Foundations of Geography

1. PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY

• The study of natural landscapes, or physical phenomena on Earth.
• A natural landscape would be plains and landforms, like mountains.
• Physical phenomena would be climate and environmental change.
• Physical features of a geographic realm are important for knowing what to build & where,
• seeing what landforms divide people, what kind of climate each place has, and much more.

2. HUMAN GEOGRAPHY

• The study of human phenomena on Earth, or people and places
• Human phenomena would be languages, religions, and identity.
• It shows how people make places, interact across space,
• organize themselves, adapt, and much more.
• Important to understand world and see interactions between different spatial levels.

3. WHY OF WHERE

• Marvin Mikesell defined this as geography.
• The why of where are questions on spatial patterns
• like, "Why are somethings in certain places and not in other places?"
• Why of where is important, because these kinds of questions are ones
• you would need to make sense of and know more about the world.

4. Spatial Distribution

• Trend or occurence spread or scattered across space, or
• arrangement of phenomena across Earth's surface.
• It raises questions like how the arrangement came about
• and what relationships exist between different things.
• A graphical map of a disease could help to find the cause.

5. Spatial Perspective

• Observing the spatial location of things on Earth's surface and determining
• why and how those things occupy their specific location, and 
• how it is related to phenomena in other places.
• Looking at McDonald's locations, a geographer could ask why McDonald's
• are located and successful in parts of the world and how they spread there.

6. FIVE THEMES OF GEOGRAPHY

• MR. HELP: Movement, Region, Human-Environment Interactions, Location, Place
• The National Geographic Society introduced this in 1986.
• The five themes are derived from the spatial perspective of geography.
• These themes are important to explaining what geographers do.
• The themes are connected and are understood with one another. 

7. Location

• Geographical position of something on Earth's surface
• How geographical position of people and things
• on Earth's surface affects what happens and why
• Helps to establish the context within which events and
• processes are situated. Could help predict an occurrence

8. Location Theory

• A logical attempt to explain the locational
• pattern of economic activities and how its
• producing areas are interrelated; Important 
• to see where to build something, because
• some locations are more suited than others.

9. Absolute Location

• Precisely where on Earth's surface something is
• Coordinate system, longitude and latitude
• The absolute location of Taichung, Taiwan would be:
• 24.1500° N, 120.6667° E
• Important when plotting something on a map.

10. Global Positioning System

• GPS is satellite based, it locates things on
• Earth's surface with extraordinary accuracy.
• It helps travelers find their way, such as
• fishers, hikers, and everyone going someplace.
• Useful if traveling to unfamiliar destinations..

11. Geocaching

• Hobby based on GPS where geocachers
• use GPS units to play a treasure hunt game
• all over the world. People give clues about 
• the treasure they hid on Internet. If you find the
• treasure, you take it, and hide a new treasure.

12. Relative Location

• Describes place in relation to other human & physical features
• This description changes constantly, unlike absolute location.
• As things and places are modified, this will change over time.
• "Texas is north of Mexico," is an example of relative location.
• Shows how isolated or central a place is in relation to other places.

13. Mental Maps

• Maps in our minds of places we've been,
• or just heard of, like reading about it.
• If someone talks about a hurricane happening
• in Japan, and you've never hear of it, you might
• picture the country as you saw on a map.

14. Activity Spaces

• Places we travel to routinely, more 
• accurate than places we've never been to.
• If a friend calls and tells you to meet her 
• at the mall you usually go to, you'll envisage 
• the shops, escalators, and others things in the mall.

15. Remote Sensing

• Technology that monitors Earth from a distance,
• a distance away from the place being studied
• Data is collected by satellite and aircraft.
• Remotely sensed images show eye of hurricane,
• whereas photos taken on ground show the impact.

16. Human-Environment Interactions

• How humans and environment affect one another
• Relationship between human and envionment
• Chopping down trees for paper and wood products
• will hurt the environment and animals who live there,
• but humans do this to meet their needs, or wants.

17. Environmental Determinism

• Notion that human behavior is determined 
• and/or controlled by the environment
• This is rejected in today's geography.
• For example, a tropical climate was said
• to cause laziness and relaxed attitudes.

18. Possibilism

• While environment may set restrictions on
• human actions, people can adjust to these
• limitations, and environment serves to limit.
• Example: The desert gives us limits, but we 
• make it possible to live there with electricity.

19. Region

• Features that tend to be concentrated in particular
• areas; an area distinguished by a combination of
• unique features. This theme is useful to make sense
• of information & to digest new info on a place.
• There can be cultural and physical regions.

