1. Introduction to Geography People, Places, and Environment, 6e Carl Dahlman William H. Renwick
Chapter 1: Introduction to Geography
Holly Barcus
Morehead State University
& Joe Naumann - UMSL

2. Conclusion from a healthy world view
"The deeper we look into nature the more we recognize that it is full of life, and the more profoundly we know that all life is a secret, and we are all united to all this life."
Albert Schweitzer

3. Overview: Chapter 1 The Nature of Geography
Evolution of the Discipline
Some Basic Geographic Concepts
Geography’s Themes and Standards
Maps - Cartography

4. Geography
The study of the interaction of all physical and human phenomena at individual places and of how interactions among places form patterns and organize space.

5. The Nature of Geography
Geographers apply the spatial perspective whereas historians apply the time perspective
For maximum understanding, the geographer must also be aware of the time perspective and visa versa.

6. Geographic focus Distributions Distances Directions Shapes & forms
What geographers look for
Distributions
Distances
Directions
Shapes & forms
Patterns
Cores
peripheries

7. Basic Geographic Concepts
Location, Direction and Distance
Size and Scale
Physical and Cultural Attributes
Attributes of Place are Always Changing – a dynamic reality
Interrelations Between Places
Place Similarity and Regions

8. What Is Geography? Systematic Perspective Regional Perspective
Physical – subdivisions
Human/ Cultural – subdivisions
Regional Perspective
Tools of Geography
Cartography (tool & means of expression)
Geographic Information Systems (GIS)

9. Subfields of Geography
Human Geography studies
Growth & distribution of population
Nature of cities
Communications networks
Location of businesses & industries
Growth & collapse of empires & nations
Spread of culture traits
Technology
Trends & styles
Religions & ideologies
Physical Geography studies
Origin & nature of continents & landforms
Origin & nature of oceans
Climates (past & present)
Rivers
Glaciers
Others
Soils
Animals
Plants

10. Geography is Broad and Integrative
Broad: Geography frequently tries to focus on the “whole picture”
Integrative: It draws upon almost every academic discipline seeking patterns and connections

11. Geography as Mother of many Sciences

12. People as well as academic disciplines have different perspectives

13. Awaken to the Wonders of Geography

14. Geography began with questions.

15. Origins of Geographic Study
Natural human inquisitiveness
Thinking geographically is one of the oldest human activities. Perhaps the first geographer was a prehistoric human who crossed a river or climbed a hill, observed what was on the other side, returned home to tell about it, and scratched the route in the dirt. Perhaps the second geographer was a friend or relative who followed the dirt map to reach the other side.
James M. Rubenstein in Contemporary Human Geography

16. Origins of Geographic Study
Ancient civilizations/empires made maps
Greek philosophy
Geography = geo (earth) + graphy (inscribe – write about)
Why are things where they are & why are they the way they are – causations and conclusions

17. History of Geography Classical Western World Non-European World
Erastosthenes ( B.C.)
Hipparchus ( B.C.)
Non-European World
Al-Edrisi ( )
Ibn-Battuta ( )
Ibn-Khaldun ( )
The Tribute of Yu
Phei Hsiu
Kangido

18. Since the 1400’s… General geography (1650) Human-environment tradition
Bernhard Varen
Special geography = regional geography
General geography = topical/systematic geography
Human-environment tradition
Alexander von Humboldt ( )
Cosmos
George Perkins Marsh ( )
Man and Nature (1864)

19. Environmental Determinism
Humans must adapt to natural conditions
Nature sets rather rigid parameters and humans must act within them – culture will be determined by them
This was the prevailing view from Hippocrates through the 19th century
Friedrich Ratzel
Ellsworth Huntington
Ellen Semple
Too rigid and absolute to be accepted today.

20. Possibilism – a balanced approach
Nature may influence human action, but not determine it
Ultimately, humans make the choices for their responses to natural conditions.
Technology allows humans to alter or widen the parameters set by nature
A more realistic approach than environmental determinism

21. Rationale for Geographic Study
“The information that any citizen needs in order to make an informed decision on an important question of the day is largely geographic.”
IRAQ

22. Geography Today Association of American Geographers Three approaches
55 topical specialties
Where?, What?, When?, Why?, and Why there?
Three approaches
Area analysis (areal systems analysis)
Spatial analysis
Geographic information systems analysis

23. Geographic Theme: Location
Area Analysis
Site – (absolute location)
Exact location of a place
Situation or relative location
Location of a place relative to other places
Accessibility
Constant change
Scale
Globalization
Geographic Theme: Location

24. WHERE IN THE WORLD IS? Bosnia Kosovo Chechnya Vojvodina Kyrgyzstan
Rwanda
Lesotho
Myanmar
Bhutan
Bangladesh
Somalia
Macedonia
Andorra
Liechtenstein
Tasmania
Qatar

25. Regions (Geographic Theme)
Formal regions
Exhibit uniformity across a cultural or physical characteristic
Functional regions
Defined by interactions among places
Vernacular regions
Widespread popular perception of existence

