Themes of Human Geography

1.Location: The position of something on the earth's surface.

2.Absolute Location: Exact location on the earth using latitude and longitude, a grid system or an address.

doesn't change and are unique

3.Relative/Situation Location: The location of a place by comparing it to another location

Cardinal direction

Distance

Time

Landmarks

This term can also refer to a place in terms of how central (important) or isolated a place is in relation to other places

4. Samarkand - This city was once very important as it was located on the major ancient, OVER LAND trade route known as the Silk Road. When ships began to be the focus of international trade, important cities grew along coasts. Inland Samarkand became isolated as a result.

5.Place: What physical and human characteristics can I see at a location?

6.Topography: Relief or surface elements of the earth's surface

a physical characteristic

7.Climate: Overall weather in an area over a long period of time a physical characteristic

8.Vegetation: all the plant life in a particular region a physical characteristic

9.Wildlife: animals that live and grow in natural condition a physical characteristic

10.Agriculture: The deliberate effort to modify a portion of Earth's surface through the cultivation of crops and the raising of livestock for sustenance or economic gain. a human characteristic

11.Architecture: The science of planning and constructing buildings a human characteristic

12.Religion: A system of beliefs shared by a group with objects for devotion, rituals for worship and a code of ethics a human characteristic

13.Economics: the branch of knowledge concerned with the production, consumption, and transfer of wealth

the condition of a region or group as regards material prosperity

livelihoods

levels of development

a human characteristic

14.Regions: how are places similar?

an area or division, especially part of a country or the world having definable characteristics but not always fixed boundaries

15.Formal/Uniform Region: A formal region is an area defined by a limited number of related characteristics based on data/facts

16.Functional/Nodal Region: These types of regions are areas created by movement around a central hub or node.

There must be movement to have

this type of region.

17.Perceptual/Vernacular Region: These regions are based on how individuals perceive a region.

Boundaries and characteristics of these types of regions are different depending on an individual's perceptions

18.Wilbur Zelinsky: a cultural geographer that used names of people and businesses in the phone book to map perceptual regions of the USA

19.Human Environment Interaction (HEI): Humans depend on their physical environment for basic needs.

Humans adapt to their physical environment (clothing styles and building materials).

Humans modify their environment.

Human interaction with the environment can have important consequences.

20. Movement: How and why do people, goods and ideas move?

What changes resulted in the movement?

People

Goods

Ideas

21. Qualitative Data:

Characteristics, approximates, descriptions

Collected through interviews and interpretations

Data categories could be subjective

22. Quantitative Data:

Numbers, hard data (quantifiable)

statistics

Map Projections

1.Compromise Projection: neither equal area nor conformal, all four properties are slightly distorted so that one property is not drastically distorted

2.Conformal Map: shape is correct but other properties are distorted

3.Conic Projection: map made by projecting points and lines from a globe onto a cone. Longitude is straight but fans out, latitude is curved

In the mid latitudes hemisphere-around US and Australia are shown accurately

Size is distorted, shapes are correct

4.Distortions: Every map MUST and DO have these that result from making a 2D representation of a 3D sphere.

5.Equal Area Map: area (size) is correct but other properties are distorted

6.Gall-Peters projection: Considered the "politically correct" projection--a response to the Mercator's greater distortion of the size of landmasses in the northern hemisphere.

7.globe: The only accurate representation of the earth

8.map projection: A projection is a way to make a flat representation of the Earth

9.Mercator/Cylindrical Projection: Invented 1569, meant for navigating ships, direction is true-mimics a globe-lines of latitude/longitude are a right angles, show straight lines are loxodromes or rhumb lines-for "true" direction BUT

Distorts size-esp. North and South Poles-imagine the orange peel again-as you stretch out the peel-the equator stay true to size but the poles are stretch out to try and make it lie flat

10.Planar/Polar/Azimuthal projection: projection of an area of earth onto a plane

are accurate at the point the projection touches the map

Shape distorted at edge of projection.

Uses: Great Circle Routes

used by pilots because great circle routes appear as straight lines.

Importance of Human Geography

1.3 Branches of Geography: Physical Geography

Environmental Geography

Human Geography

2.Central Place Theory: location of settlements and why they are where they are

3.Environmental Geography: the intersection of humans and their physical geography.

4.Geography: The study of place

Why places and people are where they are

What their location means in the past, present, and future

How their location affects other places

5.Human Geography: Deals with the spatial aspect of human activities. It studies the distribution of humans and their activities on the surface of the earth and the processes that generate these distributions.

6.Human Geography's Place: Gives a spatial perspective to other disciplines. It asks the questions the "why of where".

7.Location Theory: A logical attempt to explain the locational pattern of an economic activity in the manner in which its producing areas are interrelated.

8.Models: are representations of reality NOT the reality.

