Name Emily DArdenne Period: Date: 8/13/16

AP HUG

Basic Concepts
I. How Do Geographers Describe Where Things Are?
1. Maps

Map is a scale model of the real world

2 purposes for maps : 1) Reference Tool 2) Communications Tool

Early Mapmaking
(a)
(a) Middle East in 6-7 BC: used geometry to measure land & later maps of water
(b) Aristotle 384-322 BC: showed earth is spherical and not FLAT.
(c) Eratosthenes 276-194 BC:
(i) 1st to use the word Geography
(ii) Calculated the earths circumference to within % error.
(iii) Divided earth correctly into 5 climate zones.
(d) Roman Empire: A Greek Ptolemy (100-170 AD) Wrote a 8 volume book on
Geography, Guide to Geography which basically showed how to make a map.
These techniques established mapmaking principles for the next 1,000 years. After
Ptolemy nobody really thought about mapmaking in Europe for several 100 years.
Europeans again thought the earth was flat.
(e) Chinese:
(i) 5th century BC book describes the countries resources
(ii) Phei Hsiu made a map in 267 AD and is considered to the Father of Chinese
cartography
(f) Muslims:
(i) Al-Idrisi used Ptolemys techniques to made a world map and text in 1154 AD
(ii) Ibn-Battutah traveled 75,000 miles in the Muslim world of Asia, north Africa and
southern Europe making maps.
(g) Europe during Reniansse: Age of Exploration & Discovery 1500s
(i) Cartographers: Mercator and Ortelius made maps using Ptolemys ideas and the
explorers: Magellan & Columbus.
2. Map Scale

The level & amount of detail on a map depends on the scale

The appropriate scale for a map depends on the information being portrayed.
(a) The smaller the area of the map the smaller the scale. 1:10,000 = City neighborhood
& 1:10,000,000 = State

