Post on 02-Jan-2016
Five fundament themes of Geography
Anoka Public Schools Workshop Jan 6&7 Minnesota Historical Society
David A LanegranMacalester College
Five Fundament Themes
• Location
• Place
• Human – environmental interaction
• Spatial interactions ( movement or connections among places )
• Regional concept
Location: how do we know where we are?
• determined by angles or directions
• separation or distance
Three types of systems
• Egocentric – self-centered
• Domicentric - centered on home or safe place - uses landmarks
• Conventional - Based on celestial landmarks
Egocentric directions
• Toward the pull of gravity UP AND DOWN
• Visible or invisible FRONT AND BACK
• Laterality of brain LEFT AND RIGHT
Egocentric distance
• Personal space – cultural specific• Intimate distance an embrace up to 18”
• Personal distance the length of an arm with a sword up to 6’ the space for most conversation
• Social distance 6’-12’ the distance for most social interaction
• Public distance 12- 25
Relative location
measured in a variety of ways to show
ease of connection
degree of separation
importance
Absolution location
• mathematical location in earth’s grid
• Need because humans traveled into areas without terrestrial landmarks
• Navigation - finding location or way finding at sea
Absolute location
• Creation of world map long goal of societies– Europeans first to create an accurate map of
the world– Depended on concepts of mathematical grid
– Latitude Elevation of polar star– Longitude need for clock to keep accurate time at sea
carver
Place: Human and Physical Characteristics
• PLACES have character that consists of both human and physical elements
• PLACES have meaning
• Geographers study places
Human Environment interaction
• Human impact on environment
• Environment presents range of possibilities for humans
• Culture acts a lens magnifying or reducing the impacts in different times and places
Humans change environment
Human move and invent new plants
Spatial interaction
• This has been simplified by NGS to movement
• Focus in on connections among places.
Circulation systems
• Circulation means transportation and communication
• Concept includes invisible as well as landscape
• Focus on cultural landscapes of movement
• Forces in market – other opportunities or developments
The analogy of the bicycle
The switch from network to surface
Who are we talking to and what are we talking about?
Regional concept
• Regionalization is the process of classifying places
• Regions are mental constructs
• The boundary problem– Boundaries are meaningful breaks in a
gradient