People use the word "geography" all the time. And while it has many uses and meanings, most people would be at a loss to define what "geography" is. We are going to examine the definition and scope of geography, but before we do, I want to see how you might define "geography."
Discussion
Without any research or outside help, please return to Lesson 2 in Canvas and enter your short definition of "geography" in the Lesson 2 - Ungraded Geography Definitions Discussion Forum. If you see another definition you would like to comment on, feel free to post a reply.
Geography Defined
Let us take the word "geography" apart. The word geography can be broken into the two basic elements of "GEO" and "GRAPHY." Geo comes from the Greek word for earth (the word Gaea, also meaning earth, derives from the Greek as well). The "ography" part comes from the Greek word graphein, which is literally to write about something. The word "graph" derives from the same basis.
Thus, GEO + GRAPHY literally means "to write about the earth." We have commonly come to understand that the translation might also be taken to describe and map the Earth. The American Heritage Dictionary defines geography as "the study of the Earth and its features, inhabitants, and phenomena." I agree with the dictionary, but I like to tell my students that geography really is the study of how the world works in terms of the physical and human processes that occur every day.
So for me, Geography is really about how the world works. That is pretty good knowledge for a geospatial analyst to possess.
Breaking it Down
Understanding how the world works is a pretty tall order, so let us break down the study of geography into some manageable parts. At the most basic level, think of geography as a coin with two sides.
- HEADS: On one side, we have Physical Geography, or the study of the spatial distribution and attributes of naturally occurring phenomena.
- TAILS: On the other side, we have Human Geography, or the study of the spatial distribution and attributes of human-induced/engineered phenomena.
Physical geography looks at the natural processes that make the surface of the Earth the way it is. Physical geography includes the three major subdisciplines of Geomorphology, Meteorology, and Climatology.
Geomorphology is the study of landforms and landform processes. Geomorphologists want to know:
- What are the different landforms?
- Where are the different landforms?
- Why are they where they are?
- How do they form?
- What will happen to them over time?
Meteorology is the study of atmospheric weather processes. Meteorologists want to understand:
- What are the different atmospheric processes that create our weather?
- Where do these weather phenomena occur?
- How and why does the planetary weather system work the way it does?
- What will happen with the weather in the future? (This will allow them to forecast the weather.)
Climatology is the study of climate, which is basically the long-term pattern of temperature and precipitation. Climatology, like meteorology, is a branch of the interdisciplinary field of Atmospheric Science. Climatologists seek to understand:
- the different climate types found on Earth;
- the processes that cause these different climate types to occur in specific places (i.e. why are there different climate types);
- the places where these climates occur;
- how and why climates change over time; and
- what will happen to the earth's climate in the future so they can forecast the effects of climate change.
Human geography looks at the human activities that make the surface of the earth the way it is. Human geography includes numerous subdisciplines, some of which are:
- population geography
- cultural geography
- economic geography
- political geography
- and many others
Human geography is essentially synthesizing a spatial perspective with one of the topical disciplines to come up with new knowledge and a new perspective to understand how the world works.
Discussion
Can you think of some other human geography subdisciplines by combining a topical approach with a spatial perspective? Please return to Lesson 2 in Canvas and enter your list of other human geography subdisciplines in the Lesson 2 - Ungraded Human Geography Subdisciplines Discussion Forum. Feel free to post comments to other lists you see in the discussion forum.
Geographic Techniques
The world is fortunate that geographers through the ages have developed a set of spatial tools to help us understand how the world works. These tools are often referred to as the geographic techniques and they include the subdisciplines of:
- Cartography: The art and science of making maps and the oldest of the geographic techniques;
- Remote Sensing: The art and science of obtaining information about the earth by study from afar;
- Geographic Information Systems: A GIS is a computer-based system that collects, stores, analyzes, and displays spatial information to solve problems; and
- Global Positioning Systems: The use of a system of satellites, ground stations, and receivers to obtain precise locational information of phenomena on the earth.