(a) A ratio or fraction: shows the numerical ratio between distances on the map and Earth's
surface.
(a) The1 on the left side of the ratio always refers to a unit of distance on the map, and
the number on the right always refersto the same unit of distance on Earths surface.
(b) A written scale: describes this relation between map and Earth distances in words
(a) 1st number always refers to map distance, and the 2nd to distance on Earth's surface.
(c) A graphic scale: usually consists of a bar line marked to show distance on Earth's surface.
(a) The number on the bar line is the equivalent distance on Earth's surface
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3. Projections
(a) globe is an extremely limited tool
(b) Earth's spherical shape poses a challenge for cartographers because drawing Earth on a
flat piece of paper unavoidably produces some distortion.
(c) The scientific method of transferring locations on Earth's surface to a flat map is called
projection.
(d) There are 4 types of distortions:
(a) Shape: it appears more elongated or squat than in reality.
(b) Distance: two points may become increased or decreased.
(c) Relative Size: one area may appear larger than another on a map but is
in reality smaller.
(d) Direction: one place to another can be distorted.
(e) Types of Projections:
(a) Robinson Projection: Useful for displaying information across the oceans. Not good
for landmasses.
(b) Mercator Projection: Very little distortion to shape & direction but relative size of
land masses near poles appear larger than reality.
4. U.S. Land Ordinance of 1785
(a) Other mathematical indicators of locations are used in different parts of the world.
(b) In the United States, the Land Ordinance of 1785 divided much of the country into a
system of townships and ranges to facilitate the sale of land to settlers in the West.
(c) township is a square 6 miles on each side.
(d) North-south lines separating townships are called principal meridians,
(e) east-west lines are designated base lines
st nd
(f) The numbering system: 1 number is township north or south of the baseline: T1N. 2
number is the range indicating the number of the range west or east of the principle
meridian. R1E.
(g) Each township is further divided into 36 sections. Each section is 1 by 1 mile square.
(h) Each section is divided into 4 quarters, each of these sub-sections were what pioneers
bought as homesteads.
B. Contemporary Tools
1. Satellite-based Imagery
(a) GIScience is made possible by satellites in orbit above Earth sending information to
electronic devices on Earth to record and interpret information.
(b) GPS
(a) GPS accurately determines the precise position of something on Earth.
(b) GPS has 3 elements: 24 Satellites, Tracking stations (monitor and control satellites) &
GPS receivers that are used to determine the exact position.
(c) GPS mostly used for navigation.
(c) Remote Sensing
(a) Remote sensing collects data about Earth's surface from a satellite orbiting Earth or
from other long-distance methods.
(b) Images are captured via pixels in a scanner
C. GIS
1. GIS (geographic information system) is computer system that can capture, store, query,
analyze, and display geographic data.
2. GIS is more efficient for making a map than pen and ink: Objects can be added or removed,
colors brightened or toned down, and mistakes corrected without having to tear up the paper
and start from scratch.
3. Information on the maps are added in layers.
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4. GIS enables geographers to establish relationships between objects.
5. Mashup is adding multiple layers on a map.
II. How Do Geographers Describe Where Things Are?
Each place in the world is unique to a Geographer. The concepts of place
and region help explain the how each place is different.
The Geographer tries to figure out why things are found where they are
, which is the interplay between trying to be like other people and each place uniqueness.
A. Place: Unique Location of a Feature
The combination of features that make each
place and region on Earth distinct.
4 ways to identify location: place name, site, situation, and mathematical location.
1. Place Name
(a) A toponym is the name given to a place on Earth
(b) Names can be after: Founder's name, Religious Meaning, Origin or the settlers, Or what
happen (Golden Spike, UT) or happening (mining terms) or description of land (Happy
Valley)
2. Site
(a) Site is the physical character of a place.
(a) includes climate, water sources, topography, soil, vegetation, latitude, and elevation.
(b) Site factors have always been essential in selecting locations for settlements
(c) Humans have the ability to modify the characteristics of a site. Like creating more land
by filling in water areas (New York, Tokyo, Netherlands)
3. Situation
(a) Situation is the location of a place relative to other places.
(b) First, situation helps us find an unfamiliar place by comparing its location with a familiar
one.
(c) Second, situation helps us understand the importance of a location. Many locations are
important because they are accessible to other places.
4. Mathematical Location
(a) Location can be determined precisely by meridians and parallels.
(b) A meridian is an arc drawn between the North and South poles.
(a) The location of each meridian is identified on Earth's surface according to a
numbering system known as longitude.
(b) The Prime Meridian passes through Greenwich, England at the Royal Observatory.
(c) A parallel is a circle drawn around the globe parallel to the equator and at right angles to
the meridians.
(a) The numbering system to indicate the location of a parallel is called latitude.
(b) The Equator is reference latitude.
(d) The use of latitude and longitude determine exactly where places are location
(a) Degrees are subdivided into minutes and seconds.
(b) GPS determined locations use decimal degrees instead of deg, min and sec.
(e) The 0 longitude runs through Greenwich because England was the world's most
powerful country when longitude was first accurately measured.
(a) Each hour of difference is equivalent to traveling 15 longitude.
B. Regions: Areas of Unique Characteristics
A region is an area of Earth defined by one or more distinctive characteristics.
1. Cultural Landscape
(a) Cultural landscape: a combination of cultural, economic and physical features
(a) cultural features such as language and religion
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(b) economic features such as agriculture & industry
(c) physical features such as climate and vegetation.
(b) Cultural landscape approach to Geography is called regional studies.
(c) Cultural landscape as an area fashioned from nature by a cultural group.
(a) "Culture is the agent, the natural area the medium, the cultural landscape is the
result."
(b) The fundamental principle underlying the cultural landscape approach is that people
are the most important agents of change to Earth's surface.
(d) Region is a distinctive landscape that results from a unique combination of social
relationships and physical processes.
C. Types of Regions
Geographers most often apply the concept at one of two scales: 1) Several
neighboring countries that share important features. 2) Many localities within a
country
Geographers use 3 types of regions: formal, functional, and vernacular.
1. Formal Regions
(a) Uniform region or a homogeneous region, is an area within which everyone
shares in common distinctive characteristics.
(b) In a formal region the selected characteristic is present throughout.
(a) A State is a formal region because the state government
creates common laws, collects taxes, and issues
license plates.
(b) Formal regions a characteristic may be predominant rather than universal.
(c) Formal regions to help explain broad global or national patterns
(a) such as variations in religions & levels of economic development
2. Functional Region
(a) Also called a nodal region, is an area organized around a node or focal point.
(b) Characteristic that defines a functional region dominates at a central focus and decreases
in importance away from the focus.
(c) Examples: TV Station Coverage, Newspaper circulation.
3. Vernacular Region
(a) Is a place that people believe exists as part of their cultural identity.
(b) Example, American South.
D. Spatial Association
Different associations (or conclusions) may be reached concerning a region's characteristics
depending on its scale
Integrating other spatial information about people, activities, and environments can allow the
discovery other factors that may be associated with regional differences.
1. Regional Integration of Culture
Culture is the body of customary beliefs, material traits, and social forms that together
constitute the distinct tradition of a group of people.
Culture is thought as the collection of novels, paintings, symphonies, and other works
Culture "to care for" something has two very different meanings:
To care about-to adore or worship something, as in the modern word cult.
To take care of-to nurse or look after something, as in the modern word cultivate.
(a) WHAT PEOPLE CARE ABOUT
Customary ideas, beliefs, and values of a people produce a distinctive culture in a
particular place.

