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

3. 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.

4. 5 Concepts of Geography Location Place Region Human Environment Interaction Movement

5. 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

6. 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

7. Latitude Lines are flat

8. 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° - 180 ° International Dateline 180 °

9. Longitude Lines are ‘long’ and measure east and west

10. 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

11. 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

12. 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

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

14. 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

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

19. (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

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

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

22. 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?

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

24. 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?

25. Mercator Map Projection: 1569

26. Robinson Map Projection Today Least distorted view of the world!

27. 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)

28. Physical Map

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

30. Political Map

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

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

33. Qualitative Map

34. 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

35. Cartograms are distorted

36. 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

37. Flow-line Maps

38. 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

39. Title Legend/Key Symbol Compass Rose

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

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

42. 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

43. 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

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