GEOLOCATION

The Importance of Place

Toponyms: What do we name it?

Site factors: What’s there?

Situation factors: What’s it near?

DESCRIBING A PLACE

Put a Grid on it.

MATHEMATICAL LOCATION

Earth’s Axis The Earth spins as it orbits the sun

The Axis is the line around which the earth spins

It spins from West to East (direction of the arrow)

The point around which the earth spins at the top and bottom of the earth are the poles

MATHEMATICAL LOCATION

Latitude Lines (Parallels)

Geographers orient the earth so that the direction of spin is at a right angle to the axis

They then apply lines in the direction of spin called latitude lines (parallels)

The lines of greatest circumference is called the equator (assigned 0°)

MATHEMATICAL LOCATION

THE EQUATOR (0°)Divides the earth into two Hemispheres

(North and South)

MATHEMATICAL LOCATION

Each additional line is placed at 1° intervals (angle from center of earth with equator as a base)

Latitude lines run from 0° to 90° both North and South of Equator

North pole is 90° North, South Pole is 90° South

LATITUDE LINES

MATHEMATICAL LOCATION

Earth’s axis tilts 23.5° to both sides every year.

That tilt changes the point on the earth’s surface that gets the most direct sunlight.

It also changes the point on the top and bottom of the earth at °90 to the sun.

MATHEMATICAL LOCATION

AXIS TILT

When axis tilts right, northern hemisphere gets more direct sunlight.

When axis tilts left, southern hemisphere gets direct sunlight.

The lines of greatest shift relative to the equator are called Tropics

The lines of greatest shift relative to the poles are called circles

TROPICS & CIRCLES

MATHEMATICAL LOCATION

Geographers draw lines that connect the two poles called longitude lines (or meridians)

All meridians have an equal length.

English geographers set the first meridian (0°) to pass through Greenwich England and called it the Prime (as in primary) Meridian.

LONGITUDE LINES(MERIDIANS)

MATHEMATICAL LOCATION

Greenwich, England

PRIME MERIDIAN(0° LONGITUDE)

MATHEMATICAL LOCATION

Using the pole as a point and the Prime Meridian as a base, all other meridians are place at 1° angle intervals to the East AND West of the Prime Meridian.

Meridians run 0° to 180° West of the PM (towards the US) and 0° to 180° East of the Pm towards China.

There is a single line of 180° longitude, exactly opposite the Prime Meridian.

LONGITUDE LINES

MATHEMATICAL LOCATION

Each degree of latitude and longitude is further divided:

Each degree into 60 minutesEach minute into 60 seconds

Lines of Latitude and Longitude form a grid. Coordinates are given in latitude, longitude.

THE GRID

MATHEMATICAL LOCATION

MATHEMATICAL LOCATION

KNOW YOUR LOCATION

Geographers used Meridians to create system of time.Earth takes 1 hour to turn 15° longitude.

There are 24 total zones (24x15= 360° total longitude).

TIMEZONES

Global time set at the prime meridian (Greenwich Mean Time, GMT)The International Date Line is located roughly 180° longitude.

Cross it going East (Towards America) SUBTRACT a day.Cross it going West (Towards Asia) ADD a Day.

INTERNATIONAL DATE LINE

REGIONAL STUDIES

You Ain’t From Around Here Are Ya?

REGIONS

A region is an area of the Earth defined my one or more characteristics:

CULTURAL (language, religion, etc.ECONOMIC (agriculture, industry, etc.PHYSICAL (climate, vegetation, etc.)

Regions gain uniqueness from a combination of human and environmental characteristics

Human Activities produce distinctive landscapes that do not derive primarily from physical features

REGION applies to any area larger than a point and smaller than the planet.

REGIONS

An approach pioneered by Vidal and Brunhes and then adopted by American Geographer Carl Sauer.

Regional studies approach argues that each region has its own distinctive landscape that results from the unique combination of social relationships and physical processes.

Paul Vidal de la Blanche and Jean Brunhes

Carl Sauer

People are the most important agents of change on the earth’s

surface.

REGIONAL STUDIES

REGIONS

Regions derive their character through the cultural landscape.

The Cultural landscape is a combination of cultural (language, religion, etc.), economic (agriculture, industry, etc.) and physical (climate, vegetation, etc) features.

Carl Sauer said, “Culture is the agent, the natural area the medium, the cultural landscape the result.”

The Bamiyan Buddha

THE CULTURAL LANDSCAPE

REGIONS

TYPES OF REGIONS

REGIONS

Formal Regions

(aka Uniform or Homogenous)

DEFINITION TYPES

An area in which everyone (or the great majority) shares distinct characteristic

a region marked by internal sameness

CULTURAL (language, religion, etc.)

ENVIRONMENTAL (climate, vegetation, etc.)

ECONOMIC (crops, manufacturing, etc.)

POLITICAL (states, sub-state divisions, etc.)