Geospatial intelligence relies heavily on the geographic techniques (collectively known as Geographic Information Science and Techniques (GIS&T or GIScience) for the collection, analysis, and communication of results. Your other coursework will involve very detailed explorations and applications of the geographic techniques.
Knowledge Check
Penn State Public Broadcasting has produced an amazing series of webisodes on the "Geospatial Revolution."
Please take the time to view Episode One of the Geospatial Revolution Series (13:45 running time) and think about how the revolution applies to this lesson.
Video: Geospatial Revolution / Episode One (13:44)
Video: Geospatial Revolution / Episode Five (21:28)
The Relationship of Physical Geography to Human Geography
In an Introduction to Geography class (usually for freshmen and sophomores), a fellow instructor likes to stress the point that physical and human geography are completely separate disciplines and that there can be NO mixing between the two. In fact, he makes a big deal that students must write this down, and put stars by it in their notes as this important point will most certainly be on the test. He then stops and lets them think about this statement as they dutifully write it down.
Now, you might be thinking that this contention that physical and human geography are completely separate and can never be mixed seems nonsensical—and you would be correct. Eventually, a few of the students start to grin and perhaps a bold one might challenge the instructor (not very often though).
The instructor then gets to point out to the students the fallacy of such a contention and makes the point that physical and human geography, like the sides of a coin, are absolutely inseparable. We know that physical systems can have enormous impacts on human systems (ask the survivors of Hurricane Ida). We also know that human impacts on the environment have been great. As humans have always modified the surface of the planet to scratch out a living or to build great civilizations (western Europe had a climax vegetation of forest—consider the landscape there now—forests are rare, protected, and highly valued).
I think that the geographic subdiscipline of Environmental Geography occupies the space in the center of the coin, gluing human and physical geography together. A problem in many modern geography programs is that students specialize in either human or physical geography with inadequate knowledge of the other side of the coin. The even greater problem is for students who specialize in the geographic techniques (whom I affectionately call "Techno-Geeks") and lack the necessary background in human and physical geography.
Here is the fundamental contention that justifies this whole course:
All the geospatial technology in the world can tell you what is happening where and when. It may even tell you something about how it is happening. The technology, however, will NOT tell you why it is happening. To understand the why, you must understand how the world works—and that is the value of human and physical geographic knowledge.
Required Reading
Now that you have a basic understanding of the definition and scope of geography, study the Wikipedia article on Geography linked from the Lesson 2 Checklist. Compare and contrast what I have said with the article. Are there any significant differences, and if so, why?
The Four Traditions of Geography
There are some other ways to conceptualize the field of geography. Parkinson suggested that geography has four traditions: The Earth Science Tradition, Culture-Environment Tradition, Locational Tradition, and Area Analysis Tradition. Geographic techniques support these traditions. The chart below shows how selected subdisciplines fit within these four traditions.
All the subdisciplines, with the exception of the Regional Approach, are topical approaches. The regional approach breaks the Earth down into areas that share certain uniform cultural and physical characteristics. Regional geographers then study the human and physical geography of that particular region. We typically break the world into the cultural regions of North America, South America, Europe, Russia and the Slavic World, the Middle East and North Africa, Sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia, East Asia, Southeast Asia, and Australia and Oceania.
Geographic Systems Theory
Yet another approach to understanding the scope of geography is Geographic Systems Theory. A system is a series of components such that, when you add energy to it, the components work together to produce an output. Take for example an automobile. Your gasoline-powered car includes multiple subsystems including the chassis with suspension and tires, the engine, the cooling subsystem, the transmission, the fuel tank (with fuel pump and fuel filter), the steering subsystem, etc. When you add gasoline, the engine generates energy, which the transmission sends to the wheels, which results in the output of the car moving. Open systems exchange both energy and matter with the outside universe. Closed systems exchange only energy.
The earth is a system. Is it a closed system or an open system? The answer is the earth is a closed system in that it exchanges energy with the universe, but it does not exchange any significant amount of matter (space junk and meteorites are insignificant—if the earth is destroyed by an asteroid I will admit I was wrong).
