Directions:For the assignment answer the following question in a 250-300 word essay. You will have to you thetextbook and only the textbook as your source of information. If you quote information from thetextbook you must include a parenthetical citation and include a citation for the textbook at the end ofyour response (see below). My expectation is that you craft a quality response in your own words thatdoes not simply copy large sections of textbook material. When complete, submit your entry in theassignment’s “Submission Window” on Blackboard before the due date/time. Be sure your response iscomplete prior to its submission; forgotten citations (or other neglected elements) will not beaccepted through email and will be graded accordingly.Question(s):What are the basic components of a geographic information system? What are some applications of aGIS? How has GIS been used during the COVID-19 pandemic?Requirements: A 250 – 300 word response for the question Submit your entry in the assignment’s Submission Window on Blackboard prior to the duedate/time listed in the syllabus. Do not submit the assignment as an attachment, use the Submission Window.Citation Expectations:If you quote material directly from the textbook then a parenthetical citation in the response and acitation at the end of the response is required. Even if you do not quote material from the textbook Iexpect to see the citation for the textbook at the end of your response.Example of parenthetical citation in MLA format:“Maps were often the most prominent feature in news reports and websites covering COVID-19”(Bjelland et al. 3).Textbook citation in MLA format:Bjelland, Kaplan, et al. Introduction to Geography, 16th edition. New York, NY: McGraw Hill, 2021. Because learning changes everything.®
Introduction to
Geography
Mark Bjelland, David Kaplan,
Jon Malinowski, Arthur Getis
Copyright 2022 © McGraw Hill LLC. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of McGraw Hill LLC.
Because learning changes everything.®
Course
Introduction
Chapter 1
© Sean White/Design Pics RF
Copyright 2022 © McGraw Hill LLC. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of McGraw Hill LLC.
Course Introduction
Overview
• Fully online / asynchronous course
• All material available on HuskyCT
• Syllabus
• Assignments
• Midterm / Final exam
©© McGraw Hill. All rights reserved. Authorized only for instructor use in3
Hill
h l
Background on me
UConn alumni
• Ph.D. (2013)
• M.A. (2010)
• B.A. (2008)
Hobbies include…
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Background on me
Hobbies include…
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5
Overview
• What is Geography?
• Evolution of the Discipline.
• Some Core Geographic Concepts.
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What is Geography?
More than place names and locations
The study of spatial variation
• How and why things differ from place to place on the
surface of the earth.
• How spatial patterns evolved through time.
• Focus on the interaction of people and social groups with
their environment and with each other.
Geography is about Earth space and the content of
that space
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What is Geography?
“It’s about understanding the complexity of our world,
appreciating the diversity of cultures that exists across
continents. And in the end, it’s about using all that
knowledge to help bridge divides and bring people together.”
Barack Obama (2012)
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Evolution of the Discipline
1
Ancient Greeks and Romans
• Term reputedly coined by Eratosthenes from Greek:
Geo
“the earth”
graphein
“to write”
• Herodotus – (c. 484 to 425 B.C.).
•
Described Persian Empire
•
Sought to understand the causes and course of Persian wars
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Evolution of the Discipline
2
Ancient Greeks and Romans
• Strabo (circa 64 B.C. to A.D. 20).
Described inhabited world, including differences
• Ptolemy – 2nd Century A.D.
Map of world based on previously developed
latitude/longitude, map accepted in Europe as authoritative
for nearly 1500 years
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World map of the 2nd century A.D. GrecoEgyptian geographer-astronomer Ptolemy
Access the text alternative for slide images.
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Evolution of the Discipline
3
Ancient Chinese
• As involved with geography as Westerners; however no contact
with them.
Muslim scholars
• Preserved Greek and Roman knowledge.
• Described and analyzed their known world in its physical, cultural
and regional variations.
European voyages of exploration (15th to 16th
Centuries)
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Evolution of the Discipline
4
Modern geography
• Origins in the surge of scholarly inquiry that began in 17th
century Europe, for example, Alexander von Humboldt.
• By 1900, geography had become a distinctive and
respected discipline in universities throughout Europe.
• Profession became increasingly specialized into
disciplinary subdivisions.
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Evolution of the Discipline Subfields of
Geography
1
Three dominating themes across subfields
• Spatial variation of physical and human phenomena on the
surface of the earth.
• Systems that link physical phenomena and human
activities in one area with other areas.
