Transcript Basics of Geography PowerPoint

Basics of Geography -
* word Geography – comes
from the Greek word
geographia which means to
“describe the earth”
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.
5 Concepts of Geography
Location
Place
Region
Human Environment Interaction
Movement
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
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
Latitude Lines are flat
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 °
•Longitude Lines
are ‘long’ and
measure east and
west
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
•
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
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
• Functional Region:
Organized around a set of
interactions and connections
between places
i.e. a city, state, county
• 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
Human-Environment Interaction
people learn to change their
environments to meet their
needs
b. people use different
environmental circumstances for
different reasons
(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
c. Human alterations to the
physical world around them
can sometimes hurt the
environment
Movement
How do people, goods, and
ideas move from one location
to another?
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?
2. Maps
a. two-dimensional graphic
representations of selected
part of the earth’s surface
What are the advantages/disadvantages of a
map?
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?
Mercator Map Projection: 1569
Robinson Map Projection Today
Least distorted view of the world!
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)
Physical Map
B. Political Maps
1. Shows features on the
earth’s surface that humans
created
2. Includes cities, states,
provinces, territories, or
countries
Political Map
Thematic Maps
• Maps focused on specific
types of information
• (Qualitative, Cartograms,
flow-line, etc.)
C. Qualitative Maps
1. use colors, symbols,
dots, or lines to help you
see patterns related to a
specific area
Qualitative Map
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
Cartograms are distorted
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
Flow-line Maps
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
Title
Compass Rose
Legend/Key
Symbol
B. Satellites
1. used to find large
scale information for
geographers
1. Landsat - series of
satellites that orbit more than
100 miles above the earth
a. can scan the entire
earth in 16 days
3. Geographic Information Systems
(GIS) p. 12
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
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
b. uses 24 satellites called
Navstars, which beam
information to handheld
receivers