Geo Teacher's Geography Classroom

Unit 1 Lecture Notes

Unit 1:  Maps and Geographic Skills
 

Chapter 1 and Skills Handbook

Essential Question: What is geography and how can its tools be used to consider relationships between people and places?
 

Intro:  What is Geography?

Essential Question: What is geography and why is it important?
 

I. The Study of Geography  (pp. 32-34)
 

A. Geography is the study of

1. the earth's surface and the processes that shape it,
2. the connections between places,
3. and the complex relationships that develop between people and their environments— physical surroundings.

Geographers are scientists who study the relationship between people and their environments.
 

B. Branches of Geography

1. The two major branches of geography are

a. physical geography—study of the physical features and changes on the earth's surface
b. cultural geography—study of humans and their ideas, and the impact of human ideas  and actions on the earth.

culture—the way of life that distinguishes a group of people  (i.e. tools, foods, gov't, religions, language, customs, beliefs, knowledge, skills, art, clothing, music, literature, architecture, law, lifestyles, etc.)

2. Other branches of geography include:

a. biophysical geography—study of the natural environment and the interrelationships of all the living things in that environment
b. topography—shapes of the land and the bodies of water in a given location
c. political geography—study of the political organization of areas
d. social geography—study of groups of people, and the interrelationships among groups and communities
e. economic geography—study of resources and resource use, agriculture and land use, and global trade interactions
f. historical geography—study of the ways in which the relationships between people and their environments have changed over time
g. urban geography—focuses on the locations of cities, the services cities provide, and the movements of goods and people to and from cities
h. cartography—art and science of map-making.
i. cartographer—a person who makes maps or charts

C. Importance of Geography

Geography is important because it can
1. help us know more about each other and our cultures,
2. help us understand our environment and problems associated with it,
3. help us better understand the ways in which each of us interacts with, and is dependent on others and the environment,
4. and help us solve environmental, political, economic, and social problems.
 
 

II. Geography’s Five Themes  (pp.  34-38) 
 

Essential Question: What are the five themes of geography and how can they be used to show the relationship between people and places?

The five themes of geography answer five important questions that can help organize information about places.

* Location:  What is the location of a place?
* Place:  What is the character of a place?
* Human—Environment Interaction:  How do people interact with the natural environment of a place?
* Movement:  How do people, goods, and ideas move between places?
* Regions:  How are places similar to, and different from, other places?

A. Location—where a place is on earth; can be described in absolute or relative terms

1. absolute location—the exact position on earth in which a place can be found.  It is usually found by using imaginary lines that mark positions on the surface of the earth.

a. Equator—circles the globe halfway between the North and South Poles
1) divides the world into two hemispheres—a half of the earth
2) creates the Northern Hemisphere (between the Equator and the North Pole) and the Southern Hemisphere (between the Equator and the South Pole)
The North Pole is at 90*N and the South Pole is at 90*S.  These poles are located at the ends of the earth’s axis—an imaginary line extending through the center of a sphere.  Every 24 hours the earth rotates—spins on its axis.  This causes day and night.
3) located at 0* latitude

b. Lines of latitude (parallels)—imaginary lines that run parallel to the Equator
1) measure latitude—the distance a place is north or south of the Equator
2) measured in degrees from 0* to 90* north, and from 0* to 90* south
3) Two special latitude lines mark the boundaries of the earth that receive the most direct sunlight and the greatest heat energy from the sun.
a) Tropic of Cancer: 23 1/2*N
b) Tropic of Capricorn: 23 1/2*S

c. Lines of Longitude (meridians)—imaginary lines that run north and south from pole to pole
1) measure longitude—the distance a place is east or West of the Prime Meridian
2) measured in degrees from 0* to 180* east, and 0* to 180* west
3) Prime Meridian—an imaginary line that runs through Greenwich, England at  0* longitude
It divides the earth into two hemispheres: the Eastern Hemisphere and Western Hemisphere
4) distance between meridians is greatest at the Equator and decreases toward the poles

The global grid formed by lines of latitude and longitude crossing each other can be used to name the precise or absolute location of any place on earth.  Every place has only one absolute location that never changes.

To identify absolute location, list the latitude coordinates first, followed by the longitude coordinates: i.e. 40*N, 70*W.  Each degree can be broken into minutes ('), and each minute can be broken into seconds (").:  i.e. 40*41'22" N, 70*40'24" W.

