Introduction to Geography

People, Places, and Environment

Dr. Md. Nazrul Islam

Ph.D. (University of Tokyo, Japan) (MEXT Fellow)
JSPS Postdoctoral Research Fellow (2012-2014)
NFP Fellow for M.Sc. ESA Credits (Netherlands)
ISEM Fellow for Ecological Modeling (USA)
SAMS Fellow for Marine ECOPATH Modeling (UK)

Professor
Department of Geography and Environment
Jahangirnagar University, Savar, Dhaka,

Executive Editor-in-Chief
Modeling Earth Systems and Environment
What is geography?

• Geography is a spatial science

• Spatial behavior of people
• Spatial relationships between places
• Spatial processes that create or maintain
those behaviors and relationships
The 5 Themes of Geography
• LOCATION

• PLACE

• MOVEMENT

• HUMAN/ENVIRONMENT INTERACTION

• REGIONS

(See MyGateway – Supplemental Materials – Chapter 1

folder for a more detailed explanation of the themes and
the two subcategories each one has.
3
Five fundamental themes of
geography
1) Location: the meaning of relative and
absolute position on the earth's surface
 Sample terms: Latitude and longitude, site

and situation, direction, distance, scale

 Skills: Map reading, identification

 Questions: Where is ____? Where is ____

relative to where I am?

Five fundamental themes of geography

2) Place: the distinctive and distinguishing

physical and human characteristics of
locales
 Sample terms: Physical and cultural

landscapes, sense of place

 Skills: Description, compare and contrast

 Questions: What does ____ look like? Why?

How is it different from ____?

Five fundamental themes of geography

3) Relationships within places: the

development and consequences of human-
environment relationships
 Sample terms: Ecosystems, natural

resources, environmental pollution

 Skills: Evaluation, analysis

 Questions: What human-environment

relationships are occurring? How do they

affect the place and its inhabitants?
Five fundamental themes of geography

4) Movement: patterns and change in human

spatial interaction on the earth
 Sample terms: Migration, diffusion,

globalization
 Skills: Explanation, prediction

 Questions: How has this spatial pattern

developed? Will it continue to change?

What does it mean for the places involved?
Five fundamental themes of geography

5) Regions: how they form and change

 Sample terms: Formal vs. functional regions

 Skills: Synthesis, application

 Questions: How has this spatial pattern

developed? Will it continue to change?

What does it mean for the places involved?
Environmental Geography

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Environmental Geography

10
Environmental Geography

The study of the interaction of all

physical and human phenomena
at individual places and of how
interactions among places form
patterns and organize space.
The Nature of Geography

• Geographers apply the spatial perspective

whereas historians apply the time
perspective
• For maximum understanding, the
geographer must also be aware of the time
perspective and visa versa.

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Geographic focus

• What geographers look for

– Distributions
– Distances
– Directions
– Shapes & forms
– Patterns
– Cores
– peripheries

13
Basic Geographic Concepts

• Location, Direction and Distance

• Size and Scale
• Physical and Cultural Attributes
• Attributes of Place are Always Changing – a
dynamic reality
• Interrelations Between Places
• Place Similarity and Regions

14
What Is Geography?

• Systematic Perspective
– Physical – subdivisions
– Human/ Cultural – subdivisions
• Regional Perspective
Tools of Geography
• Cartography (tool & means of expression)
• Geographic Information Systems (GIS)

15
Subfields of Geography

• Physical Geography studies • Human Geography studies

– Origin & nature of continents – Growth & distribution of
& landforms population
– Origin & nature of oceans – Nature of cities
– Climates (past & present) – Communications
networks
– Rivers
– Location of businesses &
– Glaciers
industries
– Others
• Soils
– Growth & collapse of
• Animals empires & nations
• Plants – Spread of culture traits
• Technology
• Trends & styles
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• Religions & ideologies
Geography is Broad and Integrative

• Broad:
Geography
frequently tries to
focus on the
“whole picture”
• Integrative: It
draws upon
almost every
academic
discipline seeking
patterns and
connections

17
Geography as Mother of many
Sciences

18
People as well as academic disciplines
have different perspectives

19
Awaken to the Wonders of Geography

20
Geography began with questions.

21
 Origins of Geographic Study

• Ancient civilizations/empires made

maps
• Greek philosophy
– Geography = geo (earth) + graphy
(inscribe – write about)
– Why are things where they are & why are
they the way they are – causations and
conclusions
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History of Geography
• Classical Western World
– Erastosthenes (275-195 B.C.)
– Hipparchus (180-127 B.C.)
• Non-European World
– Al-Edrisi (1099-1154)
– Ibn-Battuta (1304-1378)
– Ibn-Khaldun (1332-1406)
– The Tribute of Yu
– Phei Hsiu
– Kangido 23
Since the 1400’s…
• General geography (1650)
– Bernhard Varen
– Special geography = regional geography
– General geography = topical/systematic
geography
• Human-environment tradition
– Alexander von Humboldt (1769-1859)
• Cosmos
– George Perkins Marsh (1801-1882)
• Man and Nature (1864) 24
Geography Today

• Association of American Geographers

– 55 topical specialties
– www.aag.org
– Where?, What?, When?, Why?, and Why there?
• Three approaches
– Area analysis (areal systems analysis)
– Spatial analysis
– Geographic information systems analysis

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Area Analysis

• Site – (absolute location)

– Exact location of a place
• Situation or relative location
– Location of a place relative to other places
– Accessibility
– Constant change
– Scale
• Globalization Geographic
Theme: Location
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Regions (Geographic Theme)

• Formal regions
– Exhibit uniformity across a cultural or physical
characteristic
• Functional regions
– Defined by interactions among places
• Vernacular regions
– Widespread popular perception of existence