20. Formal Region

• Region with shared trait - cultural or physical
• Marked by similarity in one or more phenomena
• In a cultural region, people share one or more
• cultural traits. For example, an area where the
• majority of people speak Irish is a region.

21. Functional Region

• Defined by particular set of activities or interactions that
• occur within it; has a shared purpose; people in region
• function together politically, socially, or economically.
• Workers commute into and out of a city. The city and the
• area around where workers commute, is a functional region.

22. Perceptual Region

• Only exists as an idea in minds of people
• Impressions based on accumulated knowledge
• about such regions and cultures. It includes 
• physical and cultural traits. An example would
• be the Atlantic region of the United States.

22. Perceptual Region

23. Place

• the uniqueness of a location, it is a description
• of characteristics, physical or human, that make a
• place distinct, or special. What is it like there?
• The pyramid of Giza would be an example. It has
• sand, heat, no vegetation, and a large pyramid.

24. Toponym

• places on earth that have names, distinguishing
• a place from other places. Some names reflect
• history, have a story behind it, or are descriptive.
• Examples would be "New York," "Springfield,"
• "Yellowknife," and "Marathon," which is in Greece.

25. Sense of Place

• developed by infusing place with meaning & emotion,
• remembering important events that occurred there,
• and/or labeling the place with a certain character
• An example would be the feeling of "home" in a certain
• place. People experience and give meaning there.

26. Perceptions of Places

• belief of places (never been), developed by
• books, stories, movies, and pictures
• For example, some people in Taiwan ask us, 
• "Do people in Texas ride horses to get places?"
• This is their perception of Texas from books. 

27. Cultural Landscape

• layers of visible imprints from years of human activity and
• culture on landscape; there is no place on Earth untouched
• by humans. A group of people arrive and occupy the place.
• They leave cultural and technological traditions. A new
• group arrives, is influenced & leaves their traditions as well.

28. Sequent Occupance

• successive societies, or occupants leave cultural
• imprints on a place, and impacts are layered on
• top of each other; layers of history. An example
• would be European building styles found in what
• were the thirteen colonies colonies.

29. Movement

• mobility of people, goods, and ideas across the
• surface of the Earth; even though this is the 
• textbook definition, there's no better way to put it.
• An example would be a truck delivering oranges
• from California to Texas stores/markets.

30. Spatial Interaction

• the interaction between two different places,
• which can be the exchange of materials/products,
• or movement (people, goods, ideas) between places
• This is important to know, because it can tell you the 
• relationships between places, and how things work.

31. Distances

• the measured physical space between two places
• The distance is important to know if you want to 
• compare different spatial interactions between places.
• You also need the distance to see how things, 
• people, ideas, materials, and products move.

32. Accessibility

• the ease of reaching one location from another;
• This is important to know, because if you want to
• see spatial interaction, or have movement between
• locations, then you need to know how easy it is to
• reach one location from another. (ex: travelling)

33. Connectivity

• degree of linkage between one location and other
• locations in a network; the directness of transportation
• and communication routes connecting locations together
• Important to see the world is becoming more interconnected
• with faster transportation and time-reducing technology.

34. Cartography

• It is the art and science of map-making.
• Cartography is important for making maps
• that are used for different purposes, such as
• solving medical problems, locating shopping
• centers, waging war, & bringing relief.

35. Reference Maps

• shows absolute locations and geographical
• features usually with longitude and latitude
• Reference maps focus on accuracy. They are
• useful and important if you want to find your
• way to a location or for sending mail to a city.

36. Thematic Maps

• emphasizes particular theme, tells stories,
• shows movement of a geographic phenomenon
• An example would be the average distribution of
• rainfall, or global life expectancy. It's important
• if you want to know more on a particular theme.

37. Generalized Maps

• Average, overall things are on maps. You can't
• see every place, or pinpoint every single thing.
• Unable to see micro-scales; helps to see trends, 
• but you can't see all the cases of a phenomenon.
• It is important when looking for and seeing trends.

38. Longitude/Latitude

• Longitude: the imaginary lines running across the globe
• from north to south, and parallel to the Prime Meridian
• Latitude: the imaginary lines running across the globe 
• from east to west, and parallel to the Equator
• Important for finding an absolute location on Earth.

39. Equator

• the imaginary line (0°Latitude) around the middle of the
• globe with equal distances between the it, and the
• north and south poles (midpoint); It's also
• perpendicular to the Earth's axis. It's important for
• navigation, and the areas near it has warmer climates.