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Important cultural values derive from a group's language, religion, and ethnicity.
Excellent way of identifying the location of a culture and the principal means
culture is distributed around the world.
Language is a system of signs, sounds, gestures, and marks that have meanings
understood within a cultural group.
Religion is the principal system of attitudes, beliefs, and practices through which
people worship in a formal, organized way.
Ethnicity includes group's language, religion, and other cultural values and
physical traits.
(b) WHAT PEOPLE TAKE CARE OF
Production of material wealth-the food, clothing, and shelter that humans need in order to
survive and thrive.
Different cultural groups obtain their wealth in different ways.
Geographers divide the world into different regions of how wealth is obtained:
Developed Countries (MDC: More DC, LDC: Less DC)
(a) MDCs: Europe, North America, Japan. Wealth via manufacturing and providing
services
(b) LDCs: Sub-Sahara Africa, Middle East, East Asia, South Asia, Southeast Asia &
Latin America, Wealth via agriculture.
Geographers also interested in political institutions that protect wealth. (i.e. Citizenship,
taxes., votes)
Cultural groups in the modern world are increasingly asserting their right to organize
their own affairs at the local scale rather than submit to the control of other cultural
groups.
2. Cultural Ecology: Integrating Culture and Environment
Different cultural groups modify the natural environment in distinctive ways to produce
unique regions.
The geographic study of human-environment relationships is known as cultural ecology.
Alexander von Humboldt (1769-1859) and Carl Ritter (1779-1859) urged human
geographers to adopt the methods of scientific inquiry used by natural scientists.
Formulating general laws than have social scientists, so an important goal of human
geographers is to discover general laws.
Humboldt and Ritter concentrated on how the physical environment caused social
development, an approach called environmental determinism.
(a) HUMAN AND PHYSICAL FACTORS
Modern geographers reject environmental determinism in favor of possibilism.
Environmental Possibilism, the physical environment may limit some human actions,
but people have the ability to adjust to their environment.
For Example, people can choose the crops they grow to be compatible with their
environment.
Example: How does a region deal with its population exceeding its ability to grow
food?
By controlling their numbers, adopting new technology, consuming different
foods, migrating to new locations, and taking other actions.
(b) PHYSICAL PROCESSES: CLIMATE

