Unit 8 : Transport and CommunicationsChong Boon Secondary School Humanities DepartmentGeography Unit

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Unit Objectives

• By the end of the unit you will be able to:• Identify the types of transport and

communications• Improvements to accessibility and

connectivity• The effects of the Shrinking World and

Globalisation

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Types of Transport

•Modern transport is multi-modal•Air•Planes / Shuttles• Land •Road/ Rail / Animal• Sea• Ships

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Starter Activity

• In the handout provided, look at the picture and write down in the spaces the different modes of transport you can identify.

Developments in Transport• Improvements in Mode of Transport• Over time with technology, transport has become

faster and safer.• 9000 years ago, key transport modes were animals and

simple rafts/canoes• 7500 years ago, the invention of the wheel made carts

possible• In the 1760s, the steam engine was invented • Boats, trains, cars.

• In the 1860s, airships were flown• In 1885, the combustion engine made the first cars.• In 1903, man first had flight

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9000 years ago

7500 years ago

1769

1869

1885

1903

Present date

The Future??

Technological gains in transport

1.Improvements in Speed2.Improvements in Passenger

Transport

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Improvements in Speed

• Modern transport able to travel at higher speeds.• Time taken to cover distances is reduced.• Eg, to travel 100km, the following transport modes will

take the following time• Donkey (10km/hr) - 10 hours• Horse (20km/hr) - 5 hours• Car/Bus (50km/hr) - 2 hours• Train (100km/hr) - 1 hour• Bullet Train (200km/hr) - 30

minutes• Plane (300km/hr) - 20 minutes

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Improvements in Passenger Transport

•Better comfort•Larger planes/ships•More comfortable rides•Greater safety•Lower accident rates

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Think for a moment

My new super flying car can get you to wherever you want in half the time

of any other mode of transport on earth!

Minor issue is it only land 20% of the time. The rest of the time it will crash.

Accessibility

•The ease with which you can reach a location .•A place that is easily reached is said to be accessible.•A place that is not easily reached is said to be inaccessible.

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Connectivity•Connectivity refers to the degree of interlinkages in a network.•A place that is well connected is said to be well-connected.•Well-connected places are better able to share information.

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Take a look at the 2 maps below

1980s MRT Map Singapore

2012 MRT Map Singapore

Has the connectivity of Singapore

improved in the past 30 years?

Improvements with Transport Infrastructure

• Roads, railways, bridges and tunnels are infrastructure that improve transport.• Eg, the Channel Tunnel • Links England and France under the sea.

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Communications1.Process where information

is transferred 2.Possible to be one-way or

interactive

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One-way communication• Process to obtain information or to share

feelings with others.• Printed materials (magazines,

newspapers, etc)• Art work (paintings, sculptures, etc)• Broadcast media (Television and radio

programmes)• Internet media (Websites, Social Media,

etc)

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Interactive Communication• Process where humans communicate with

one another.• Constantly happens over varying distances

(depending on technology available)• Talking in person• Telephone call / SMS• Fb / Twitter / Weibo

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Developments in communications

• Technology has made it easier to communicate.•We communicate more however, the

depth of communication is decreased.• Physical Distance has decreased but social

distance has been pushed apart.

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A shrinking world (Globalisation)• The world is not actually shrinking• Technology has made the time taken to

cover a certain distance become shorter (shrinking world)• A letter from Singapore to Los Angeles

would take 6 working days to reach it’s destination. •With emails, it is now almost

instantaneous .

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Our essential questions

1.How has technology helped us in our communications?

2.How does the ‘shrinking world’ benefit modern man?

3.What are the various modes of transport?

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