• Human-environmental relationships and spatial systems in
specific locational settings (known as regional geography).
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Evolution of the Discipline Subfields of
Geography
2
Regional geography
Systematic geography
• Study of one or a few related aspects of the physical
environment or of human populations and societies.
• Examines its interrelationships with other spatial systems
and areal patterns.
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Evolution of the Discipline Subfields of
Geography
3
Physical geography
• Focus is on the natural environment.
Human geography
• Focus is on people.
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Evolution of the Discipline Why
Geography Matters
• The only discipline concerned with understanding
why and how both physical and cultural
phenomena differ from place to place.
• Vital to an understanding of national and
international issues.
• Offers a diversity of job opportunities.
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Some Core Geographic Concepts
1
Geographers believe that recognizing spatial patterns is the
essential starting point for understanding how people live on
and shape Earth’s surface
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1
Some Core Geographic Concepts
2
Geographers use a
common store of
concepts, terms and
methods of study:
• Space.
• Place.
• Location.
• Direction.
• Distance.
• Size and scale.
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Some Core Geographic Concepts
3
The word spatial is an essential modifier in framing
questions and forming concepts
• Geography is a spatial science.
Geographers are interested in:
• The way things are distributed.
• The way movements occur and.
• The way processes operate over
the surface of the earth.
Access the text alternative for slide images.
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Travel time map
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Isolines / Isochrones
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Travel time map
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Some Core Geographic Concepts
Places have:
• Location, direction, and distance with respect to other places.
• Size.
• Both physical structure and cultural content.
• Attributes that develop and change over time.
• Content that is structured and explainable.
• Elements that interrelate with other places.
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2
Some Core Geographic Concepts
Scale – ratio of map distance to ground distance
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2
Small Scale vs. Large Scale
Larger area
Less detail
Smaller area
More detail
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Population Density and Map Scale
Access the text alternative for slide images.
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Spatial Association – Spatial Distributions
of Religion and Alcohol Sales in Texas
Access the text alternative for slide images.
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38th Annual Report of the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission, Austin, 1972, p. 49; and Churches and Church Membership in the United States:
1971 National Council of Churches Christ in the U S A 1974
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Some Core Geographic Concepts
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Location
Absolute location.
• Based on a precise and accepted system of coordinates –
mathematical location.
• Latitude and longitude.
• Other grid systems, For Example, street address and
township, range and section property descriptions.
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Some Core Geographic Concepts
6
Location
Relative location.
• Position in relation to other places or things.
• Expresses spatial interconnection and interdependence of
places.
• May carry social and economic implications.
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Some Core Geographic Concepts
7
Location
Site.
• Physical and cultural
characteristics of the place
itself.
• Absolute location concept.
Situation.
• External relations of a place.
• Expression of relative
location concept.
Access the text alternative for slide images.
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Some Core Geographic Concepts
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Direction
Absolute direction.
• Based on the cardinal points (N-S-E-W).
Relative direction.
• Culturally based and locationally variable.
• “Out West”.
• “Back East”.
• “Down South”.
• “Near East”.
• “Far East”.
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Some Core Geographic Concepts
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Distance
Absolute distance.
• Uses standard units such as miles or kilometers.
Relative distance.
• Transforms linear measurements into other units more
meaningful to human experience or decision making, For
Example,
• Time distance.
• Travel cost.
• Psychological perception of distance.
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Some Core Geographic Concepts
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Size and Scale
Size (small, medium, large).
Term used by general population.
Scale.
Degree of generalization represented:
• Reference to the size of unit studied.
• For Example, local, regional, or global.
• Relationship between the size of an area on a map and the
actual size of the mapped area on the surface of the earth.
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Generalization
1:24,000
1:62,500
Generalizations increase in smaller scale
maps
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1:250,000
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Some Core Geographic Concepts
11
Places have physical and cultural attributes
Physical attributes.
• Climate, soil, water supplies, mineral resources, terrain features,
etc.
• Natural landscape attributes help shape – but do not dictate –
how people live.
Cultural attributes.
• Language, religion, industries, food, music, etc.
• Cultural landscape.
• Visible imprint of human activity on the physical environment.
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Some Core Geographic Concepts
Attributes of place are always changing
12
New York harbor in 1874 and now
The physical environment undergoes
continuous and pronounced change.
Humans alter the environments they
occupy.