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Need to be familiarity with global environmental processes (climate, vegetation, soil,
landforms) to understand the distribution of human activities ( where they live &
acquiring wealth)
Climate is the long-term average weather condition at a particular location.
Climate Classifications: Koppen (German Climatologist) System:
(i) A: Topical Climates
(ii) B: Dry Climates
(iii) C: Warm Mid-Latitude Climates
(iv)D: Cold Mid-Latitude Climates
(v) E: Polar Climates
Modified Koppen System sub-divides the types. Except for Dry Climates the subtype
is determined by the amount of precipitation and the season of precipitation. For Dry
Climate the sub-type also includes temperature.
People have a limited ability to live in places of extreme temperature and
precipitation. Therefore, few people live in Dry and Polar Climates
Example, people of India and Bangladesh depend on the monsoon season for 90% of
their annual water.
(c) PHYSICAL PROCESSES: VEGETATION
There are 4 major forms of plant communities or Biome.
o Forest Biome: Tree forms continuous canopy over the ground containing grass
and shrubs (North America, Europe, Asia and topical areas of South America,
Africa and Southeast Asia.
o Savanna Biome: Tree do not form a continuous canopy so large grasslands.
Africa, South Asia, South America and Australia
o Grassland Biome: Few trees, mostly grass lands, because there is little
precipitation. American Prairies
o Desert Biome: Patches of vegetation that have adapted to extreme dry
conditions.
(d) PHYSICAL PROCESSES: SOIL
Soil is the thin layer between earths air and rocks.
There are 12 soil types (US Comprehensive Soil Classification System)
o There are also soil sub-types. So that there are 12,000 soil types identified in
the USA
There are 2 factors that lead to the destruction of Soil 1) Erosion: soil washes away
2) Nutrient depletion: when plants use up the nutrients in the soil.
(e) PHYSICAL PROCESSES: LANDFORMS
Landforms describes if the land is hilly or flat. The study of landforms is called
Geomorphology.
People tended to want to live on flat ground. People may have to perform extensive
effort to modify the landform in or to live.
Topographic or Topo maps show details of the lands physical features.
Relief and slope are shown on the Topo via the elevation markings. Relief is the
elevation difference between 2 points and slope is the steepness of the ground.
E. Modifying the Environment
Technology can alter the environment which can lead to depletion of a scarce resource or
permanently change the land (Nuclear reactor melt down).
Wide spread use of air-conditioning use chlorofluorocarbons has lead to ozone depletion and
global warming.
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2 of the most heavily modified environments are Netherlands and South Florida.
1. THE NETHERLANDS: SENSITIVE ENVIRONMENTAL MODIFICATION
The Dutch have modified their environment with two distinctive types of construction
projects-polders and dikes.
o Polders is a piece of land that is created by draining water from an area.
o 16% of Netherlands polders
o Dikes is prevent the North Sea from reclaiming the polder land that was drained.
o 2 major dikes Zunder Zee and Delta Plan Projects.
o Once these two projects were completed in 1980s the Dutch started to break
some of the dikes and allow land to be reclaimed by the sea.
Dutch have become world leaders in reducing contributions to global warming by
reducing industrial pollution and using renewable resources (solar & wind) for power.
2. SOUTH FLORIDA: NOT-SO-SENSITIVE ENVIRONMENTAL MODIFICATION
Floridas approach to changing their environment has had a negative impact on the
environment.
The Everglades was a slow moving river that was 50 miles wide and 6 inches deep. Much
of the river has been destroyed by human expansion.
US Army Corp Engineers built dikes and canals to channel the river allowing the land to
drained for farming.
Now there is major pollution from cattle ranches that is polluting half the drinking water
for Florida.
People have built jetties and seawalls to prevent naturally occurring sand erosion on the
barrier islands.
These manmade have just shifted the erosion to the down-stream area,
There are calls for the state for Florida to buy back the farmland in south Florida to
restore the natural flow of the everglade river. But no real action has occurred.
III.Why Are Different Places Similar?
There 3 main concepts that allow Geographers to understand why 2 different places can be the
same: scale, space, & connections.
A. Scale: From Local to Global
Unique features are seen at the local scale
Broad patterns are seen at the global scale.
Geographer dont think the phrase Think globally, act locally is good enough. They think the
phrase should be Think & act both globally and locally
All actions matter to geography depending on the project.
1. Globalization of Economy
Globalization, which is a force or process that involves the entire world and results in
making something worldwide in scope.
Scale of the world is shrinking in the ability of a person, object, or idea to interact with a
person, object, or idea in another place.
Global economy and culture is producing a world that is more uniform, integrated, and
interdependent.
Globalization of the economy has been led primarily by transnational corporations,
sometimes called multinational corporations.
o A transnational corporation conducts research, operates factories, and sells
products in many countries, not just where its headquarters and principal
shareholders are located.
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Modern technology provides the means to easily move money, materials, products,
technology, and other economic assets-around the world.
Global economy has lead to specialization locally. As each place plays a role in the global
economy.
In a global economy the transnational corporations establish optimally the location for
each of its activities.
Transnational corporations created a spatial division of labor by deciding what to produce
where.
2008 recession was the 1st global recession
2. Globalization of Culture
Global cultural preferences produce uniform "global" landscapes of material artifacts and
of cultural values.
In spite of local cultural values people around the world aspire to drive an automobile,
watch television, and own a house.
o Think of McDonalds at the Olympic village in RIO or in downtown Paris.
As more people want the same things across the world local customs and values start to
less important.
With the globalization of communications, people in two distant places can watch the
same television program.
In a global culture, companies can target groups of consumers with similar tastes in
different parts of the world
As people try and hold onto their local customs in the face of globalization intolerance
can develop.
o Al-Qaeda attacks are one form of this intolerance
o Taliban in Afghanistan is trying to stop the integration of Afghanistan in the
global culture by banning TV and restricting women activities.
Many contemporary social problems result from a tension between forces promoting
global culture and economy versus preservation of local economic autonomy and cultural
traditions.
B. Space: Distribution of Features
Geographers think about the arrangement of people and activities found in space and try to
understand why those people and activities are distributed across space as they are.
Unlike historians who are concerned about when (time) and why geographers are concerned
about where (space) and why.
1. Distribution
The arrangement of a feature in space is known as its distribution.
Geographers identify 3 main properties of distribution across Earth: density,
concentration, and pattern
(a) DENSITY
How often something occurs in space is its density. Cars, houses, ponds,
Arithmetic density, which is the total number of objects in an area
o
Population density is an arithmetic density. Belgium has 345 people/ km2
Physiological density: the number of persons per unit of area suitable for agriculture
o
High may mean that a country has difficulty growing enough food to sustain
its population.
Agricultural density: the number of farmers per unit area of farmland
o
High may mean that a country has inefficient agriculture.
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(b) CONSENTRATION
The extent of a feature's spread over space is its concentration.
o Things that close together are Clustered
o Things that are far apart are Dispersed
Concentration is used to describe changes in distribution.
Concentration is not the same as density
o Population density maybe the same for two towns but the concentration
maybe much different. High rises (high concentration) with a large
community park may equal a town with many streets of single family homes.
(c) PATTERN
Pattern is the geometric arrangement of objects in space.
Many USA cities are arranged in regular patterns streets.
o Another example is the land ordinance of 1785.
2. Gender and Ethnic Diversity in Space
Patterns in space vary according to gender and ethnicity.
The family house was already selected largely for access to Dad's place of employment
The importance of gender in space is learned as a child. Dad goes here, mom goes there.
If the family described above consisted of persons of color, its connections with space
would change. African Americans tend to live in cities. People who live in cities are more
likely to use mass transportation than using a car.
Openly homosexual men and lesbian women may be attracted to some locations to
reinforce spatial interaction with other gays.
Cultural identity is a source of pride to people at the local scale and an inspiration for
personal values.
The dignity of all cultural groups is more than merely a matter of political correctness; it
lies at the heart of geography's explanation of why each place on Earth is unique.
C. Connections Between Places
More rapid connections have reduced the distance across space between places, but in time.
Space-time compression to describe the reduction in the time it takes for something to reach
another place.
o Places far away seen to more accessible.
o In the 1920s Nanny had to take a train, walk 1.5 mile to get on a ferry to cross the
Delaware to get on a train to get to Atlantic City. Today we get in a car that reach
Atlantic City in 2 hours.
Diffusion, by which cultural connections are made between regions, as well as the
mechanism by which connections are maintained through networks.
1. Spatial Interaction
People needed to travel to interact with another location.
From 1800 BC to 1800 AD people traveled using the same technology: Sailboats, animals
or walked.
Today we dont even to move in order to interact. We can use the internet to interact
globally via: network TV Or network of Airlines or network of trains/ buses
Contact diminishes with increasing distance and eventually disappears.
o This trailing off phenomenon is called distance decay.
2. Diffusion