40. Prime Meridian

• the imaginary line (0° Longitude) passing through
• Greenwich, England; used as a reference line for 
• measuring longitude east and west; important for
• helping to find absolute location, along with other 
• lines of longitude and latitude, also for navigating.

41. Map Projections

• maps that attempt to show the surface of the earth
• on a plane surface, or flat map (3D→2D)
• These projections distort at least one of these:
• distance, direction, area, shape, and closeness.
• Different maps are useful for different purposes. 

42. Mercator Projection

• This projection distorts everything (shape,
• area, closeness, distance) except direction.
• It preserves direction and people are able 
• to use for navigation. Ex: Going to a country
• by boat, able to point boat in correct direction.

43. Robinson Projection

• distorts distance, direction, area, shape, and
• closeness equally; a compromise for all of them
• It has a more pleasant appearance to people,
• and that's why most prefer this map. This is 
• useful for seeing a map that "looks like reality."

44. Peters Projection

• preserves area of landmasses and distorts
• everything else; this shows the accurate size
• of the landmasses, unlike the Mercator 
• projection. This is useful for seeing the actual
• size and how big or small everything really is.

45. Map Distortion

• happens when trying to represent the globe on
• a flat surface; since earth is spherical, it's hard to
• just make it flat. Distortions include distance, area, 
• direction, shape, and proximity. Ex: Mercator has
• distortion of distance, area, shape, and closeness.

46. Culture

• the combination of knowledge, attitudes, and habitual,
• or learned behavior patterns shared and transmitted
• by members of a society, & not genetically predetermined
• Transmitted and maintained by communication and learning
• Important: affects landscapes, location decisions, and patterns.

47. Culture Trait

• a single element of normal practice
• An example is offering water to the sun. 
• Traits distinguish one culture from another; 
• so, offering water to the sun may be
• important to Hindu culture, but not western.

48. Culture Complex

• related set of culture traits from more than
• one culture; an example would be the eating utensils
• utensils, like chopsticks, spoons, forks, and knives. Eating
• utensils are used by many cultures and is a trait, but
• they are used differently by different cultures.

49. Cultural Hearth

• source area, or focal point where culture traits develop and
• from which cultural traits diffuse, or spread; Ex: The area
• around Mecca is the cultural hearth for the Islamic religion;
• it was traced back to a single place & time. Important to
• know when studying diffusion, this is the area where it starts.

50. Independent Invention

• culture traits that can be traced to several hearths
• thousands of years apart; cultural hearths developed
• independent of each other. Example would be
• agriculture. It can be traced back to many hearths, 
• such as Middle East/SW Asia and Mesoamerica.

51. Cultural Diffusion

• spread of an idea or innovation from its hearth
• to other places; Ex: Chinese restaurants and food
• have spread to where you can find it in many other
• places like the United States. Cultural diffusion has
• many types and is important to improve innovations.

52. Time-Distance Decay

• acceptance of an idea or innovation is less likely
• with increasing time and distance from its point
• of origin or source; For example, as a religion
• spreads from its hearth, if it takes too much time 
• to reach others, they won't accept it as much. 

53. Cultural Barriers

• certain innovations, ideas, and practices are
• unacceptable or not adoptable in particular cultures
• Ex: A person who is vegetarian, and their religion
• prohibits some will have a cultural barrier to any food
• that contains that meat. Important for businesses to know.

54. Expansion Diffusion

• innovation or idea develops in a hearth and remains
• strong there while also spreading outward
• Example is the spread of medicine. The medicine works
• and it will remain strong at the hearth while spreading
• outward toward other places that don't have medicine.

55. Contagious Diffusion

• nearly all individuals & places next to each other
• are affected; distance-controlled spread of idea, 
• innovation, or other item through local population
• by contact from person to person; Ex: The widely
• spread influenza pandemic of 1918.

56. HIERARCHICAL Diffusion

• pattern where main channel is segment of those able to
• adopt what's being diffused; idea/innovation spreads by
• passing among most connected places or peoples first
• Ex: iPhones may be unaffordable to several consumers; so,
• they're diffused hierarchically to people who can buy it.

57. Stimulus Diffusion

• cultural adaptation is created as a result of the 
• introduction of a cultural trait from another place
• Ex: Cherokee Indians developed their own 
• writing system after being exposed to and seeing
• English. Important to see where idea came from.

58. Relocation Diffusion

• Individuals spread ideas, innovations, and items
• as they relocate to new areas/locations. Often
• occurs through migration, and taking cultural traits
• along with them. Ex: Italian immigrants going to
• New York, and teaching them how to make pizza.