Human geography is the study of how humans interact with places and environments. It examines the reasons why people and activities are located where they are, and how location impacts other places. The five fundamental themes of human geography are location, place, movement, region, and human-environment interaction. Geographers study these themes to understand how distinctive social, cultural, political, and environmental characteristics shape places and the relationships between different locations.

1. Human Geography

2. Definition of Geography The study of place Why places and people are where they are What their location means in the past, present, and future How their location affects other places

3. Human Geography’s Place Gives a spatial perspective to other disciplines.

4. The “Five Themes” Location Place (Human and Physical Characteristics) Interaction (Human/Environment) Movement Region

5. Location--absolute and relative

6. Human-environment interaction Different culture groups understand, use, and transform their environments in different ways, depending on their world view,level of technology, and resources available.

7. Regions A region displays some degree of uniformity that differentiates it from surrounding territories. The region is the basic unit of study for the geographer. The criteria used to define a region can vary according to the phenomenon being considered.

8. Functional (nodal) regions …are defined by a set of activities or interactions that occur within it. Eanes Attendance area map A city and its suburbs

9. Perceptual regions … are perceived to exist by its inhabitants or thegeneral population. … are also known as “vernacular regions” or “popular regions.”

10. Hierarchies of regions Regions exist within a vertical order, and one place can be part of several regions simultaneously. Austin Texas The United States World Realms

11. Landscape--also important, but not one of the five themes Landscape is the material character of a place. Aspects of an environment introduced by humans is “built environment.”

12. Spatial Themes National Research Council Focus on integrative themes and implications for research and policy making.

13. Integration in place How do distinctive social, cultural, political, and environmental characteristics of a town or region shape its character as a place?

14. Interdependencies between places Focuses on the nature and significance of patterns and networks that tie places together.

15. Interdependencies among scales What happens at one scale is the result of factors operating at different scales--on a “local-global continuum.”

16. Formal (Uniform) Regions …are areas that have some degree of homogeneity in one or more phenomena.

17. Geographic inquiry-- the “why of where”

18. What does a geographer do? Cartography and remote sensing Location of public facilities Marketing and location of industry Geography and the law Disease ecology Urban and regional planning Issues of economic development

19. Role of maps Maps reflect the spatial aspect of geography. They are the “language” of the geographer.

20. Geographic Information Systems GIS technology uses powerful computer programs to layer several sets of data so that conclusions can be drawn.

21. Remote sensing Satellites take pictures that are used for gathering data to be used for analysis and decision-making.

22. Global Positioning System (GPS)

23. Mental maps (cognitive maps) Our mental maps represent our own image of the world, and vary according to our perspective and life experiences.

24. Environmental perception Where do Californian students prefer to live? --based on the “total impression” they have of a place.

26. All maps are distortions of reality.

27. Large scale maps show smaller areas with greater detail. Small scale maps show larger areas with less detail.

28. Pin dot maps Dr. Snow’s map of Cholera deaths in London

29. Proportional Symbol Map

33. Distribution of the world’s population: Cartograms have a scale based on some statistic other than land area.