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Diffusion is the process by which a characteristic spreads across space from one place to
another over time.
o The place where an idea/ innovation starts from is called hearth
o The culture group must be willing to change or innovate in order to establish a
hearth. The hearth must also have the economic structures to implement and
diffuse the idea.
o Important feature of USA can be traced from hearths in Europe and the Middle
East.
Idea starts at the hub or node and then is diffused to other areas
(A) RELOCATION DIFFUSION
When an idea spreads because of the physical movement of people it is called
relocation diffusion.
When people move, they carry with them their culture, including language, religion,
and ethnicity.
The spread of languages from Europe to North & South America was via relocation
diffusion.
Another example of relocation diffusion was the spread of AIDs during the early
1990s. The hearths were New York, Florida & California. Initially more than 50% of
the states had no AIDs cases. By the peak year 1993 there were cases in every state.
The rapid decline of AIDs cases was via relocation diffusion of the AZT medicine.
(b) EXPANSION DIFFUSION
Expansion diffusion is when something spreads slow at first and then rate of
spreading continues to increase.
The growth diffusion maybe the result of 3 different processes: Hierarchical,
Contagious or Stimulus Diffusion.
Expansion diffusion occurs more rapidly than in the past because communication
technology is better and cultural attitudes to try the next new thing.
(a) Hierarchical diffusion
Hierarchical diffusion is the spread of an idea from persons or nodes of authority
or power to other persons or places.
The authority maybe from political leaders, socially elite people, or other
important persons to others in the community.
Hip-hop or rap music is an example of an innovation that diffused from low-
income African Americans rather than from socially elite people, but it originated
in urban areas
(b) Contagious diffusion
Contagious diffusion is the rapid, widespread diffusion of a characteristic
throughout the population.
An idea placed on the World Wide Web spreads through contagious diffusion,
because Web surfers throughout the world have access to the same material
simultaneously and quickly.
(c) Stimulus diffusion
Stimulus diffusion is the spread of an underlying principle, even though a
characteristic itself apparently fails to diffuse
(c) DIFFUSION OF CULTURE AND ECONOMY

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In a global culture & economy, transportation and communications systems
rapidly diffuse raw materials, goods, services, and capital from nodes of origin to
other regions.
o The primary hearths are North America, Japan & Western Europe.
o The other areas contain of the worlds population but are edge of the
global decision processes.
o The increasing gap in economic conditions between regions in the core
and periphery that results from the globalization of the economy is known
as uneven development.

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