26. Formal & Functional Regions
Time zones
States
Cities & Metropolitan areas
Functional
Chicago & its hinterland

27. F U N C T I O N A L

28. VERNACULAR REGIONS

29. Three properties of distribution
Spatial Analysis
Distribution
Three properties of distribution
Density
Concentration
Pattern

30. DISTRIBUTION

31. Areal (spatial) systems analysis

32. Movement (Geographic Theme)
Distance
Measurements
Absolute
Time
Cost
Psychological (perception)
Friction of distance
Distance decay
As distance increases, importance of a particular phenomena decreases
Ex. Newspaper circulation

33. FACTORS AFFECTING MOVEMENT

34. Three Types of Diffusion
Relocation diffusion
Contiguous diffusion
Hierarchical diffusion
Barriers to diffusion
Cultural barriers
Oceans, deserts, distance, time
Political boundaries, cultural differences

35. Hierarchical Diffusion

36. Lithosphere (Earth’s solid rocks) Hydrosphere (water)
4 Physical Systems
Atmosphere (air)
Lithosphere (Earth’s solid rocks)
Hydrosphere (water)
Biosphere (living organisms)

37. Earth’s 4 Interrelated Physical Systems

38. Human-Environmental Interaction (Geographic Theme)
Reciprocal interaction
Culture
Language, food, religion, social ceremonies
Natural landscapes
Without evidence of human activity
Cultural landscapes
Reveals how humans modify local environment

39. The Geographic Grid (absolute location)
Longitude
Measures distance east to west around the globe beginning at the Prime Meridian
Prime Meridian
International Date Line
0-180 degrees East or West
Latitude
Location on the Earth’s surface between the equator and either the north or south pole
Parallels
0-90 degrees North or South

40. Locating Points on a Sphere: the Grid System
Latitude – angular distance measured north or south of the Equator through 90º of arc. Degree of constant length – 69 miles.
Parallels – not lines of latitude
Poleward reduction in length
Longitude – angular distance measured east or west of the Prime Meridian through 180º of arc. Degree distance decreases poleward.
Meridians – not lines of longitude
All meridians have the same length ½ of Equator

41. A Grid
Latitude and longitude may be combined on a globe or map to create a grid. One specific parallel will only intersect a specific meridian at one place on the earth. Using the two together allows for locating places precisely.

42. Creating a Grid

43. Longitude and time zones
Approximately 15º of longitude wide because 360º divided by 24 (hours in a day) equals 15º. Actual boundaries vary from precise meridians to accommodate political and cultural differences

44. The Reality of Time Zones

45. Alpha-numeric Grid – commonly used in atlases and on road maps
St. Louis is located in section D8

46. The 5 Themes of Geography
LOCATION
PLACE
MOVEMENT
HUMAN/ENVIRONMENT INTERACTION
REGIONS
(See MyGateway – Supplemental Materials – Chapter 1 folder for a more detailed explanation of the themes and the two subcategories each one has.

47. The Five Themes in Education
All elementary and secondary textbooks currently are built around the Five Themes of Geography
The Five Themes are easy to remember and use

48. Quick Overview of 5 Themes – Click on the picture below to see the video

49. Map Making Cartography Scale Detail and area Fraction 1/24,000
Ratio 1:24,000
Written statement “1 inch equals 1 mile”
Bar style
Detail and area
Small scale map = less detail, large denominator (1:1,000,000)
Large scale map = more detail, small denominator (1:100,000) 1 2 4 3

50. The Map is the medium or language of geography
Can convey much information quickly and effectively
Can be used to establish theories
Can be used to solve geographic problems
May reveal possible interactions and connections
Can illustrate patterns, flows, distributions, connections, sequent occupance, etc.

51. Five Requirements of a Good Map
Grid – to facilitate locating places
Direction arrow or compass rose – to orient the map to the real world
Scale – to translate map distances to real-world distances
Key or Legend – to interpret symbols used on the map
Title – to alert the map reader to the topic or theme of the map
Other useful information: Copyright date & Projection used

53. Map Scale – the concept
Scales Of Area Shown – inverse relationship between scale and area shown.
Large Scale Maps – show small areas in great detail
Small Scale Maps – show large areas with less detail

54. SMALLEST SCALE
LARGEST SCALE

55. Simulating a 3rd Dimension
Topographic Maps and Terrain Representation
Hachure Lines
Contour Lines (topographic)
Combination Hachure & Contour
Combination Contour & Shaded Relief

56. Profile made from a topographic map.
For precision, every intersection should be plotted

57. Symbol Choices (the Key)
Point Symbols – dots or pictorial symbols or proportional squares or boxes
Area Symbols – differences in kind and differences in quantity – differing colors often used
Choropleth – differences in quantity
Cartogram – differences in quantity
Line Symbols – transportation – differing types of lines and colors
Isolines – lines of constant value such as contour lines
Isobar – barometric pressure; isohyet -- precipitation
Isotherm – temperature; isochrome – travel time from a point
Contour line – equal elevation

