1. Geography used to be associated with memorizing mind-numbing facts. Not any more!
Objectives and tools of
world regional geography
Chapter 1

2. 1.1 Welcome to World Regional
Geography
 What is “Geography”?
 Term was first used by the Greek scholar
Eratosthenes in the 3rd Century B.C.E.
 Literally means “Description of the Earth”
 Best summed up as “the study of the Earth as
the home of humankind”
 Branches of the Discipline
 Physical Geography
 Human Geography

3. Subfields of Geography

4. 1.1.1a 6 Essential Elements of Geography
 The World in Spatial Terms
 Places and Regions
 Physical Systems
 Human Systems
 Environment and Society
 Uses of Geography

5. 1.1.1b Five Themes of Geography (NCGE)
 Location
 Place
 Human-Environment Interaction
 Movement
 Region

6. Ground Zero
LOCATION:
Lower Manhattan, New York MOVEMENT:
City Before 9/11, daily comings and goings
40°42’43” N 74°00’49” W of office workers in WTC; on 9/11,
diversion of airplanes to target the
buildings; after 9/11, flow of mourners,
tourists, construction crews to site.
PLACE:
Formerly, office buildings at heart
of one of world’s great financial
centers; now, a place of historical
significance and collective grief REGION:
for Americans. Situated in region of U.S. known
as the Northeast, in a humid
continental climate region.
HUMAN-ENVIRONMENT INTERACTION:
Lower Manhattan occupies low-lying ground that was once
marshy swampland. Construction of the twin towers of the
World Trade Center required special foundations to keep
the Hudson River’s water from pouring in.

7. 1.1.2 Human-Environment Interaction
 So many of Earth’s most pressing problems (climate
change, population growth, hunger, etc.) involve the
coupling of human and environmental systems
 Important early geographers
 Alexander von Humboldt (German)
 Carl Sauer (American)
 Founded landscape perspective in American geography
 Study the transformation through time of a natural
landscape to a cultural landscape
 Landscape
 Physical and human features on the Earth’s surface
 Culture underlies decisions about use of landscape
 System of values, beliefs, and attitudes that shapes and
influences perception and behavior

8. 1.1.3 The World Regional Approach
 This text divides the earth into 8 world regions
 People create and draw boundaries around regions that
share relatively similar characteristics. A region is
simply a convenience and a generalization.
 Types of Regions Used by Geographers
 Formal Region (uniform / homogeneous)
 Population shares a defining trait(s)
 Functional Region (nodal)
 Spatial unit characterized by a
central focus on some activity
 Vernacular Region (perceptual)
 Exists in the minds of many people
Various interpretations of the
American South as a vernacular
region

9. World Regions

10. Profile of the World Regions

11. 1.1.4 Objectives of This Book
 To understand Earth’s problems and
potential solutions for these problems
 To develop a habit of synthesizing
information to understand the world
 To understand current events
 To develop the ability to interpret places
and “read” landscapes

12. Reading the Landscape
Where is this place?
What clues on the landscape or in the
man’s appearance might tell you where
you are?

13. 1.2 The Language of Maps
 A map is a representation of various phenomena
over all or a part of the Earth’s surface, usually
rendered on a flat surface such as paper or a
computer monitor.
 Maps are essential tools of geographers
 Help in understanding the spatial context of things
 Cartography
 Art and Science of Making Maps
 Map Elements
 Scale
 Coordinate Systems
 Projections
 Symbolization

14. 1.2.1 Scale
 Scale
 The size ratio represented by a map
 Representative Fraction
 A map with a scale of 1:10,000 means that 1 linear
unit (e.g., inch or cm) on the map represents 10,000
such real-world units on the ground
 Large Scale
 Large Representative Fraction (ex: 1:10,000 or 1:100)
 Small Area Shown in More Detail
 Small Scale
 Small Representative Fraction (ex: 1:1,000,000)
 Large Area Shown in More Generalized Terms

15. Comparison of Map Scales
Small-Scale Map Large-Scale Map
Small Representative Fraction Large Representative Fraction
Portrays Large Area Portrays Small Area

