New Technologies in Geography (Practice)

Michael, who likes to hike, is planning a backcountry trip through the wilderness. Along with a map and a compass, he plans to use a new tool that will help him find his exact location through satellite signals and a receiver. Which new technology in geography is Michael using in this situation?

GPS (Global Positioning System)

Geography's new technologies can help us solve problems in many ways. Imagine that you're working for your city's fire department, and you are hoping to find ways to prevent fires in the future. Give at least two examples of how you could use these new technologies to help you meet your goal.

I could use remote sensing to help me look at my city from a new perspective. Using aerial photographs and satellite imagery, I could find buildings that might pose a fire risk. I may be able to see buildings that I might not see as well from the ground. I could also use the Global Positioning System (GPS) to help me find the locations of buildings that are fire risks. By equipping my firefighters with GPS units, I can track their locations when they are in the city and when they are fighting fires. Finally, I can use geographic information systems (GIS) to plot maps of where risky buildings are located. I can predict where fires may happen by looking at patterns in my city.

Imagine that you're a city planner, and you are interested in helping to build more parks for your citizens. How could GIS help you if you were in this situation?

In this situation, I could use GIS to help me to help combine the data with maps of my city. I could see whether our parks meet the citizens' needs. I could combine the data about where people live with the maps showing these parks. This would show me areas where there are not enough parks for the people that need them. I could make plans for the future and understand what would be best for my community.

Imagine that you are a doctor who is studying the spread of a disease in your country. How could you use new technologies in geography to help you understand this problem? Give at least two examples of how you could achieve this goal using these tools.

In this situation, I first need to figure out where the disease is spreading. I could use a tool like GPS to find the exact locations of cases. Another technology I could use is GIS. I could combine maps of my country with data that shows where and when cases have taken place. I could find patterns in how the disease is spreading, which could help me keep it from spreading further.

How can new technologies in geography help us to answer geography's three key questions? Explain how these new technologies help us answer "what," "where," and "why there."

Our new technologies in geography can help us study geography in many ways. First, remote sensing is especially helpful in answering "what." It helps us figure out what is going on in the world around us, and enables us to see things from new perspectives. GPS is especially helpful in answering "where" because it helps us navigate from place to place. It can let us know our exact location anywhere on Earth. Finally, GIS can help us answer "why there." Using GIS software, we can see patterns that are happening in the world around us. These tools can help us answer all three of these questions.

What is remote sensing? Describe the three remote sensing tools that geographers can use.

Remote sensing tools are things that can help us study places and situations from far away. We can gain an understanding of a place even if we can't visit it in person. Radar can help us to study movements and distances, and it is especially useful for watching weather. Aerial photography is helpful to us because it allows us to use images and pictures taken from the sky. We can gain a new perspective on a place, and see things that we may not be able to see from the ground. Satellite imagery takes this one step further by taking photos and images of sites from satellites in our atmosphere.

Aerial photographs most often are taken from ＿＿＿＿

aircrafts

GPS (the Global Positioning System) is a tool that is used to ＿＿＿＿

find locations and navigate between places

What is the primary technology that scientists use for detecting natural disasters, such as hurricanes?

radar

Sara is a geographer and an environmental scientist. She wants to study how forests are growing or shrinking as a result of human behavior. Sara is using photographs and images taken from Landsat, an object orbiting through the Earth's atmosphere, to understand the situation. Which remote sensing technology is Sara using in this situation?

satellite imagery