Читать книгу Geography For Dummies - Jerry T. Mitchell - Страница 23

You probably have a preferred grocery store, clothing store, and restaurant, plus a map in your head that tells you where they are and how to get to them. What’s more, you could probably conjure up a route to visit all three in a single excursion and draw me a sketch map of the itinerary. If so, then you are already familiar with the world in spatial terms.

Spatial refers to the location and distribution of things and how they interrelate. Accordingly, the world in spatial terms responds to geography’s most fundamental question: Where? Getting a handle on this element involves:

 Knowing how to use and read maps and atlases, whether paper or digital, and identify how they can lie to you (yes, you read that correctly).

 Acquiring a general understanding of the tools and techniques that geographers use to accurately locate things.

 Being able to indicate the location of something using the system of latitude and longitude, or plain language.

 Seeing relationships that explain the locations of things.

 Recalling from memory the location of things on Earth’s surface.

These are basic skills to build on. On top of that, you’ll never have to worry if somebody tells you to “Get lost!”

Chapter 2, which shows you how to think like a geographer, is very much about understanding the world in spatial terms. Chapters 3, 4, and 5 are devoted to location and maps, and, therefore, focus rather directly on this element. In addition, several other chapters will contain at least one map. Thus, you will encounter the world in spatial terms again and again throughout this book.