• Places are the present result of the
past operation of distinctive physical
and cultural processes.
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a: © Chris Ware/Getty Images, b: © Chris Schmid/Getty Images
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Some Core Geographic Concepts
4
Humans alter the environments they occupy.
• Pace of change has accelerated.
• Built landscape has increasingly
replaced natural landscape.
New York harbor in 1874 and now
Access the text alternative for slide images.
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Some Core Geographic Concepts
13
Interrelations Between Places
Spatial interaction.
• The movement of people, goods, information, etc. between
different places.
An indication of interdependence between areas
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Some Core Geographic Concepts
Tobler’s First Law of Geography
“everything is related to everything else, but near things are
more related than distant things.”
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Some Core Geographic Concepts
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Interrelations Between Places
Spatial interaction’s core components:
• Accessibility.
• Relative ease with which a destination may be reached.
• Connectivity.
• All the tangible and intangible ways places are
connected.
• Spatial diffusion.
• Dispersion of an idea or thing from a center of origin to
more distant points.
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Activity
NYT article
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/09/19/upshot/facebook-county-friendships.html
Questions:
1. How does physical distance impact Facebook connections in the digital age? What
examples does Prof. Johannes Stroebel provide?
2. How do Facebook connections illustrate historical migration and employment patterns in
the United States?
3. What impacts do physical borders/barriers have on Facebook examples? Provide
examples.
4. What county is Storrs, CT located in? Use the interactive map to investigate the five counties
that Storrs is most connected to. What are the names of these five counties and how many
connections to Storrs’ county are present? (You will see this information in the table below the
interactive map.
5.
What did you find interesting about this article? Are there any limitations/issues in this article?
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Some Core Geographic Concepts
15
Interrelations Between Places
Spatial interaction’s core components:
• Globalization.
• Increasing interconnection of all parts of the world as
the full range of social, cultural, political, economic and
environmental processes becomes international in
scale and effect.
• Promoted by continuing advances in worldwide
accessibility and connectivity.
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Some Core Geographic Concepts
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Place Similarity and Regions
The distinctive characteristics of places – physical, cultural,
locational – suggest two geographically important ideas:
• No two places on earth can be exactly the same.
• The natural and cultural characteristics of places show
patterns of similarity in some areas permitting geographers
to recognize and define regions.
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Some Core Geographic Concepts
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Place Similarity and Regions
Regions.
• Earth areas that display significant elements of internal
uniformity and external differences from surrounding territories.
• Used to classify the complex reality of the earth’s surface into
manageable pieces.
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Some Core Geographic Concepts
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Types of Regions
Administrative regions.
• Precisely surveyed and defined.
• Laws are applied uniformly inside these regions.
• Countries, states, counties, cities, school districts
Formal (uniform) regions.
• Uniformity in one or a limited combination of physical
or cultural features.
• Corn Belt
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Some Core Geographic Concepts
18
Functional (nodal) regions.
• A spatial system with interdependent parts that
operates as an organizational unit.
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Some Core Geographic Concepts
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Perceptual (vernacular/popular) regions.
• Exist in the perceptions of their inhabitants and the
general society.
• Reflect feelings and images rather than objective data.
• New England, Northeast, Midwest, etc.
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Accessibility Content: Text Alternatives for Images
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World map of the 2nd century a.d. Greco-Egyptian
geographer- astronomer Ptolemy – Text Alternative
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World map of the 2nd century a.d. Greco-Egyptian geographerastronomer Ptolemy. Ptolemy (Claudius Ptolemaeus) adopted a
previously developed map grid of latitude and longitude based on
the division of the circle into 360°, permitting a precise
mathematical location for every recorded place. Unfortunately,
errors of assumption and measurement rendered both the map
and its accompanying six-volume gazetteer inaccurate. Ptolemy’s
map, accepted in Europe as authoritative for nearly 1500 years,
was published in many variants in the 15th and 16th centuries.
The version shown here summarizes the extent and content of the
original. Its underestimation of the Earth’s size convinced
Columbus a short westward voyage would carry him to Asia.
Return to parent-slide containing images.
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Some Core Geographic Concepts – Text
Alternative
3
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This map of Johannesburg indicates how to travel by car,
and airplane. Differently-colored areas show relative
distances from destination. 8 hours. NA.
