UNIT ONE – PART 3

Some Terms  Spatial skills is an ability to observe and understand how different things are related  Geographic Inquiry is a method that geographers use to solve problems (later in the course)

Geography Will Teach You…  Where natural features, human features, people and other species are located  Why they are located there  The imprints, or effects, and patterns made by these features on the Earth’s surface  How and why these patterns change over time

Geography Will Teach You…  The economic, environmental, and social consequences of these changes  The connections between people and their environment and among different groups of people  The challenges that arise from the ways that people interact with their environment and how we can resolve these challenges

What Geographers Do…  Look at shapes and patterns made on the landscape by natural features (rivers and forests)  Look at processes (flooding, glaciation, erosion)  Examine the geographic imprints of human activities (settlements, farming, waste disposal)

Map Conventions  Maps are used everyday. Anything on the Earth’s surface can be mapped (subway routes, rivers, cities, shopping malls)  All map makers follow the same rules when creating maps. These rules are known as map conventions. The main conventions are:  Title : tells what the map is about  Legend : indicates what colors or symbols represent the features on the map

Map Conventions  Direction : tells where places are in relation to other places  Scale : tells the size of the area of land shown on the map; helps determine distances from places  Date : tells when the map was drawn (Important because features and landscapes change over time)  Map-maker`s Name : Tells who made the map

Geomatics  Geomatics is a set of tools, techniques, and technologies to answer many of the questions geographer`s face  There are FOUR main areas of geomatics: 1. GIS (Geographic Information Systems)  Computerized mapping and analysis based on spatial data 2. Remote Sensing  Collecting information from a distance using tools such as satellite images and aerial photography

Geomatics 3. Surveying and Measuring  Recording details about Earth`s surface using tools such as Global Positioning Systems (GPS)  Cartography (Map-making)  All this spatial data is then used to make accurate maps  These maps are then used by many people throughout the world