Traditionally, geographers have been viewed the same way as cartographers and people who study place names and numbers. Although many geographers are trained in toponymy and cartology, this is not their main preoccupation. Geographers study the spatial and the temporal distribution of phenomena, processes, and features as well as the interaction of humans and their environment.[8] Because space and place affect a variety of topics, such as economics, health, climate, plants and animals;
geography is highly interdisciplinary. The interdisciplinary nature of
the geographical approach depends on an attentiveness to the
relationship between physical and human phenomena and its spatial
patterns.
Physical geography can be divided into many broad categories, including:
Human geography can be divided into many broad categories, such as:
Various approaches to the study of human geography have also arisen through time and include:
Integrated geography has emerged as a bridge between the human and the physical geography, as a result of the increasing specialisation of the two sub-fields. Furthermore, as human relationship with the environment has changed as a result of globalization and technological change, a new approach was needed to understand the changing and dynamic relationship. Examples of areas of research in the environmental geography include: emergency management, environmental management, sustainability, and political ecology.
Geomatics
is a branch of geography that has emerged since the quantitative
revolution in geography in the mid-1950s. Geomatics involves the use of
traditional spatial techniques used in cartography and topography and
their application to computers. Geomatics has become a widespread field
with many other disciplines, using techniques such as GIS and remote
sensing. Geomatics has also led to a revitalization of some geography
departments, especially in Northern America where the subject had a
declining status during the 1950s.
Geomatics encompasses a large area of fields involved with spatial analysis, such as Cartography, Geographic information systems (GIS), Remote sensing, and Global positioning systems (GPS).
Regional geography is also considered as a certain approach to study in geographical sciences (similar to quantitative or critical geographies, for more information see History of geography).
...mere names of places...are not geography...know by heart a whole gazetteer full of them would not, in itself, constitute anyone a geographer. Geography has higher aims than this: it seeks to classify phenomena (alike of the natural and of the political world, in so far as it treats of the latter), to compare, to generalize, to ascend from effects to causes, and, in doing so, to trace out the laws of nature and to mark their influences upon man. This is 'a description of the world'—that is Geography. In a word Geography is a Science—a thing not of mere names but of argument and reason, of cause and effect.[9]
—William Hughes, 1863
Just as all phenomena exist in time and thus have a history, they also exist in space and have a geography.[10]Geography as a discipline can be split broadly into two main subsidiary fields: human geography and physical geography. The former largely focuses on the built environment and how humans create, view, manage, and influence space. The latter examines the natural environment, and how organisms, climate, soil, water, and landforms produce and interact.[11] The difference between these approaches led to a third field, environmental geography, which combines the physical and the human geography, and looks at the interactions between the environment and humans.[8]
Branches
Physical geography
Main article: Physical geography
Physical geography (or physiography) focuses on geography as an Earth science. It aims to understand the physical problems and the issues of lithosphere, hydrosphere, atmosphere, pedosphere, and global flora and fauna patterns (biosphere).
Political Geography
Main article: Political geography
Political geography is a branch of geography that focuses on the
study of government and politics in relation to spatial patterns.Human geography
Main article: Human geography
Human geography is a branch of geography that focuses on the study of
patterns and processes that shape the human society. It encompasses the
human, political, cultural, social, and economic aspects.
Integrated geography
Main article: Integrated geography
Integrated geography
is the branch of geography that describes the spatial aspects of
interactions between humans and the natural world. It requires an
understanding of the traditional aspects of the physical and the human
geography, as well as the ways that human societies conceptualize the
environment.Integrated geography has emerged as a bridge between the human and the physical geography, as a result of the increasing specialisation of the two sub-fields. Furthermore, as human relationship with the environment has changed as a result of globalization and technological change, a new approach was needed to understand the changing and dynamic relationship. Examples of areas of research in the environmental geography include: emergency management, environmental management, sustainability, and political ecology.
Geomatics
Main article: Geomatics
Digital Elevation Model (DEM)
Geomatics encompasses a large area of fields involved with spatial analysis, such as Cartography, Geographic information systems (GIS), Remote sensing, and Global positioning systems (GPS).
Regional geography
Main article: Regional geography
Regional geography is a branch of geography which studies the regions of all sizes across the Earth.
It has a prevailing descriptive character. The main aim is to
understand, or define the uniqueness, or character of a particular
region that consists of natural as well as human elements. Attention is
paid also to regionalization, which covers the proper techniques of space delimitation into regions.Regional geography is also considered as a certain approach to study in geographical sciences (similar to quantitative or critical geographies, for more information see History of geography).
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