How does relative location help geographers

Spatial location describes where a registry object such as a collection is physically located, using geospatial coordinates such as latitude and longitude. It may also be used to describe the location of a party, or of a service such as an instrument. Geographic location refers to a position on the Earth. Your absolute geographic location is defined by two coordinates, longitude and latitude.

These two coordinates can be used to give specific locations independent of an outside reference point. Studying geography creates an awareness of place. More importantly, understanding geography helps us make sense of current and historical events, whether of economic, political, or social importance. We become better critical thinkers knowing this information.

Geography pervades just about every aspect of our lives! Historical geography, geographic study of a place or region at a specific time or period in the past, or the study of geographic change in a place or region over a period of time. The five themes of geography are location, place, human-environment interaction, movement, and region. The seven geographical concepts of place, space, environment, interconnection, sustainability, scale and change are the key to understanding the places that make up our world.

These are different from the content-based concepts such as weather, climate, mega cities and landscapes. Some of the most common types are political, physical, topographic, climate, economic, and thematic maps. Begin typing your search term above and press enter to search.

Press ESC to cancel. The non-English portion is in Hungarian because of the European participants in the race. Wikimedia Commons — public domain. The Arctic Circle is a line of latitude at During winter, the North Pole is away from the sun and does not receive much sunlight.

At times, it is dark for most of the twenty-four-hour day. The Antarctic Circle is the corresponding line of latitude at When it is winter in the north, it is summer in the south. The Arctic and Antarctic Circles mark the extremities southern and northern, respectively of the polar day twenty-four-hour sunlit day and the polar night twenty-four-hour sunless night. North of the Arctic Circle, the sun is above the horizon for twenty-four continuous hours at least once per year and below the horizon for twenty-four continuous hours at least once per year.

Equinoxes , when the line of direct sunlight hits the equator and days and nights are of equal length, occur in the spring and fall on or around March 20 or 21 and September 22 or Time Zones. This is the same time under which many military operations, international radio broadcasts, and air traffic control systems operate worldwide. UTC is set in zero- to twenty-four-hour time periods, as opposed to two twelve-hour time periods a. The designations of a.

For example, all air flights use the twenty-four-hour time system so the pilots can coordinate flights across time zones and around the world. Time zones are established roughly every 15 degrees longitude so that local times correspond to similar hours of day and night. With this system, the sun is generally overhead at noon in every time zone that follows the degree-wide system.

The continental United States has four main time zones see Table 1. Table 1. Local time zones are either plus or minus determined by the distance from the prime meridian.

In this diagram, 75 W is the central meridian for the eastern standard time zone in the United States. For example, if it is noon in London, then it is 7 a. Since there are twenty-four hours in a day, there are twenty-four time zones on Earth. Each time zone is 15 degrees wide.

A problem with the degree time zones is that the zones do not necessarily follow state, regional, or local boundaries. The result is that time zones are seldom exactly 15 degrees wide and usually have varied boundary lines.

In the United States, the boundaries between the different time zones are inconsistent with the lines of longitude; in some cases, time zones zigzag to follow state lines or to keep cities within a single time zone. Other countries address the problem differently. China, for example, is as large in land area as the United States yet operates on only one time zone for the entire country. A region is a basic unit of study in geography—a unit of space characterized by a feature such as a common government, language, political situation, or landform.

A region can be a formal country governed by political boundaries, such as France or Canada; a region can be defined by a landform, such as the drainage basin of all the water that flows into the Mississippi River; and a region can even be defined by the area served by a shopping mall.

Cultural regions can be defined by similarities in human activities, traditions, or cultural attributes. Geographers use the regional unit to map features of particular interest, and data can be compared between regions to help understand trends, identify patterns, or assist in explaining a particular phenomenon. Regions are traditionally defined by internal characteristics that provide a sense of place. Their boundaries vary with the type of region, whether it is formal, functional, or vernacular; each type has its own meaning and defined purpose.

A formal region has a governmental, administrative, or political boundary and can have political as well as geographic boundaries that are not open to dispute or debate. Formal boundaries can separate states, provinces, or countries from one another.

