Topic 6 power point

Studying Geography

Themes and Essential Elements

What is Geography?• Geography is the study of everything on Earth from

rocks and rainfall to people and places• Geographers study how natural environment

influences people, how people’s activities affect Earth, and how the world is changing

• Geographers look at many different things including cities, cultures, plants, and resources

• Geographers use spatial perspective to study the world

• Spatial perspective is looking for patterns in where things are located on Earth and how they are arranged

• Geographers try to explain these patterns• Geographers look at landscapes and how they

shape the world• Landscapes include physical, human, and cultural

features• Geography has two main branches: Human

Geography and Physical Geography• Human geography looks at the distribution and

characteristics of the world’s people• H.G. studies where people live, work and their ways

of life, how people make and trade things they need to survive

• Physical geography focuses on Earth’s natural environments

• Includes Earth’s landforms, water features, atmosphere, animals, plants, soils, and the processes that affect them

• The interaction between people links human & physical geography together

• Studies distribution and characteristics of the world’s people (where people live and what they do)

• Examines how people make and trade things that they need to survive

• Focuses on Earth’s natural environments, including landforms, water features, plants, animals, and other physical features

• Studies the processes that shape physical environments

• Studies how people interact

with their environments

Human Geography

Physical Geography

Both

Who Uses Geography?• We use geography everyday• Most jobs require an understanding of geographySubfields of Geography• Cartography-the study of making maps and

mapmaking• Maps help geographers study location• Cartographers work for companies that publish

maps, atlases, newspapers, magazines, and books as well as city planning agencies and other areas of government

• Meteorology-the study of weather• Meteorologists forecast how the weather will

develop so people know what to expectGeographers at Work• Many geographers work for governmental agencies• One of the largest employers of cartographers in

the U.S. is the United States Geological Survey (USGS)

• USGS produces detailed maps of the whole country• Geographers decide where to place new stores and

plan shipping and trucking routes as well as identify new markets

AND THE MOST IMPORTANT!!!!!!!• Schools hire geography teachers• Geographic knowledge is needed for good

citizenshipHow Do We Study Geography?• The idea of regions are an important concept in

geography• Regions have one or more common features that

make them different from surrounding areas• Regions are defined by their physical and human

features• Physical features include kinds of climate, river

systems, soils, and vegetation you find there

• Human features include languages, religions, and trade networks of an area

• Sometimes boundaries are clear like the U.S. political boundaries while others are not as clear

• Ex. The Corn Belt is a farming region in the Midwestern U.S. but it does not have clearly set boundaries

• Regions can be any size. Countries, deserts and mountain ranges are large regions. Suburbs and neighborhoods are small regions

Types of Regions• Formal Region – has one or more common features

that make it different from surrounding areas• Formal regions can be based on landforms,

population, income levels, crops, temperature, or rainfall

• EX. Corn Belt. Rust Belt. Sun Belt. Piedmont. Sahel. Rocky Mountains

• Functional Region – made up of different places that are linked together and function as a unit

• Ex. City transit system• Many functional regions are organized around a

central point & surrounding areas are linked to this point

• Ex. Shopping malls are centers to link surrounding neighborhoods. Cities connect to suburbs and industry which all function together

• Perceptual Region – regions that reflect human feelings and attitudes

• Ex. “back home”, Midwest, Dixie in the South• These areas have their own special features that make

them different from anywhere else

The Five Themes and Six Essential Elements• The study of geography has long been organized

according to five important themes

• Location-deals with exact or relative spot on Earth• An exact location on Earth is absolute location• Relative location is its position on Earth relative to other

locations• Place-includes physical & human features of a

location

• Human-Environmental Interaction-covers ways people and environments interrelate with and affect each other

• Movement-involves how people and things change locations and the effects of these changes

• Region-organizes Earth into geographic areas with one or more shared characteristics

• By the early 1990s 18 Geography Standards were created and grouped into 6 Essential Elements:

-The World in Spatial Terms-Places and Regions-Physical Systems-Human Systems-Environment and Society-The Uses of Geography

Using the Geographer’s Tools

Organizing the Globe• Globes are scale models of Earth• Globes show grids

• Grids are made by lines of latitude and longitude

• Lines of latitude measure distance north and south of the equator

• Lines of latitude are called parallels• Lines of longitude measure distance east and west

of the prime meridian• Lines of longitude are called meridians

• Parallels and meridians measure distances in degrees

• Degrees are further divided into minutes with there being 60 minutes in each degree

Hemispheres, Continents, and Oceans• Geographers use grids to utilize how we look at the

world• The equator divides the globe into Northern and

Southern hemispheres while the prime meridian and 180 degree meridian divides it into Eastern and Western hemispheres

• The planet’s land surfaces are divided into seven continents

• Africa, Antarctica, Asia, Australia, Europe, North America, and South America

• Landmasses surrounded by water are called islands• Greenland is the world’s largest island• Earth’s water surfaces are organized into separate

areas: oceans, seas, gulfs, lakes, rivers, etc.• The four oceans are Pacific (largest), Atlantic,

Indian, and Arctic (smallest)• Seas are connected to oceans while lakes are

inland, Caspian Sea is world’s largest lake

Making Maps• Maps are flat representations of all or part of

Earth’s surface• A collection of maps in a book is called an atlas• Mapmakers have different ways of presenting our

round Earth on flat maps called map projectionsMap Projections• Maps with cylindrical projections are designed as if

a cylinder has been wrapped around the globe• A Mercator map is a cylindrical projection that

shows true direction and shape• Landmasses at high altitudes or near the poles are

exaggerated/distorted in size in a Mercator map

• Conic projections are designed as if a cone has been placed over the globe

• Conic projections are most accurate along the lines of latitude where it touches the globe

• Flat-plane maps are those that appear to touch the globe at one point, such as the North Pole or South Pole

• Flat-plane projection is useful for showing true direction for airplane pilots and ship navigators and shows true area sizes, but it distorts shapes

Great Circle Route• Drawing a straight line on a flat map will not show

the shortest route between two places• Maps represent a round world on a flat plane• The shortest route between any two places on the

planet is called a great-circle route• Airline pilots and ship captains use great-circle

routes to help them navigate

Understanding Map Elements• Study of geography includes looking at places at

different scales• Almost all maps have common elements such as

distance scales, directional indicator, and a keyDistance Scales• Distance scale helps us determine real distance

between points on a mapDirectional Indicators• Most maps will include a compass rose, which has arrows that point to all 4 principal directions

Legends• Legends are keys to identify symbols on a map and

what they represent

Other Elements• Maps may compare physical size of an area • Contiguous is connecting• Ex. Hawaii and Alaska are not part of the contiguous

U.S. because they do not connect with the other 48 states

• An insert map is used to focus in on a small part of a larger map

Using Special Purpose Maps• Geographers use maps that focus on certain

information about places and regions• Political maps show borders, cities, countries, states

and other political features• Physical maps show natural features like mountains,

rivers, and other bodies of waterClimate and Precipitation Maps• Climate maps use color to show various climate

regions of the world• Precipitation maps are paired with climate maps

which show the average amount of precipitation that a region gets each year

Population and Economic Maps• Population maps give you a snapshot of the

distribution of people in a region• Generally these maps deal with population density• Economic maps show a region’s important natural

resources and the ways in which land is used

Elevation Profiles and Topographic Maps• Elevation profile shows a side view of a place or

area• The purpose of some maps is to show the

topography of the land• Special kinds of topography maps are called contour

map• Contour maps connects points of equal elevation

above or below sea level

Climate Graphs and Population Pyramids• Two common diagrams that show important

geographic characteristics: climate graphs and population pyramids

• Climate graphs show the average temperatures and precipitation in a place

• Population pyramids show the percentage of males and females by age group in a country’s population

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