Everything we do on a daily basis involves geography!

2. Everything we do on a daily basis involves geography! • Foods we eat • Clothes we wear • Activities we enjoy • Schools we attend • Houses we live in • Jobs we do • Religions we practice • Languages we speak

3. Cool Maps! • Major League Baseball fans • NFL Fans • 25 Maps that will Change your view of the World

4. Key Issues 1. How do geographers describe where things are? 2. Why is each point on Earth unique? 3. Why are different places similar? 4. Why are some human actions not sustainable?

5. Key issue 1: how do geographers describe where things are?

6. How Do Geographers Describe Where Things Are? Geography is the study of where things are found on Earth’s surface and the reasons for the locations. Human geographers ask two simple questions… Where are people and activities found on Earth? Why are they found there?

7. Maps • A mapis a two-dimensional or flat-scale model of Earth’s surface, or a portion of it. • Cartography is the science of mapmaking. • Maps serve two purposes… • As a reference tool to identify an object’s absolute and relative location. • As a communications tool to convey the distribution of human activities or physical features.

8. Types of Maps • Physical – show physical features such as lakes, deserts, mountains • Political – show boundaries and major cities • Thematic – colored, drawn, or labeled according to a certain theme • Cartogram • Choropleth • Dot density • Graduated symbol • Isoline

9. Cartogram

10. Choropleth Map

11. Dot Density Map

12. Graduated Symbol Map

13. Isoline Map

14. Map Scale • Level of detail and the amount of area covered on the map depend on its map scale. • Relationship of a feature’s size on a map to its actual size on Earth • A small-scale mapshows a smaller amount of detail for a larger area. • Ex: Map of United States • A large-scale mapshows a larger amount of detail for a smaller area. • Ex: Map of Union Grove

15. Spatialization of Cancer Rates

16. Projection • The scientific method of transferring locations on Earth’s surface to a flat map is called a projection. • Earth’s spherical shape causes distortion when drawing it on a flat piece of paper. • Four types of distortion • Shape of an area can be distorted. • Distance between points may become increased or decreased. • Relative size of different areas can be altered. • Direction between points can be distorted.

17. Three types of map projections • Mercator • Shapes of countries are fairly accurate, direction is consistent • Greatly distorted toward poles • Robinson • Allocates space to oceans • Land areas appear much smaller than they actually are • Peters • “Equal area” map – all countries are the correct size • Shape is greatly distorted

18. Mercator Projection

19. Robinson Projection

20. Peters Projection

21. Peters compared to Mercator

22. Maps that prove you don’t really know Earth • West Wing – Peters Projection

23. The Geographic Grid • Any place on earth can be described using latitude and longitude (absolute location) • Meridians – arcs drawn between North and South poles • Also known as lines of longitude • Prime Meridianpasses through Greenwich, England, and is 0 degrees longitude • International Date Lineis opposite the Prime Meridian and is 180 degrees longitude

24. Parallels– circles drawn around the globe, parallel to the equator • Also known as lines of latitude • North and South poles are 90 degrees latitude 3. Equator is 0 degrees latitude

26. Time Zones • Earth as a sphere is divided into 360º of longitude. • Divide 360º by 24 time zones (one for each hour of day) equals 15º. • Each 15º band of longitude is assigned to a standard time zone. • Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) • Located at the prime meridian (0º longitude). • Passes through Royal Observatory at Greenwich, England • Master reference time for all points on Earth

27. Telling Time • The International Date Lineis… • Located at 180º longitude. • Not a straight line! • Move the clock back 24 hours if you are heading eastward toward America. • Move the clock ahead 24 hours if you are heading westward toward Asia.

28. China has only one time zone but it should have five! • North Korea recently declared its own time zone • “Pyongyang time” – on its 70th anniversary of liberation from Japan • France has the most time zones, with 12 • Russia has 11 • United States has 11 • United Kingdom has 9 • Why so many?!