2. relative location—the position of a place in relation to another place
    Every place has many relative locations, which can change over time.

Ways to identify relative location:
a. direction: Newport News is southeast of Richmond
b. distances: Newport News is 74 miles from Richmond.
c. nearness to resources: Newport has a large fresh water reservoir that provides drinking water for residents.
d. nearness to trade routes: Newport News can be reached by water using the Chesapeake Bay or James River.

B. Place—the physical and cultural features of a place.

Every place on earth has a unique combination of physical and cultural characteristics that distinguish it from other places.

1. physical characteristics: landforms, water bodies, climate, animal life, vegetation, soil, altitude, etc.
2. cultural characteristics: gov't, cities, religion, language, ethnic groups, art, literature, tools, laws, customs, lifestyles, population, beliefs, economy, types of agriculture, architecture, etc (all aspects of human activity)

C. Human—Environment Interaction—interactions between people and their environment

1. All places have advantages and disadvantages for humans.
2. People have adapted to their physical surroundings.   i.e. different types of clothing, food, and shelter
3. People have changed their physical surroundings.  Some changes have been intentional, some have been accidental.
i.e. canals, coal mining, tunnels, clearing of forests, planting of crops, land use, use of natural resources

4. The interactions between man and their environment have positive and negative consequences.
For example:
a. clearing forests for farming:  positive—produces food      negative—destroys trees
b. burning coal:  positive—produces energy      negative—pollutes air

D. Movement

1. includes the movement and exchange of people, goods, services and ideas: types of transportation, written materials, telecommunications, travel, imports, exports, etc.
2. may also include natural movements of earth's physical features: wind systems, water cycle, ocean currents, volcanic eruptions, erosion, animal food chains, animal migration, etc.

E. Regions—groups of places with at least one common characteristic

1. A region may be any size.

2. One area may be part of many different regions.

3. The boundaries of regions may overlap.

4. The earth or places on earth may be divided into regions according to physical and/or cultural features.
a. physical regions: climate, soils, vegetation, landforms, water bodies, animal life, etc.
b. cultural regions: gov'ts, economies, religions, languages, agriculture, industry, etc.

5. There are two major types of regions.
a. formal regions—areas in which a certain characteristic is found throughout the area
i.e. states, counties, cities and other political regions; vegetation, climate and other physical regions; agricultural, religious, ethnic and other cultural regions
b. functional regions—consist of one central place and the surrounding places affected by it
i.e. the Amazon drainage basin; the Denver, Colorado metropolitan regions; the Andes mountains, etc.
 
 

III. Tools of a Geographer  (Skills Handbook, pp. xix—11) 
 

Essential Question: What are the tools of geography and how can they be used to analyze the physical and human landscapes of the world?
 

A. A Geographer’s Craft

1. Geographers ask the following questions:
a. What are different places like?
b. How do places change over time?
c. How do people change and use the world around them?
d. How do people adapt to the world around them?

2. In order to answer geographical questions and apply the five themes of geography, geographers do the following:

a. Collect information or data.
 For example, they might
*conduct a census—a systematic counting of a population
*use data collected by computers or satellites to create remote sensing images—method by which airplanes and satellites can produce photographs or computer-generated images of sections of the earth’s surface.

b. Analyze information to look for patterns and possible causes and consequences of gathered info.

c. Display information in order to share findings with other people.
To do this they often use:
*maps and globes
*diagrams
*tables and graphs.

Globes and maps are the two basic tools of geographers because they are the most useful models of the earth.  However, they are not perfect and each has specific advantages and disadvantages.

B. Globes—three-dimensional models of the earth

1. Advantages
a. most accurately represents the shape of the earth—shaped like a sphere
b. most accurately represents shapes of landmasses and bodies of water
c. most accurately represents parallels and meridians
d. most accurately represents direction
e. most accurately represents distance—best tool to show the shortest distance between two places.

