GEOG 1410 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Map Projection, Birds Eye View, Visual Impairment
3 May 2018
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GEOG 1410 Sept. 12, 2017
Lecture 02
Key concepts in Geography
(How to understand what Geographers are saying)
Map Projection - visual concept; representing the world; how to make the world from a
sphere into a flat map; Mercator stretched along the length of the equator, distorted image;
Gall-Peters more accurate than the Mercator; Robinson halfway in between Mercator and
Gall-Peters; cartograms made by cartographers intentionally distorted to emphasize a point;
by distorting it, it creates a message that is sort of political; map projections represent
something, not necessarily a 1 to 1 scale;
Location - there are 3 forms of most location; to describe where something is usually with
the intent of finding it, but not always; absolute location is something set up in an absolute
measurement (longitude and latitude); relative location, where is it in relation to something
else (north, south, east, west); cognitive location, your sense of what it is to be in this
location (“I am in the middle of nowhere”).
Distance - absolute, distance in kilometers, a definite measurement; relative, when we
compare it to other locations; cognitive, how far it feels away, the sense of distance.
Accessibility - the opportunity for use, contact, or interaction; whether you can physically
move to one place; laws allowing you to access places (ex. Age restrictions, financial
restrictions); Not mentally accessible, post traumatic stress; visual impairment, deafness;
language barriers; identity, religious or otherwise have inside knowledge to gain access; the
emotional attachment to a place; not feeling safe in a certain place; gender, gendered
washrooms;
Spatial Interaction - spaces and places are interdependent; how spaces relate to each
other
Complementarity - is primarily an economic idea; supply and demand; economies of scale;
production and distribution; enables places to become more than a sum of their parts
Transferability - the ability to move something between two points; how easy is it to move
between point a and point, and what it the cost/time involves; what are the things that ease
distance or cause friction between places; boarders may hinder this action
Intervening Opportunities - alternative ways to transfer something between two points
Spatial diffusion - how things distribute or spread; diffusion of ideas, the relation between
places that allow ideas to spread; a spatial diffusion of disease; the relationship between
places
Document Summary
Key concepts in geography (how to understand what geographers are saying) Map projection - visual concept; representing the world; how to make the world from a sphere into a flat map; mercator stretched along the length of the equator, distorted image; Gall-peters more accurate than the mercator; robinson halfway in between mercator and. Gall-peters; cartograms made by cartographers intentionally distorted to emphasize a point; by distorting it, it creates a message that is sort of political; map projections represent something, not necessarily a 1 to 1 scale; Distance - absolute, distance in kilometers, a definite measurement; relative, when we compare it to other locations; cognitive, how far it feels away, the sense of distance. Accessibility - the opportunity for use, contact, or interaction; whether you can physically move to one place; laws allowing you to access places (ex. Spatial interaction - spaces and places are interdependent; how spaces relate to each other.