30. Contemporary Tools • Geographic Information Science involves the development and analysis of data about Earth acquired through satellite and other electronic information technologies. • Collecting Data: Remote Sensing • Acquisition of data about Earth’s surface from a satellite orbiting Earth or from other long distance methods is known as remote-sensing.

31. Contemporary Tools • Global Positioning System (GPS) • System that accurately determines the precise position of something on Earth • GPS in the U.S. includes three elements • Satellites placed in predetermined orbits • Tracking stations to monitor and control satellites • Receiversthat can locate at least four satellites, figure out its distance from each, and use the information to calculate its precise location

32. Contemporary Tools • Layering Data: GIS • A geographic information system (GIS) is a computer system that captures, stores, queries, analyzes, and displays geographic data. • Data are stored in layers. • Layers can be compared to show relationships among different kinds of information. • Data can be overlaid in one GIS from a variety of different sources through a process known as a mashup.

33. UWM’s GIS Page

34. Geospatial data (census data, satellite images, etc.) is used at all scales for various purposes: • Personal (navigation) • Business (marketing, location of services, etc.) • Governmental (environmental planning, urban planning, etc.)

35. Key issue 2: why is each point on earth unique?

36. Why Is Each Point on Earth Unique? • A place is a specific point on Earth distinguished by a particular characteristic. • By describing a place you answer the question “What is it like there?” • Geographers describe a feature’s place on Earth by identifying its location, the position that something occupies on Earth’s surface. • A place has an absolute and a relative location.

37. Why Is Each Point on Earth Unique? Location can be identified in three ways. • Place Name – a toponymis the name given to a place on Earth. • Names derived from people, religious affiliation, physical features, or origins of its settlers • Site - the physical character of a place. • Characteristics include climate, water sources, topography, soil, vegetation, and elevation. • Situation - the location of a place relative to other places.

38. Examples of toponyms • Descriptive - Rocky Mountains • Associative - Mill River, Springfield, Union Grove • Event Names - Battle Creek, Bloody Ridge • Commemorative - named after a person • Virginia, Louisiana, Constantinople • Commendatory - Pleasant Valley, Greenland • Mistaken - West Indies • Shift Names (relocated names or names from settler's homeland) • Athens (Greece and Texas) • Palestine (Middle East and Texas) • New Mexico, New England

39. Why Is Each Point on Earth Unique? Region: A Unique Area • An area on Earth defined by one or more distinctive characteristics is a region. • Regional patterns of language, religion, and ethnicity contribute to a sense of place and shape the global cultural landscape

40. Why Is Each Point on Earth Unique? Geographers identify three types of regions: • Formal Region (aka uniform region or homogeneous region) • An area in which everyone shares in common one or more distinctive characteristics • Must be something measurable • Could be cultural (common language), economic (growing a certain crop), or environmental (same climate) • Can be a state or a country with defined boundaries • Characteristic may be predominant rather than universal.

41. Formal Voting Regions

42. Why Is Each Point on Earth Unique? • Functional Region (aka nodal region) • An area organized around a node or focal point • The characteristic chosen to define a functional region dominates at a central focus or node and diminishes in importance outward. • Ex. Circulation of a newspaper, such as The New York Times • Ex. School district • Ex. Customer base for a shop or restaurant

43. 3. Vernacular Region (aka perceptual region) • An area that people believe exists as part of their cultural identity. • This is your “gut feeling” about an area • Ex. The American South • Ex. The Midwest • Ex. The Middle East

46. World Regions • World regions may overlap (Southeast Asia and Asia) • World regions often have transitional boundaries (North Africa and Sub-Saharan Africa)

49. Key issue 3:why are different places similar?

50. Why Are Different Places Similar? • Globalization is a force or process that involves the entire world and results in making something worldwide in scope. • The world is shrinking! • Two types of globalization: • Globalization of the economy • Globalization of culture