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Some Core Geographic Concepts – Text
Alternative
4
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New York’s natural harbor made it a great location for a city
to grow. It was already the largest city in the United States
when the birds-eye map on the left was created in 1874. The
city is fully-developed with low-rise buildings and the
waterfront lined with piers and ships at the docks. The
continued growth of New York and the development of highrise construction techniques allowed the city’s buildings and
population density to soar. In the right image which is a
recent photograph, tall steel and glass and concrete
buildings tower over the peninsula. There are fewer ships in
the recent photo and some of the former piers have been
replaced by parks and high-rise buildings.
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Population Density and Map Scale – Text
Alternative
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Population density and map scale. “Truth” depends on one’s
scale of inquiry. Map (a) reveals that the maximum year 2010
population density of midwestern states was no more than
123 people per square kilometer (319 per sq mi). From map
(b), however, we see that population densities in three Illinois
counties exceeded 494 people per square kilometer (1280
per sq mi) in 2010. If we were to reduce our scale of inquiry
even further, examining individual city blocks in Chicago, we
would find densities reaching 2500 or more people per
square kilometer (10,000 per sq mi). Scale matters!
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Spatial Distributions of Religion and
Alcohol Sales in Texas – Text Alternative
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Spatial distributions of religion and alcohol sales in Texas.
Catholic and Lutheran areas tend to be “wet,” and Baptist
and Methodist areas tend to retain prohibition. Both Baptist
and Methodist churches have traditionally taken a stand
against the consumption of alcohol. The two maps suggest a
spatial association between religion and alcohol prohibition
laws. Sources: 38th Annual Report of the Texas Alcoholic
Beverage Commission, Austin, 1972, p. 49; and Churches
and Church Membership in the United States: 1971, National
Council of Churches of Christ in the U.S.A., 1974.
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Some Core Geographic Concepts – Text
Alternative
7
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A detailed map of the site New Orleans shows the areas
below sea level (marked in orange). It shows Lake
Pontchartrain to the north. The locations of the University of
New Orleans, Gentilly Ridge, French quarter and downtown
are shown to be above sea level while other parts of the city
are below sea level. It shows the Mississippi river running
along the border of the city. The second map shows New
Orleans in relation to the Mississippi River basin which
encompasses much of the interior of the United States. The
city’s low-lying site is poor and flood-prone, but its situation is
fabulous.
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Some Core Geographic Concepts – Text
Alternative
18
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Perceptual (vernacular or popular) regions of North America
are shown. Regions shown on the map are: Pacific
Northwest, Pacific, West, Southwest, Gulf, South, Acadia,
Middle Atlantic, East, New England, Northeast, Atlantic, and
North. In some places there is a shared perceptual regional
identity. For example, eastern Oregon is part of both the
Pacific Northwest and West perceptual regions. Similarly,
much of New Mexico is part of both the Southwest and West
perceptual regions. Parts of West Virginia and western
Pennsylvania lack a clear regional affiliation.
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The functional regions shown on this map were based on linkages
between large banks of major central cities and the “correspondent”
banks they formerly served in smaller towns. – Text Alternative
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The functional regions shown on this map were based on linkages
between large banks in major central cities and the “correspondent”
banks they formerly served in smaller towns. The map depicts regions
with a central node in the largest city in the region and lines extending
to other cities within the nodal region. Although the rise of nationwide
banks has reduced their role, the regions once defined an important form
of connectivity between principal cities and locales beyond their own
immediate metropolitan area. Source: Redrawn by permission from
Annals of the Association of American Geographers, John R. Borchert,
Vol. 62, p. 358, Association of American Geographers, 1972.
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Organization of Textbook – Text
Alternative
2
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The diagram displays the World in Spatial Terms including Physical Systems,
Human Systems, and Environment and Society. This diagram includes four
circles. The outer circle includes Places and Regions and The Uses of Geography
which have examples in all chapters. One of the three inner circles represents
The World in Spatial Terms and has chapter 1 Introduction, chapter 2 geographic
techniques and skills, and chapter 7, human interaction. Below this circle, lie two
circles. The circle on the left includes Physical Systems and has chapter 3,
landforms and chapter 4 weather and climate. The circle on the right
includes Human Systems and has chapter 5 population, chapter 6 culture,
chapter 8 political, chapter 9 primary activities, chapter 10 manufacturing and
service activities and chapter 11 urban. The circle that is formed due to
the intersection of these two circles includes Environment and Society and has
chapter 12 natural resources and chapter 13 human impact.
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