SPREADING AND CONNECTING

SCALE

Scale is the relationship between the portion of the Earth being studied and Earth as a whole.There are many scales from the micro (the individual) to the macro (Earth as a whole).

Some examples: neighborhood, city, county, state, region, country, macrocultural region, planet.Geographers increasingly study patterns at the global scale.

GLOBALIZATION

A process that involves the whole world (or places distributed globally) and that makes something worldwide in scope.

Due to advances in industrial, communication and transportation technology the world is increasingly interconnected through culture and economy.

As a result, the world is increasingly more uniform and interdependent.

BIRD FLU (H5N1)IRANEye Surgery in

JapanVWs in Mexico

Okay everybody, spread out.

DISTRIBUTION

Some Basics

Geographers ask WHERE and WHY.

Spatial thinking Is the most fundamental skill to possess to understand the arrangement

of objects

Geographers look at the arrangement of people and activities and try to understand

why they are distributed across space as they are.

Historians ask WHEN and WHY

DISTRIBUTION

Distribution is: The arrangement of a feature in space.

Each building, community, object and person occupies a distinct space on Earth’s surface.Geographers explain how these features are arranged across Earth’s surface.

DISTRIBUTION

DENSITY CONCENTRATION PATTERN

Distribution has three main properties:

DENSITY IS: The frequency with which something occurs in space.Density refers to items per area.

The density of box A and box B are equal: 6 circles per box.

A B

DISTRIBUTION

THERE ARE THREE TYPES OF DENSITY:

ARITHMETIC DENSITY(total number of objects divided by total area)

PHYSIOLOGICAL DENSITY(total number of people divided by total area of

ARABLE land)

AGRICULTURAL DENSITY(total number of FARMERS divided by total area of

arable land)

Concentration is the extent of a feature’s spread across space.

Box A has a higher concentration (more clustered) than box B (more dispersed).

A B

Density and concentration are not the same.Box B has a higher density, but Box A has a higher concentration.

Density considers amount per area, whereas concentration considers spread over an area.

CLUSTERED: relatively close together DISPERSED: relatively spread out

DISTRIBUTION

Rectangular Pattern

Linear Pattern

Hub and Spoke Pattern

Circular pattern

Guess the Pattern

PATTERN is the arrangement of objects in space (geometric or otherwise).

DISTRIBUTION

Distance Decay Model

Space-Time Compression

EFFECTS OF DISTANCE

The distance decay model states that as the distance between two places increases, the interaction between them decreases.

Distance is to travel what friction is to physics, so geographers often refer to the “friction of distance.”

A

B

C

Therefore there will be more interaction between points A and BThan there is between A and C

EFFECTS OF DISTANCE

DISTANCE DECAY THEORY

A

B

C

Then Came Stuff …Really Cool Stuff

…and it all kept getting better and faster

EFFECTS OF DISTANCE

Space-Time CompressionThe space-time compression model states that modern technology and its advances in transportation and communication have reduced the time it takes for people to migrate or information to diffuse to other places.

Space and time are compressed by technology.

Distance loses its coefficient of friction through technology.

On a burro, it takes a long time to get from Sao Paulo to Paris.

In a bitchin’ camaro, it takes a lot less.

EFFECTS OF DISTANCE

Travel time to major cities (in hours and days) and shipping lane density Image Source Link

EFFECTS OF DISTANCE The Compressed World