2. The shortest distance is along a great circle—an imaginary line that circles the earth and divides it into two equal halves

3. Disadvantages
a. often not practical to use
1) expensive
2) big and bulky
3) can view only one-half of a globe at a time
b. cannot show detailed features of an area
 

C. Maps—flat representations of the earth

1. Advantages
a. easier to use
1) easy to carry around—can be rolled or folded up
2) provide an easy to use reference when collected into an atlas—collection of maps and related material
b. can show the earth’s entire surface or just a small part
c. can show more detail
d. can present info about a wide range of topics--physical and cultural features

2. Disadvantages
All maps have distortions (inaccuracies) because it is impossible to represent a three-dimensional object like the earth accurately on flat maps.
 

D. Map Properties 

SOL 10.1 a:  The student will recognize the different map projections and explain the concept of distortion.

Essential Question:  Why are all map projections distorted?

 All maps distort the earth’s representation.  They do not all show areas of the world in exactly the same way.  This occurs because of the difficulty of showing the earth's spherical (curved) surface on a flat map.  Cartographers can take the information from a globe and flatten the surface of the earth.  They use different map projections—ways of showing the round earth on a flat surface.  However size, shape, and distance are distorted when curves become straight lines.

Essential Question:  What are the ways in which specific projections are used to represent data?

There are four basic aspects of the earth that can be distorted on maps.  Mapmakers choose which projection to use depending on which of these map properties are the most important to the area being shown.  No world map can have all four of these properties undistorted.  Most maps show one the properties accurately, but distort the others.  Smaller maps usually have less distortion than larger maps.  Distortion is generally less on all maps near the center of the map and greatest at its edges.  Different map projections are developed for different purposes.

1. Aspects of the Earth which can be distorted  (Map Properties)

a. Correct shape
Maps that do not distort shape are called conformal maps—shapes of land areas conform to, or look like, the shapes on a globe.
1) straight parallels and meridians cross at right angles
2) most often used for world map
3) Examples:
a) Mercator—spreads the images near the poles
*distance and size greatly distorted at polar regions
*shape and direction are accurate
*valuable for sea travel and ship navigators
  b) Interrupted—world looks broken apart
*direction and size are distorted
*shape is accurate
*valuable for showing landmasses and data
 

b. Correct size
1) Maps that do not distort size are called equal-area maps—show relative sizes correctly.
a) distort shapes
b) good for data representation
2) Examples:  Mollweide, Peters, Goode’s Interrupted
 

c. Correct distance
1) Maps that show correct distances are called equidistant maps.
* never a world map
2) Small areas have little distortion of distance.

d. Correct direction
1) Maps that show true compass direction are azimuthal maps—show the earth centered in such a way that a straight line from the center to any other point represents the shortest distance.
2) can only show 1/2 the earth at a time
3) are circular in shape
4) directions and distances are accurate when the line of travel passes through the pole
5) directions cannot be shown on a compass rose
6) valuable for polar, air, and oceanic navigation
  7) Example: polar maps—North or South Pole in center of map
* used in air navigation

2. Compromise projections have none of these properties and, therefore distort all four of these aspects of the Earth.  However, they try to lessen overall distortion and are good for data representation.

Example:  Robinson projection—has minor, but not major distortions
a. equal areas (relative size) shown with high degree of accuracy
b. shapes are accurate except at edges where distortion increases.
c. valuable for showing entire world
d. good to show data
e. often used for maps in educational materials
 

E. Basic Map Components (Parts) 

Essential Question:  What are the basic parts of a map and how can they be used to read maps in order to analyze the physical and human landscapes of the world.

1. Title—identifies what the map is about and what parts of the earth it shows

2. Legend (key)—explains the meaning of colors and symbols used on the map
*may include the key to elevation—distance above or below sea level

SOL 10.1 b:  The student will use maps and globes to apply the concepts of scale, orientation, and latitude and longitude.

Essential Question:  Why is a directional indicator necessary on a map?

3. Direction indicator—identifies direction or orientation on a map
a. north arrow—single arrow labeled "N" that points north
b. compass rose (directional indicator)—symbol that indicates direction on a map with
arms that point to the cardinal directions
1) cardinal directions—north, south, east, and west
2) intermediate directions—between the cardinal directions: northeast, southeast, northwest, southwest

Essential Question:  Why are different scales necessary for developing map representations?

4. Map scales—provide information used to measure distances on maps; show the size of a map in relation to the size of the real world by giving the ratio between distances on the map and actual distances on earth

Essential Question:  Why are different scales necessary for developing map representations?