According to Geographic Systems Theory, the Earth has two major sub-subsystems, which are the Physical Subsystem and the Human Subsystem. The Physical Subsystem has four major component subsystems of the Atmosphere, Hydrosphere, Lithosphere, and Biosphere. The Human Subsystem has three major components of Beliefs, Institutions, and Technologies.
The atmosphere is the gaseous envelope that surrounds the earth and sustains air-breathing animals. The lithosphere is the solid rock and soil that comprises the outer solid layer of the planet. The hydrosphere includes all the liquid and solid water (water vapor is in the atmosphere). These three spheres are "abiotic" in that they are non-living. The final sphere is the biosphere containing all life. The biosphere relies on the other three abiotic spheres to function for it to sustain life.
A critical part of systems theory is understanding that if one system is significantly degraded, then the system function as a whole degrades. And if one system fails, then the whole system fails. If you consider that Planet Earth is the spaceship for the human race, and that we rely on all of its systems to function properly, you start to contemplate why we do not take better care of it. It is the only spacecraft we have and there are no lifeboats.
Geography as Synthesis
Geography is a synthesizing discipline in that geographers take topical subjects and analyze them through the spatial filter, thus seeing the world in new ways. This synthesis is very exciting and liberating in that geographers have the freedom to explore many different subjects and apply topical, chronological, and spatial approaches while integrating both the human and physical world. No other academic discipline takes such a holistic approach, and that makes geography special.
The Necessity for Geographic Literacy
The world is getting smaller, more crowded, and more integrated as the population expands, resources diminish, and globalization brings us all closer together. The US is a "hyper-power" with unprecedented influence around the globe. For the citizens of such a country that is also a democracy comes a duty to be geographically literate—to understand how this planet works in terms of its physical and human geographies. Geographically illiterate citizens will at best be ignorant of what their government is doing globally, and at worst support their government in making bad decisions that are detrimental to national, regional, and global stability and well-being.
Globalization means that America will interact with its global neighbors through combinations of cooperation, competition, and (unfortunately) occasional conflicts. Thus, it is essential that American citizens be geographically literate so that they may hopefully cooperate most of the time, compete some of the time, and occasionally engage in conflict. Viewed this way, geographic illiteracy might be seen as a threat to national security. Of course this is true for citizens of other nations as well, however national rankings of geography literacy show that our neighbors abroad understand the importance of geographic knowledge and do not suffer our illiteracy.
Geographic literacy for intelligence professionals (especially analysts and managers) is especially important. The geospatial intelligence professional must be geographically literate to fully leverage the power of geographic techniques.
To reiterate the fundamental rationale for this course:
All the geospatial technology in the world can tell you what is happening where and when. It may even tell you something about how it is happening. The technology, however, will NOT tell you why it is happening. To understand the why, you must understand how the world works—and that is the value of human and physical geographic knowledge.
A geographically illiterate analyst or manager is likely to produce flawed analyses and poor decisions. In the national security arena, this could result in disastrous policy decisions. In the disaster relief/international humanitarian aid arena, this might result in wasted resources and lost lives.
If you get the feeling I am passionate about this topic—you are right. I am on a mission to stamp out geographic illiteracy, one classroom full of ignorant people at a time. That is a major motivation for me to teach this course to current and future geospatial intelligence professionals.
Required Reading
Why Geography Matters More than Ever (De Blij, Harm J.)
I now want you to read your second reading assignment by the noted geographer Dr. Harm de Blij. Dr. de Blij (1935–2014) served as the resident geographer of ABC's morning television program Good Morning America for several seasons, as well as an editor of National Geographic magazine. His book on Why Geography Matters More than Ever is worth your time to read. For our purposes, you will only read Chapter One, but if it piques your interest, I encourage you to read the whole book.
Registered students can access a PDF of the reading in Lesson 2 in Canvas.
Click the following link to access a PowerPoint Presentation with a review of the Definition, Nature, and Scope of Geography.
Click the thumbnail below to see the pdf version of my Geographic Fundamentals of Geospatial Intelligence ppt.