REGIONS

US CORN BELT (A FORMAL REGION)

Formal Region: CULTURAL World Macrocultural Regions

REGIONS

Formal Region: ENVIRONMENTAL World Climate Zones

REGIONS

Formal Region: POLITICAL World States

REGIONS

Functional

Regions(aka Nodal)

DEFINITION QUALITIESA area based around a central focal point (node)

Functional characteristic dominates at CORE and lessens towards PERIPHERY

Marked by functional integration, not internal sameness

Area tied to node by systems (communication, transportation, economic)

REGIONS

Functional Region TV Viewing Area

REGIONS

Functional Region Newspaper Circulation

REGIONS

Functional Region Fast Food Service Region

REGIONS

Functional Region Airline Hubs

REGIONS

Vernacular Regions

(aka Peceptual)

DEFINITION QUALITIESAn area people believe exists as a part of a cultural identity

Vernacular regions may also have cores and peripheries

Marked by emotional reflection, not internal sameness or functional integration

Reflects feelings and ideas of a people about a place

REGIONS

Vernacular Region “The South”

REGIONS

Vernacular Region A Neighborhood

REGIONS

Geographers try to identify cultural, economic, and environmental factors that display similar distributions.

Factors that have similar distributions are said to have spatial association.

These spatially associated factors do not necessarily cause each other but they can influence each other.

SPATIALASSOCIATION

Examine the above maps. What do you notice about the distribution of America’s poor and cancer mortality rates?

Macchu Picchu, Peru

Aqueduct of the Eagle, Nerja, Spain

CULTURAL ECOLOGY

CULTURALECOLOGY

Where Man Meets Land

Culture is the sum total of a group’s way of living. It’s comprised of three elements:

MENTIFACTS… religion and philosophySOCIOFACTS… government and economyARTIFACTS… food, clothing and shelter)

Culture can operate at a number of scales from macrocultural to microcultural

CULTURAL ECOLOGY

CULTURE

Macro-culture

Micro-culture

CULTURAL ECOLOGY

the study of the relations and interactions between an organism and its physical

environment

Different cultural groups interact with the natural environment in different ways

The geographic study of human-environment relationships is called CULTURAL ECOLOGY.

There have been two primary theories of cultural ecology:

CULTURAL ECOLOGY

CULTURAL ECOLOGY

ENVIRONMENTAL DETERMINISM

POSSIBILISM

CULTURAL ECOLOGY

ENVIRONMENTAL DETERMINISM

The Environmental Determinism theory was pioneered by German geographers Humboldt and Ritter in the 1800s.

It was espoused by others in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

It claimed that the physical environment CAUSED (determined) social development.

IT’S BEEN REJECTED BY MODERN GEOGRAPHERS.

CULTURAL ECOLOGY

Environmental Determinism has been rejected as inaccurate because:

The environment does limit man’s activities, but man can always choose how to act in response to the environment.

Modern geographers take a closer look at the environment and its processes.

They know they must understand the earth’s PHYSICAL PROCESSES to understand how they AFFECT (not DETERMINE) human activity.

CULTURAL ECOLOGY

POSSIBILISM acknowledges that the environment does limit man’s activities, but claims that man can always choose how to act in response to the

environment.

PHYSICAL PROCESSES CLIMATE

Climate is the long term, average weather condition at a location.Humans have a limited tolerance for extreme temperature and precipitation levels.Local climate affects human activities, especially food production.

CULTURAL ECOLOGY

VEGETATION

Vegetation and soil affect the types of agriculture people practice.Earth’s land vegetation is divided into four main categories (biomes) of plant communities:

PHYSICAL PROCESSES

CULTURAL ECOLOGY

1. FOREST BIOME 2. SAVANNA BIOME3. GRASSLAND BIOME 4. DESERT BIOME

SOIL

Soil is the organic material that forms on the Earth’s surface.

It contains dirt, decomposed biomatter and nutrients essential for plant growth.

Geographers have identified more than 12,000 types of soil.

Geographers are especially concerned with destruction of soil due to erosion and desertification (nutrient depletion).

PHYSICAL PROCESSES

CULTURAL ECOLOGY

Earth’s surface features (landforms) vary from flat to mountainous.Landforms include mountains, bodies of water, forest, valleys, wetlands, etc.Landforms affect the distribution of people and the choice of economic activities at different locations.

LANDFORMSPHYSICAL PROCESSES

CULTURAL ECOLOGY

Claims that the physical environment can LIMIT SOME human activities, but that humans have the ability to adjust to their environment.

Humans can CHOOSE a course of action from many alternatives in the physical environment, given the physical processes.

Possibilists argue that the physical environment becomes valuable through man’s adaptation of it and its resources.

POSSIBILISM

CULTURAL ECOLOGY

United Arab EmiratesPOSSIBILISM IN:

CULTURAL ECOLOGY

Burj al Arab Hotel, Dubai UAE

United Arab EmiratesPOSSIBILISM IN:

CULTURAL ECOLOGY

Palm Island: Dubai, UAE

The World Islands

Dubai, UAE

Ski DubaiDubai, UAE