4. Map scales—provide information used to measure distances on maps; show the size of a map in relation to the size of the real world by giving the ratio between distances on the map and actual distances on earth

Areas can be represented using a variety of scales.  The amount of detail shown on a map is dependent on the scale used.

a. statement scale—uses a statement or phrase to relate a distance on the map to the distance it represents on earth
i.e. "one inch represents 100 miles" or "one inch to 100 miles"
b. bar scale—a short line that represents the number of miles or kilometers on the earth's surface equal to a distance on the map. (divided into equal parts labeled with miles or kilometers)
c. representative fraction (RF)—uses fractions or ratios to relate distance on a map to distance on the earth.
i.e.  1:1,000,000 or 1/1,000,000 meaning 1 inch on the map equals 1 million inches on the earth's surface

5. Grid—used to locate places on a map

a. global grid—formed by the crossing of parallels (lines of latitude) and meridians (lines of longitude)
b. letter/number coordinates—grid system used to located places on maps of smaller places like state maps, city maps, and highway maps
 

F. Types of Maps 

SOL 10.1 c: The student will create and compare political, physical, and thematic maps of countries and regions.

Essential Question:  What are ways maps show information?

Maps will vary according to their purpose.  All the different kinds of maps can be put into two broad categories based on the type of information they show.  Some maps can be included in both categories.

1. General purpose maps—give general information about an area or place such as location, size, and distance from other areas or places.
a. political maps—show political features (features determined by people) such as the boundaries of areas such as countries, states, and cities.  They may also show the largest cities, highways, railroad lines, large airports, and capitals—cities where national or state gov’ts are found
b. physical maps—show physical features such as lakes, rivers, mountains, relief, and elevation
*relief—the changing elevation of the land
*elevation (the distance above or below sea level) is usually shown with color.

Symbols and colors are often to used to represent information.  For example:
*blue for water
*a star for capital cities
*shading or changing colors for relief or elevation
Lines are often used to show boundaries between countries or the contour of the land.   Contour lines connect all points of land of equal elevation.

2. Thematic maps (special purpose maps)—show specific data or information, often on a single theme, or topic.

They may show the distribution or amount of something in a certain area.  Although they can show information on every area of geography, they emphasize a single idea about an area.
a. population map—shows the density (thickness) of a population settlement or the distribution or average number of persons living in a given area.
b. economic map—shows the different kinds of economic activity in a region (how people earn a living) and where they take place, or the average incomes of different regions
c. resource map—shows the location of natural resources (natural materials that people use in various ways)
d. language map—shows the major language of different regions
e. ethnicity—shows the major ethnic or cultural groups living in different regions
f. climate map—shows general temperature and precipitation patterns in a region
g. highway (road) map—show how to travel from one place to another using roads
h. vegetation map—shows plants that grow naturally in different regions
 
 

G.  Other Tools 

Essential Question:  What are some other tools of geographers and how can they be used to obtain information?

Maps and globes are not the only tools of geographers.

1. Remote Sensing
Developments in technology have produced several new tools for geographers.  One of the most important is remote sensing—the gathering and recording of information through aerial photographs and satellite images.

a. Aerial photographs—pictures taken from above the earth
1) used to study relationships between people and places not easy to see from the ground
 i.e. traffic patterns, troop movements, diseased trees, ocean floor
2) provide accurate and detailed info
3) taken by cameras in high-altitude plans as overlapping pictures

b. Satellite Images
1) taken by satellites circling the earth
*make false-color pictures so detailed they can show houses
2) also taken by Landsats—satellites that circle the earth and transmit images to computers at receiving stations
*circle the earth 14 times every 24 hours

2. Other Tools

a. charts and tables—organize info into rows and columns; allows comparisons between facts
b. graphs—convenient ways of presenting info visually
1) bar graphs—show comparisons between two sets of data
2) line graphs—show the relationship between, and changes and trends, in two sets of info
3) circle graphs—uses percentages to show the size of parts in relation to the whole
4) pictographs—uses pictures of the subject to present information (differences in quantities
c. diagrams—a drawing that shows what something is or how something is done; often
have several parts that show the steps in a process
*cross-sectional diagrams—allows you to view something as if the subject has been cut and you are viewing one slice from the side.
d. computers—used to solve geographic problems, and to make maps and graphics

Geography Classroom