GNP - Perspectives within Geography Lesson

Perspectives within Geography

Ideologies

  • England was the center of geography as a discipline
  • Many people felt that geography was based on qualitative data only (descriptive or contextual – think culture or religious beliefs), but geographers wanted the field to be considered a science, based on quantitative data (using mathematical technique to draw conclusions – think population or disease)
  • In the 1860s George Perkins Marsh writes the first work about conservation and the effects man had on the environment (human-environmental interaction)
  • In the 1900s some less positive theories emerged- environmental determinism
    • Cultures are a result of where they exist
  • Warmer climates = less motivated and temperate climates = high IQ
    • Idea was reputed as racist and factually incorrectAtlanta skyline
  • Carl Sauer develops the idea of possibilism
    • Humans are not only a product of their environment, because we possess the skills to modify that environment (the environment impacts – but does not control) 
  • Sauer introduced the concept of cultural landscape compared to natural landscapes
    • Cultural Landscapes are products of human-environment interaction. 
    • Natural Landscapes are unaltered by humans.
    • As humans we also have symbolic landscapes that are familiar and hold meaning.
    • It is also possible to see the influences of the current group and groups that were there before (sequent occupancy).
  • W.D. Pattison identified "four traditions" to demonstrate that geographic reasoning was scientific and had been used for thousands of years
    • Earth-Science, Culture-Environment, Spatial (Locational) and Area-Analysis traditions

Modern Technology

  • GIS (Geographic Information System)
    • Computer program that uses layers of information to create mapping patterns
  • GPS (Global Positioning System)
    • Uses longitude and latitude to determine absolute location
  • Both technologies rely upon remote sensing to collect information from satellite systems and aerial images
  • These systems lessen distortion of maps
  • Modern computer software also allows for the creation of visualizations, dynamic maps that can show movement or changes over time

IMAGES CREATED BY GAVS (Image 1 - Photo by mattlemmon via Flickr; Image 2 available in the Public Domain from Wikimedia Commons)