Basics of Geography - * word Geography – comes from the Greek word geographia which means to “describe the earth”

A person who studies geography is called a geographer. Geography is the study of the distribution and interaction of physical and human features on the earth.

5 Concepts of Geography Location Place Region Human Environment Interaction Movement

Absolute Location Absolute Location is the EXACT location on earth where something is found Found using Latitude and Longitude Equator and Prime Meridian divide the earth into equal halves called Hemispheres

Latitude Lines Run East and West; measure North and South Parallels Equator - 0° (closest place to sun) Divides earth into Northern and Southern Hemispheres Tropics:Tropic of Cancer 23 1/2 ° N Tropic of Capricorn 23 1/2 ° S South Pole - 90 ° South North Pole - 90 ° North

Latitude Lines are flat

Longitude Lines Run North and South; measure East and West Meridians (Meet at North and South Poles) Divides earth into Western and Eastern Hemispheres Prime Meridian - 0° 0° ° International Dateline 180 °

Longitude Lines are ‘long’ and measure east and west

b. Relative location (1) describes how a place is related to its surrounding environment (2) example: church is located 2 blocks south of the park

Place physical features and cultural characteristics of a location -climate, landforms, and vegetation are examples of physical features -dams, highways, and houses are examples of human and cultural characteristics

Region -Region = a group of locations or places with similarities Formal Regions: has clear boundaries, usually defined by a single characteristic –i.e. Latin America, Southeast Asia, US/Canada

Functional Region: Organized around a set of interactions and connections between places i.e. a city, state, county

Perceptual Region: A region in which people of the region see or perceive the characteristics of the region in the same way –i.e. the Midwest, the Middle East –Southeast or Southwest

Human-Environment Interaction people learn to change their environments to meet their needs b. people use different environmental circumstances for different reasons

(1) some may see a warm, tropical environment as an opportunity to build a vacation resort (2) Others may see a warm, tropical environment as an opportunity to grow citrus fruits

c. Human alterations to the physical world around them can sometimes hurt the environment

Movement How do people, goods, and ideas move from one location to another?

I. The Geographer’s Tools A. Globes and Maps 1. Globes a. three-dimensional representation of the earth What are the advantages/disadvantages of a globe?

2. Maps a. two-dimensional graphic representations of selected part of the earth’s surface What are the advantages/disadvantages of a map?

f. map projection – way of drawing Earth’s surface by presenting a round Earth on flat paper (planar, flat-plane, conical) How is a map projection misleading?

Mercator Map Projection: 1569

Robinson Map Projection Today Least distorted view of the world!

II. Types of Maps A. Physical Maps 1. shows types of natural landforms and bodies of water found in a specific area 2. Color, shading, or contour lines are used to show relief (elevation or altitude)

Physical Map

B. Political Maps 1. Shows features on the earth’s surface that humans created 2. Includes cities, states, provinces, territories, or countries

Political Map

Thematic Maps Maps focused on specific types of information (Qualitative, Cartograms, flow-line, etc.)

C. Qualitative Maps 1. use colors, symbols, dots, or lines to help you see patterns related to a specific area

Qualitative Map

D. Cartograms 1. Information about a country based on information other than land area 2. Size of each country is drawn in proportion to that information rather than its actual land size

Cartograms are distorted

E. Flow-line Maps 1. Illustrates movement of people, goods, ideas. 2. Data usually shown in a series of arrows 3. Location, direction, and scope of movement can be seen

Flow-line Maps

III. Map Information A.Title – subject or basic information of the map B. Compass Rose – shows direction (introduced by Chinese) C. Legend/Key – explains symbols D. Scale – shows distance E. Symbol – represents something

Title Legend/Key Symbol Compass Rose

B. Satellites 1. used to find large scale information for geographers

1. Landsat - series of satellites that orbit more than 100 miles above the earth a. can scan the entire earth in 16 days

a.stores information about the world in a digital database b. a question or problem is posed and many different pieces of information are put together to find a solution 3. Geographic Information Systems (GIS) p. 12

4. Global Positioning System (GPS) a. Originally used by the military so they could know their absolute location – longitude, latitude, altitude, and time on Earth’s surface

b. uses 24 satellites called Navstars, which beam information to handheld receivers