9.Pattison's 4 Traditions of Geography: Spatial (location)

Area Studies (regions)

Man-Land Tradition (human-environment interactions)

Earth Science (physical)

10.Physical Geography: the natural phenomenon

11. Tobler's 1st Law of Geography: "Everything is related to everything else, but near things are more related than distant things"

12.Von Thunen's Model: shows where to put agricultural production.-specific to where agriculture is based in regards to mark and land prices

The Spatial Perspective

1.

Accessibility

the ease of reaching one location from another.

2.

Centrality

This is the economic reach one area has to another.

3.

Connectivity

the degree of linkage between locations in a network

refers to the quality of relations between two or more objects in space

4.

Core

refer to the center, heart, or focus. When looking at an individual country this could be the areas with the largest population clusters. can also be the areas with the most productivity. When looking at the world these could be the regions with economic and developmental dominance (ex: Europe, US).

They exploit peripheral areas and peripheral areas rely on them

5.

Friction of Distance

The increase in time and cost that usually comes with increased distance.

6.

Periphery

refers to areas of lower areas of development. They generally have lower levels of education, salaries and technology. They generate less wealth than core areas. If looking globally, they will be your less developed countries (ex: sub-Saharan Africa)

7.

Semi-periphery

They will rely on the core but they also will exploit the periphery. Usually these will be your developing countries such as your BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India, China) countries.

8.

Spatial Perspective

Geographers use this when studying different facets of the world.

They ask the question: Where is it and why is it there?

9.

Time-space compression (convergence)

this increasing sense of connectivity even though the actual distance has not changed. Distance between places is shrinking as technology allows for more rapid communication.

Map Types

1.Bar scale: To use this scale, measure a distance between two locations on a map. Compare the measurement to this to get a distance. On this map of Colorado, one inch equals 40 miles.

2.Cartogram: shows size using data other than area

3.Chain Migration: refers to the chains of foreign nationals who are allowed to immigrate because citizens and lawful permanent residents are allowed to bring in their non-nuclear family members.

4.Choropleth map: uses shading to show different levels of data

5.Flow Line: shows movement with arrows of different size

6.Graduated Symbol: uses a symbol to show frequency or intensity of variable

7.Isoline map: connects points of equal value to make lines on a map

Ex: Topographic

Map

8.Large scale: shows small areas in greater detail

9.Map scale: distance on a map relative to the distance on Earth

10.Mental / Perceptual Map: Images of places we form based on our experiences and perceptions

11.Physical map: highlight naturally occurring features

12.Political map: highlight man made features

13.Reference Map: shows locations of places, as well as human and

natural geographic features

14.Representative fraction & Ratio scale: are a unit-less relation between one "unit" on the map and how ever many "units" of the same type on the ground.

15.Small scale: show large areas in less detail

16.Statistical Map: Thematic maps that show different levels of variation within the theme

17.Thematic map: shows one theme

18.Time Zone Map: map showing the world's or any country's time zones

19.Verbal scale: measurement on both sides such as 1 inch equals 1 mile

Geographic Concepts

1.Environmental Determinism: The idea that the environment determines how a culture/society is

2.Flows: Streams of movement of phenomena

3.Globalization: the expansion and intensification of linkages and flows of capital, people, goods, ideas and cultures across national borders.

4.Hierarchies of regions: Regions exist within a vertical order, and one place can be part of several regions simultaneously.

5.Interdependencies among scales: What happens at one scale is the result of factors operating at different scales--on a "local-global continuum."

6.Landscape Analysis: Geographers look at the cultural (or built) landscape. There is no place on earth that has not been touched by humans. Geographers will look at landscapes to gain an understanding of an area. They will look at imprints made by a sequence of occupants. Cultural landscapes can offer clues to the cultural practices, values, and priorities of its various occupiers.

7.Networks: linkages between places.

8.Patterns: In Human geography we will be looking at this and processes at different scales. For example, geographers may look at disease patterns to try to determine the origin of outbreak, where it's going, and how to prevent the continuous spread.

9.Possibilism: The idea that although the natural environment may limit choices available to culture it does not limit them. People, not the environment, shape the culture.

10.Regionalism: This is the idea that someone will identify with a region on a local or global scale.

11.Regionalization: The organization of earth's surface into distinct areas that are viewed as different from other areas

12.scale of inquiry: affects the truth

13.Scale (Scale of analysis): This is the level of representation, experience, and organization of geographical events and process.

14.Site: This is the physical characteristics of a place (ex: climate, water, topography, soil, vegetation, ect.) This can also include its absolute location.

15.Time and Space: Where did it happen and why there?

16.Time-distance decay: As distance increases the level of connectivity decreases.

17.Tobler's First Law of Geography: Everything is related to everything else but close things are more closely related.