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Formal & Functional Regions

• Formal
– Time zones
– States
– Cities &
Metropolitan areas
• Functional
– Chicago & its
hinterland
Spatial Analysis

• Distribution
• Three properties of distribution
–Density
–Concentration
–Pattern

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DISTRIBUTION
Areal (spatial) systems analysis

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Movement (Geographic Theme)
• Distance
– Measurements
• Absolute
• Time
• Cost
• Psychological (perception)
– Friction of distance
• Distance decay
– As distance increases, importance of a
particular phenomena decreases
• Ex. Newspaper circulation
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FACTORS AFFECTING MOVEMENT
Three Types of Diffusion

• Relocation diffusion
• Contiguous diffusion
• Hierarchical diffusion

• Barriers to diffusion
– Cultural barriers
• Oceans, deserts, distance, time
• Political boundaries, cultural differences
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35
36
Hierarchical
Diffusion
4 Physical Systems

• Atmosphere (air)

• Lithosphere (Earth’s solid rocks)

• Hydrosphere (water)

• Biosphere (living organisms) 38

Earth’s 4 Interrelated Physical
Systems

39
Locating Points on a Sphere: the Grid
System

• Latitude – angular distance measured north or

south of the Equator through 90º of arc. Degree
of constant length – 69 miles.
– Parallels – not lines of latitude
• Poleward reduction in length
• Longitude – angular distance measured east or
west of the Prime Meridian through 180º of arc.
Degree distance decreases poleward.
– Meridians – not lines of longitude
• All meridians have the same length ½ of
Equator 40
A Grid

Latitude and longitude may be combined on a

globe or map to create a grid. One specific
parallel will only intersect a specific meridian at
one place on the earth. Using the two together
allows for locating places precisely.

41
Creating
a Grid
Longitude and time zones

• Approximately 15º
of longitude wide
because 360º
divided by 24
(hours in a day)
equals 15º. Actual
boundaries vary
from precise
meridians to
accommodate
political and cultural
differences 43
The Reality of Time Zones
 Alpha-numeric Grid – commonly
used in atlases and on road maps

St. Louis is located in section D8 45

Map Making
• Cartography
• Scale
– Fraction 1/24,000
– Ratio 1:24,000
– Written statement “1 inch equals 1 mile”
– Bar style
• Detail and area 0 1 2 3 4
– Small scale map = less detail, large
denominator (1:1,000,000)
– Large scale map = more detail, small
denominator (1:100,000)
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The Map is the medium or language
of geography

• Can convey much information quickly and

effectively
• Can be used to establish theories
• Can be used to solve geographic problems
• May reveal possible interactions and
connections
• Can illustrate patterns, flows, distributions,
connections, sequent occupance, etc.
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 Five Requirements of a Good Map

1. Grid – to facilitate locating places

2. Direction arrow or compass rose – to orient the
map to the real world
3. Scale – to translate map distances to real-world
distances
4. Key or Legend – to interpret symbols used on the
map
5. Title – to alert the map reader to the topic or
theme of the map
Other useful information: Copyright date & Projection
used
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Map Scale – the concept

• Scales Of Area Shown – inverse

relationship between scale and area
shown.
– Large Scale Maps – show small areas
in great detail
– Small Scale Maps – show large areas
with less detail
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SMALLEST SCALE

LARGEST SCALE
 Simulating a 3rd
Dimension
• Topographic Maps and
Terrain Representation
1. Hachure Lines
2. Contour Lines
(topographic)
3. Combination Hachure &
Contour
4. Combination Contour &
Shaded Relief
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Profile made from a topographic map.

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For precision, every intersection should be plotted
Remote Sensing (RS)

Acquisition of data about

Earth’s surface from a
satellite orbiting the planet
or from high-flying aircraft
Satellites

• Landsat
– 1972; 1999
– Sensors measure radiation of colors of visible
light
– Pixel size (resolution): 59x59 meters
– IKONOS resolution: 1.5x1.5 meters

• Weather satellites
– Very large pixels
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Remotely Sensed Data

• Human activities
– Changes in plant growth
– Drainage patterns
– Erosion associated with agriculture
– Logging and forest management
– Wetland monitoring
• Wartime applications

57
Change in Forest Cover
GIS

• Database software for digital information

– Contains same information as regular database
– PLUS
• Spatial characteristics such as boundary information or
coordinates
• An identifying characteristic that locates the item in
space (i.e., address)
• Layers
– Information with specific characteristics
• Soils, hydrology, land ownership
– Can be combined for analysis
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 GIS – Commercial & Educational
Applications

• After selecting the

data, the different
layers of information
are sandwiched
together
• Cartographer can
examine different
combinations and
select the best one
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Digital Geographic Information

• Raster
– Grid cells of data
• Remote sensing images
• Pixels
• Vector
– Point, line, polygon data
– X and Y coordinates
• Different uses and spatial accuracies
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Digital Data

• Conversion of paper to digital formats

• Digital database creation
– Remote sensing images
– Digitizing
• Tracing lines
• Available types of data
– Topographic maps
• DRG and DLG
– US Fish and Wildlife Service National Wetlands
Inventory
– Census Bureau TIGER files
63
GIS Spatial Analysis

• Calculating densities and distribution of

population
• “Counting” lakes
• Monitoring environmental changes with
satellite images
• Analyzing changes in food production and
land use

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Relative and absolute location

• Stand up!
• Where were you born?
• Where do you live?
• Where’s the most beautiful place you’ve ever
been?
Index cards

• Name and e-mail address

• Experience with geography
• Something unique or interesting about yourself
• Anything I should know?
After looking at the syllabus:
• What are you most and least looking forward to in
the class?
Executive Edito-in-Chief