Physical regions can be included within formal boundaries, such as the Rocky Mountains or New England. An official boundary, such as the boundary of a national park, can be considered a formal boundary. School districts, cities, and county governments have formal boundaries. Natural physical geographic features have a huge influence on where political boundaries of formal regions are set. If you look at a world map, you will recognize that many political boundaries are natural features, such as rivers, mountain ranges, and large lakes.

Alpine mountain ranges in Europe create borders, such as the boundary between Switzerland and Italy. While geographic features can serve as convenient formal borders, political disputes will often flare up in adjacent areas, particularly if valuable natural or cultural resources are found within the geographic features. Oil drilling near the coast of a sovereign country, for example, can cause a dispute between countries about which one has dominion over the oil resources.

The exploitation of offshore fisheries can also be disputed. A Neolithic mummy of a man who died in BCE caused tension between Italy and Switzerland: the body was originally taken to Innsbruck, Switzerland, but when it was determined that the body was found about 90 meters feet inside the border of Italy, Italian officials laid claim to the body.

Functional regions have boundaries related to a practical function within a given area. When the function of an area ends, the functional region ends and its boundaries cease to exist. For example, a functional region can be defined by a newspaper service or delivery area.

If the newspaper goes bankrupt, the functional region no longer exists. Church parishes, shopping malls, and business service areas are other examples of functional regions. They function to serve a region and may have established boundaries for limits of the area to which they will provide service. An example of a common service area—that is, a functional region—is the region to which a local pizza shop will deliver. Vernacular regions can be fluid—that is, different people may have different opinions about the limits of the regions.

Also, in the United States, the terms Midwest or South have many variations. Each individual might have a different idea about the location of the boundaries of the South or the Midwest. Whether the state of Kentucky belongs in the Midwest or in the South might be a matter of individual perception.

Similarly, various regions of the United States have been referred to as the Rust Belt, Sun Belt, or Bible Belt without a clear definition of their boundaries. The limit of a vernacular area is more a matter of perception than of any formally agreed-upon criteria. Nevertheless, most people would recognize the general area being discussed when using one of the vernacular terms in a conversation. In comparing one formal political region with another, it is often helpful to use a familiar country, state, province, or political unit as a reference or guide.

Wherever you are located, you can research the statistical data for a formal region familiar to you to provide a common reference. The US state of Kentucky is one example that can be used to compare formal political regions. Kentucky ranks close to the middle range of the fifty US states in terms of its population of 4. Kentucky is also within the median range of the fifty states in overall physical area.

Kentucky is not as large in physical area as the western states but is larger in physical area than many of the eastern states. Kentucky includes part of the rural peripheral region of Appalachia, but the state also has cosmopolitan core urban centers such as Lexington and Louisville. Kentucky also borders the metropolitan city of Cincinnati. The rural peripheral regions of the state are home to agriculture and mining.

The urban core areas are home to industry and service centers. Other US states could also be used as examples. When you reach out to them, you will need the page title, URL, and the date you accessed the resource. If a media asset is downloadable, a download button appears in the corner of the media viewer. If no button appears, you cannot download or save the media. Text on this page is printable and can be used according to our Terms of Service. Any interactives on this page can only be played while you are visiting our website.

You cannot download interactives. One of the oldest tenets of geography is the concept of place. Location is the position of a particular point on the surface of the Earth. Locale is the physical setting for relationships between people, such as the South of France or the Smoky Mountains. Finally, a sense of place is the emotions someone attaches to an area based on their experiences. Place can be applied at any scale and does not necessarily have to be fixed in either time or space.

Additionally, due to globalization, place can change over time as its physical setting and cultures are influenced by new ideas or technologies.

Learn more about the physical and human characteristics of place with this curated resource collection. Students discuss the meanings of terms location and place and identify whether descriptions are of location or place. Join our community of educators and receive the latest information on National Geographic's resources for you and your students.

Skip to content. Twitter Facebook Pinterest Google Classroom. Encyclopedic Entry Vocabulary. Signs often point in the general direction of a location. Photograph by Paolo Bernabei, My Shot. Empire State Building.