS The world and all that is in it. Spatial perspective on people, places and environment. Geography is a social science that focuses on the spatial distribution of human and physical phenomena. The science and art of understanding the spatial relations among people, place, and environment. Geography is the study of pattern and processes associated with the Earth. The focus of the geographer is on spatial patterns and how phenomena that share common space interact spatially.

DEFINITION Geography is the study of people, places and environments. But more than that, it is a way of looking at the world and asking why it works ( or doesn’t work ) and the way it does work. It is more than where, but why there. It is looking at issues from a spatial perspective and inquiring about them.

Why What is Where? and Who Cares? An alternative definition of ‘geography’ developed by Dr.s McKnight and Strong during a snowball fight along the empty streets of Washington DC.

The “geographic eye” Learning to SEE space and spatial relationships. An important part of training this skill is learning to communicate spatial relationships….

The field notebook In one place records Where? What? Why? And Who cares? The field notebook is a critical tool for a geographer

Sketch Mapping A sketch map gives a geographer the opportunity to selectively present information. A sketch map can easily be seen as a perceptual map… how does one perceive the world?… this is embodied in a sketch map.

The Hundred Acre Wood

Auto- biographical Map by GGG

Photo graphy Writing/drawing with light Good photography is an extremely powerful tool for geographers. It records instantly an image that contains a wealth of information about a topic.

“A picture is worth a thousand words”… true? Geographers have always tried to tell the story of a place…. Sketches, word pictures, paintings, maps, collections of samples, data… all tell the story of a place…. All have advantages….

The ‘essence’ of Place… One of the most powerful tools to record and describe geographic locations are photographs…..

Geography is in large part understanding the ‘sense of place’… When you walk down a street in St.Petersburg, Dhaka or Haleyville, what is different about this place than other places?

Appropriate Technology Not all field tools are ‘high tech’ We will learn to use the simplest tools to gather accurate spatial data.

High Tech..... We will also expand on the use of mapping grade GPS receivers to include the use and processing of our new sub-meter Trimble GeoExplorer XT