Geography chapters 4-8

Geographic Information System (GIS)

Integrated software package for the input, management, analysis, and display of spatial management

geostationary orbit

a satellite orbiting about 36000 km above the earth at a speed that keeps it exactly above the same place on earth

false colours

colour artificially added to satellite images of earth to make patterns more obvious. These colours would not actually be seen from space

pie graph

common graph, uses sections of a circle to illustrate values

radar

in remote sensing, radar sensors send out microwaves to earth's surface and use the microwaves reflected back to create an image of human objects and actual features on the earth's surface

stacked bar graph

like a simple bar graph but each bar can be used to represent several closely related values can have vertical or horizontal bars

satellite

manufactured object tat is launched by a rocket and circles the earth. Satellites are used to communicate, to study the earth's resources and to aid the military

stereo pair

pair of aerial photographs that, when looked at through a stereoscope, show a 3 dimensional image

X/Y scattergraph

simple and useful graph showing the relationship between two sets of data

remote sensing

study of the characteristics of the earth using photographs and electronic images taken from aircraft and satellites

database

table of information in a computer program that can be searched for particular values

uses of remote sensing (5)

to study weather and climate for agricultural mamagement for land cover classification for map making and updating for geology and mineral exploration

uses of satellite images (3)

weather forecasting interpreting landscape features map making

What is GIS used for in day-to-day life

- making sure that 911 emergency services get to your house as quickly as possible -deciding if there are enough children of the right age in an area to justify building a new school -ensuring the pizza you ordered gets to you house in 30 mins or less

proportional area graph

- type of graph that can be used in many shapes, frequently circles, is often combined with pie graphs to show, not just the amount of something, but also how the quantity is divided - useful when we want to use shapes or symbols to represent numerical data

Canada's radarsat (7 points)

-3200 kg Radarsat was launched in 1995 -it cost 620 million -used to monitor environmental changes and provide info for resource development -built by spar aerospace with planned lifetime of 5 years - circles earth at 7 km/second at an altitude of 800 km - circles 14 times a day=coverage of Canada in 3 days - sends radar (microwave) signals to earth and records them when they're reflected back, then transmits the data to a receiving station for processing into images

4 key points- aerial photographs

1. First were taken in the 1850s from cameras attached to kites 2. Later in the century photographs were taken from hot air balloons 3. Used to study farm size, crop plantings, soil erosion, and the flow of traffic in cities 4. Useful in archaeological studies, geographical research, meteorological observations and crime decision

4 things you need to operate GIS

1. a powerful computer software system and printer 2. GIS mapping software 3. specially created, computerized base maps 4. the data you wish to analyze and map

3 purposes for GIS

1. organize great masses of data that have a geographic basis 2. to represent data in a clear way 3. to use data to answer questions

4 key points- Stereo pair photographs

1. taken from an aircraft in rapid succession by a high-spreed camera looking directly at the ground 2. the same area is photographed from a slightly different position in the sky 3. any two overlapping aerial photos is a stereo pair 4. when you position the photographs properly and view them through a stereoscope, it allows you to see the photos in three dimensions

two types of remote sensing

1.uses photographs taken from an aircraft. Aerial photographs can be used to produce 3 dimensional images of earth's surface. These images can be used to produce topographic maps. 2. uses electronic images from satellites. Satellite images cover a very large area and show less detail