UNIT ONE – PART 3

Some Terms Spatial skills is an ability to observe

and understand how different things are related

Geographic Inquiry is a method that geographers use to solve problems (later in the course)

Geography Will Teach You… Where natural features, human

features, people and other species are located

Why they are located there The imprints, or effects, and patterns

made by these features on the Earth’s surface

How and why these patterns change over time

Geography Will Teach You…

The economic, environmental, and social consequences of these changes

The connections between people and their environment and among different groups of people

The challenges that arise from the ways that people interact with their environment and how we can resolve these challenges

What Geographers Do… Look at shapes and patterns made on

the landscape by natural features (rivers and forests)

Look at processes (flooding, glaciation, erosion)

Examine the geographic imprints of human activities (settlements, farming, waste disposal)

Map Conventions Maps are used everyday. Anything on

the Earth’s surface can be mapped (subway routes, rivers, cities, shopping malls)

All map makers follow the same rules when creating maps. These rules are known as map conventions. The main conventions are: Title: tells what the map is about Legend: indicates what colors or symbols

represent the features on the map

Map Conventions

Direction: tells where places are in relation to other places

Scale: tells the size of the area of land shown on the map; helps determine distances from places

Date: tells when the map was drawn (Important because features and landscapes change over time)

Map-maker`s Name: Tells who made the map

Geomatics Geomatics is a set of tools, techniques,

and technologies to answer many of the questions geographer`s face

There are FOUR main areas of geomatics:1. GIS (Geographic Information Systems)

Computerized mapping and analysis based on spatial data

2. Remote Sensing Collecting information from a distance using

tools such as satellite images and aerial photography

Geomatics

3. Surveying and Measuring Recording details about Earth`s surface

using tools such as Global Positioning Systems (GPS)

Cartography (Map-making) All this spatial data is then used to make

accurate maps These maps are then used by many

people throughout the world