Geography Matters – Chapter 1 • What is Human Geography? • Study of the spatial organization of human activity and our relationship with the environment • Place – The way we use & interpret the Earth environment for our culture • Geographic Tools/Technology – Maps a used to study spatial relationships of Location, Culture, & Environment • Regional Analysis & Planning • The process of Figure 1.3 Influence of place in a center city neighborhood of Boston, MA What do you notice about the landscape?
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Geography Matters – Chapter 1
• What is Human Geography? • Study of the spatial organization of
human activity and our relationship with the environment
• Place – The way we use & interpret the Earth environment for our culture
• Geographic Tools/Technology – Maps a used to study spatial relationships of Location, Culture, & Environment
• Regional Analysis & Planning• The process of
Figure 1.3 Influence of place in a center city neighborhood of Boston, MA
What do you notice about the landscape?
Major Issues in Human Geography & Human Development
Globalization: Increasing geographic interdependence of the world, characterized by:• Instant global communications between Places & Regions• Rapidly changing international relationships – economic & political,
often causing social upheaval & harm to many, warfare, famine, upside is global diffusion of innovations that improve quality of life
• Environmental degradation & concerns about Global Food security
Figure: Chapter 1 Opener Protesting rising food prices in Maputo, Mozambique, AfricaRead about this Human Rights/Labor situation on page 2 & 3 in the text.
The United Nations Human Development Index- http://hdr.undp.org/en/
Figure 1.1 Destruction caused in Japan by the March 2011 tsunami
Figure 1.2 Quality of life is impacted by proximity of oil refineries in Wilmington, California, Los Angeles County
Place – the cultural & physical attributes of an area.How People Interpret & shape the Physical Environment
• Geographic Literacy– Lack of geographic understanding and knowledge among
Americans, do you find this to be true? – Places are dynamic and complex impacted by ever-changing
environmental & human interactions. Natural Hazards & Manmade hazards: How does Japan prepare for the inevitability of Tsunami? Why is this residential neighborhood so close to a refinery?
Places hold Cultural Meaning
• Emotional and cultural symbols– Ex: Graceland (Memphis, TN) – home of Elvis Presley
• Ordinary places with special meaning– Childhood neighborhood imbued with cognitive maps
& memories
• Sites of innovation, change, conflict, social & political upheaval
• “Arab Spring” in• Morocco &• Egypt
Figure 1.4 Anti-government demonstrators flood Tahir Square, Cairo, Egypt on February 11, 2011
Human Geography is the study of the:• Spatial organization of human activities across Earth:• Agriculture, Human Quality of Life, Access to Natural Resources –
Water & Food, Fuel, Housing, Urban Development, Technology• How and why relationships are important - Influence of Major
Elements of Culture; Language & Religion, political organization, continual evolution & devolution of Nation-States.
• Geographers solve a variety of problems from local to global scales using tools such as Mapping technology; Geographic Information Systems (G.I.S.), allows us to represent & analyze spatial data.
Used in:
Environmental analysis
City Planning
Business & Marketing
Diffusion of Diseases
Figure 1.A Urban planners examine a model of a new town near Stuttgart, Germany
Figure 1.6 Topographic map of Lugano, Switzerland. “Topo” meaning topography or lay of the land, & a “graphic” representation of Earth’s surface in elevation. Scale of 1:25,000 with 20 meter contours – Lines of equal Elevation representing height above sea level on the land.
Figure 1.7 Isopleth Map of precipitation for the African continentIsopleth – lines of equal spatial data – Precipitation in both Centimeters & Inches
Figure 1.9 Located charts are generated by combining graphs, charts, or symbols with base maps
Geographic Methods and Tools – Maps
Elements of Maps:Title or Theme -Where is it on this map? Why is it so small?Scale – Distance on the map to distance on the land. Not shown on this map.Spatial Data – Arrows showing historical movements of Human Trafficking for Profit from 1500 to 1840Legend – Uses color to illustrate different forced African diaspora, precious metals, & spices & Opium.
Absolute Location
Figure 1.15 Latitude & Longitude measure Absolute Location on Earth
Figure 1.14 – Cartogram & Choropleth Map demonstrates global spatial inequality of all people living on US$10 or less a day. Cartogram distorts spatial area relative to the spatial data portrayed on the Map.
Figure 1.13 GIS technology used to map land cover – Choropleth MapGo to: http://Nationalatlas.gov & create this map & print the legend.