58. More Choices
Map of culture regions or agricultural regions – different colors (area symbol)
Map of oil, automobile, or wheat production – proportional circles or squares or multiple pictorial symbols (one symbol = a given amount)
Map of temperatures or precipitation – isolines (isotherm or isohyet) – barometric pressure -- isobar
Traffic volume or trade volume – flow lines
Urban center locations – dot
Urban size – proportional circles or other symbol
Distribution of a phenomenon – dot distribution

59. Projections
Scientific (mathematical) method of transferring locations on Earth’s surface to a flat map
4 types of distortion – all maps are distorted in some way or other!
Shape
Distance
Relative size
Direction

60. Types of Map Projections
Cylindrical
Conic
Planar
Equal Area
Equidistant
Conformal
Special cases

61. Mercator Projection: Conformal – useful for navigation
Proportional areas!
Equal-area Projection: good for spatial comparisons.

62. Geographic Information Technology
Automated cartography
Manual techniques expensive
Computer Assisted Drawing (CAD)
Sophisticated, specialized digital cartography systems
Easier, cheaper editing

63. Remote Sensing
Acquisition of data about Earth’s surface from a satellite orbiting the planet or from high-flying aircraft

64. Satellites Landsat Weather satellites 1972; 1999
Sensors measure radiation of colors of visible light
Pixel size (resolution): 59x59 meters
IKONOS resolution: 1.5x1.5 meters
Weather satellites
Very large pixels

66. Remotely Sensed Data Human activities Wartime applications
Changes in plant growth
Drainage patterns
Erosion associated with agriculture
Logging and forest management
Wetland monitoring
Wartime applications

67. Change in Forest Cover

68. GIS Database software for digital information Layers
Contains same information as regular database
PLUS
Spatial characteristics such as boundary information or coordinates
An identifying characteristic that locates the item in space (i.e., address)
Layers
Information with specific characteristics
Soils, hydrology, land ownership
Can be combined for analysis

70. GIS – Commercial & Educational Applications
After selecting the data, the different layers of information are sandwiched together
Cartographer can examine different combinations and select the best one

71. Digital Geographic Information
Raster
Grid cells of data
Remote sensing images
Pixels
Vector
Point, line, polygon data
X and Y coordinates
Different uses and spatial accuracies

72. Digital Data Conversion of paper to digital formats
Digital database creation
Remote sensing images
Digitizing
Tracing lines
Available types of data
Topographic maps
DRG and DLG
US Fish and Wildlife Service National Wetlands Inventory
Census Bureau TIGER files

73. GIS Spatial Analysis
Calculating densities and distribution of population
“Counting” lakes
Monitoring environmental changes with satellite images
Analyzing changes in food production and land use

74. Purposely Misleading or to “See With New Eyes”?
Map projections can be selected to express information as accurately as possible.
Map projections can be selected to purposely mislead the map reader.
The map reader must be prepared to distinguish truth from misleading information.
Map projections, or quasi-projections can be selected or used to create an unexpected, revealing view

75. Point of View or World View

76. See – I didn’t make it up!

77. A Hemisphere is a Hemisphere, is a Hemisphere….
Land Hemisphere
Water Hemisphere
The possibilities are infinite
A Hemisphere is a Hemisphere, is a Hemisphere….

78. If the possibilities are unlimited . . . . . How about a N. Atlantic Hemisphere?

79. Map Projection and Specialty Examples

80. Dot Distribution

81. Choropleth Map

82. Cartogram

83. Making a Cartogram
Computer programs can adjust the areas to the data, such as population, and adjust the shapes to obtain a recognizable configuration.

84. Flow-line Maps show direction and volume or intensity.

85. Boundaries can really generalize a transition zone -- climate

86. Boundary transitions -- language

87. Animated Maps
Show change over time such as population growth and dispersion

88. Types of common maps
Physical/Political map – combines political boundaries and physical features and possibly more – good general reference
Topographic maps – Primary feature: uses contour lines to give impression of the land surface – also includes cultural features -- good for hiking, hunting, camping, orienteering, for selecting potential sites for human use
Road or transportation map – shows various means of transportation plus political features

89. General purpose road maps
Often published by individual states of US
Often supplied in at least class-set quantities to educators without cost
Usually free to travelers at information/rest stop locations, particularly near the state border
Combine much information
Some major physical features
Roads, railroads, rivers, airports
Parks, national forests, special tourist attractions
State and county boundaries

90. THE JOY OF MAPS IS THAT IT OPENS A LOVE OF THE WORLD FOR YOU!

91. Geographic Contribution
Superb antidote to “tunnel vision” in an age of specialization
Live in a world of growing & strengthening interconnections
Scope of geography can be narrow or broad enough to encompass the whole earth
Has relevance to much that happens
Spatial perspective reveals linkages and interconnections
Cartographic aspect is extremely useful

92. What we do or don’t do, impacts the environment – we must be responsible world citizens. We have to live on earth with the consequences of our actions.

93. End of Chapter 1