16. 1.2.2 Coordinate Systems
 Location
 Relative Defines a place in relationship to other places
 Absolute Provides a unique address for each place
 Coordinate System
 Grids of horizontal and vertical lines covering the globe
 Intersections of these lines create the addresses
 Latitude and Longitude most commonly used
 Measured in Degrees (°), Minutes (’), and Seconds (”)
 1 Degree is made up of 60 Minutes
 1 Minute is made up of 60 Seconds

17. 1.2.2 Coordinate Systems - Latitude
 Equator has a latitude of 0°
 The equator and all other latitudinal lines are parallel to
each other, which is why they are called parallels
 Divides Northern and Southern Hemispheres
 Important Latitudes
 North Pole 90.00° North
 Arctic Circle 66.56° North
 Tropic of Cancer 23.44° North
 Equator 0.00°
 Tropic of Capricorn 23.44° South
 Antarctic Circle 66.56° South
 South Pole 90.00° South

18. 1.2.2 Coordinate Systems - Longitude
 Meridians of Longitude
 Straight lines connecting the poles
 Converge at the poles; farthest apart at Equator
 Prime Meridian has a longitude of 0°
 Runs through the Royal Astronomical Observatory in
Greenwich, England
 Divides Western and Eastern Hemispheres
 International Date Line has a longitude of 180°
 Halfway around the world from the Prime Meridian
 Separates two consecutive calendar days

19. Latitude vs. Longitude
Parallels of Latitude Meridians of Longitude
Range from 90°N to 90°S Range from 180°W to 180°E
Equator at 0° Prime Meridian at 0°

20. Hemispheres: Half Worlds Apart
Land Hemisphere Water Hemisphere
80% of the World’s Land Area 20% of the World’s Land Area
90% of the World’s Population 10% of the World’s Population

21. What are the approximate
latitude & longitude
coordinates for these
European cities?

22. 1.2.3 Projections
 Map Projection
 Way of depicting the curved surface of the earth on a flat
surface, such as a piece of paper
 Metric Relationships on the Globe
 Area, Shape, Distance, Direction
 A flat map cannot replicate all of these simultaneously
 Most projections can preserve only one of these
 Inevitably, there will be distortion on a flat map
 Common Map Projection Families:
 Azimuthal Plane, Polar Regions
 Cylindrical Cylinder, Areas around the Equator
 Conic Cone, Middle Latitudes

23. Common Map Projections

24. 1.2.4 Symbolization
 Maps and Symbolization
 Cartographic Abstraction
 No map is a complete record of an area
 Symbols used to represent a selection of certain important details
 All maps must “lie” to some degree to inform their readers
 Reference Maps
 Concerned with locations of various
features of the earth’s surface and
their relationships with each other
 Thematic Maps
 Show the distribution of a
particular phenomenon

25. Reference Map

26. Thematic Map Choropleth Map
Each country is filled in with a distinguishing color
representing its Per Capita GNI PPP.

27. Thematic Map Isarithmic Map
Instead of using political boundaries, shading is applied to areas having similar
amounts of the variable being mapped, in this case population density.

28. Thematic Map Graduated Symbol Map
Symbols can be scaled proportionally to the quantity
of the data being mapped. In the cartogram above
(a specific type of graduated symbol map), the countries have been
resized based on relative population.

29. 1.3 Geographic Technologies and Careers
 Recent technological advances in geography have been
dubbed “The Geospatial Revolution”
 Geographic Information Systems (GIS)
 Computer-based tool that allows people to create, view,
manipulate, analyze, and store geospatial data
 Spatial data stored in “Layers”
 Soils, Hydrology, Road Networks, Demographics, etc.
 Global Positioning Systems (GPS)
 Remote Sensing (Earth Observation)
 Science of acquiring information about the Earth’s surface
without being in direct contact with it
 Data Sources
 Aerial Photography
 Radar
 LIDAR

30. Geographic Information Systems at Work

31. 1.3.1 Careers in Geography
 US Department of Labor identified geospatial
technology as one of the most important
emerging and evolving fields in the
technology industry
 Anticipated 20% job growth through 2018 in
jobs for geographers, geoscientists,
cartographers, urban and regional planners,
and other geographic professionals
“We are living in the era of the
geographer.”

32. Transportation
Planner
USGS Water
Specialist
GIS Analyst Natural Science
Teacher
Nature Conservancy Geospatial
Preserve Manager Engineer
Cartographer
Geography
Professor

33. Google Earth
http://www.earth.google.com/