GIS applications in Human Geography

Human geography is the branch of geography concerned with how and why people organize themselves across space and interact with their environments. Human geographers conduct their research that underpins the subfields of human geography in many social arenas. These subfields range from the geography of religion and regional geographies to political geography and mountain geography, and more. As the largest branch of geography, much research in human geography has been produced that makes use of a geographical information system (GIS). A GIS is a computer program that stores, analyzes, and displays geographic data. Work by human geographers who incorporate GIS into their research tends to fall into one of two categories. First, there is the work that uses GIS as a straightforward tool of spatial analysis, spatial modeling, and geo-visualization. The topics of these research projects span all the subfields of human geography. Second, there is the work that examines the theoretical and philosophical significance of GIS within human geography. Informed from the critical perspectives of feminism, queer studies, Marxism, and others, these studies typically situate GIS within the discipline at fundamental levels of epistemology and ontology. This approach to studying GIS within human geography shifts the focus away from the output of a research project and toward the process of research itself. This article contains sample works from some of the most vibrant subfields of human geography in which GIS is being adopted to increase our knowledge of the human organization of space and human-environment interactions: Urban Geography, Hazards Geography, and Historical Geography. This review also includes sections that summarize key works from Critical GIS, Qualitative GIS, and Public Participation GIS that provide additional vantage points from which to appreciate the multifaceted application of GIS across human geography.

Roderick Peattie’s Mountain Geography – A Critique and Field Study (1936)

Roderick Peattie’s book, Mountain Geography – A Critique and Field Study (1936), is a classic work that established a format for English-language books on the subject of mountain geography that largely persists to the present day. Peattie’s work was based primarily on an extended period of study in the mountains of western Europe. His book reflects a strong Eurocentric view of mountain landscapes that carries over into late-20th century and 21st century English-language books on mountain landscapes.

Nuptse & Lhotse Go to the Rockies by J. Asnong

Asnong, Jocey. Nuptse & Lhotse Go to the Rockies. Victoria, BC: Rocky Mountain Books, 2014. Print.Nuptse & Lhotse are sibling cats with a sense of adventure. Finding inspiration in the Canadian Rockies, author and illustrator Jocey Asnong sends the cats on an adventure through the Canadian Rockies to help Mrs. Jasper find her missing cubs, Yoho and Kootenay. The cats along with Mrs. Jasper travel through the scenic highlights of Mountain Parks, from the Valley of the Ten Peaks to Lake Louise, along the Canadian Pacific Railway tracks to the Spiral Tunnels and up to the Columbia Icefields, with a stop to ski along the way.The story is straightforward, with simple language that works for beginner readers or reading aloud. A map at the beginning situates the events of the story, a comparison of a teddy bear to a grizzly bear is lighthearted and informative, and a maze illustration works with the plot of finding the lost cubs and is a fun activity while reading. It is the illustrations that bring the story to life by combining pencil crayon drawings with collage to create a layered visual experience leaving something new to be discovered with each read. Seamlessly incorporated into the text and illustrations are aspects of mountain geography and culture. This includes an explanation of the blue-green colour of the mountain lakes that is part of the cats’ stop in Lake Louise and homage to legendary mountain photographer Byron Harmon. These details make good entry points for further classroom learning and connect to a number of curriculum areas.The publisher, Rocky Mountain Books, is known for publications that celebrate mountain culture and Nuptse & Lhotse Go to the Rockies is an excellent addition to their growing catalogue for young readers. Highly recommended: 4 out of 4 starsReviewer: Lauren WheelerLauren Wheeler is a Program Lead at the Alberta Museums Association. When not assisting museums across Alberta, Lauren likes to explore and relax in her hometown of Canmore.

Carl Troll

Carl Troll published numerous articles in various fields of geography. The present article is focused on some remarkable publications that have essentially contributed to progress in physical geography. Articles on the relationships between vegetation and climates at the global and at the regional and local scales in a three-dimensional view play a major role in this respect. Among them is the map of the seasonal climates of the earth (1964). His detailed vegetation map (1: 50,000) of the Nanga Parbat regions must also be mentioned in this context. Troll’s extensive and profound article ‘Patterned ground and solifluction’ (1944) and a few related publications, however, have been at least as important and inspired younger generations of physical geographers. Troll was also a pioneer in modern high-mountain geography. It was mainly Troll’s comparative approach to the world’s high mountains that made his studies so valuable and unique.

Colorado 14ers, Pixel by Pixel

This document describes a capstone learning exercise designed for undergraduates enrolled in an introductory geospatial tools course. The overarching theme of the exercise, Colorado 14ers, Pixel by Pixel, is mountain geography. While immersed in a digital mountainous landscape, students explore topics of geomorphology and geomorphometry and discover how it is possible for a summit that rises well above 14,000 feet not to qualify as a true Colorado ’14er’. To address these topics, students examine freely-available digital elevation models (DEMs) using common geospatial analysis tools. The exercise was developed with five purposes in mind: (1) students should be introduced gently to geospatial software; (2) students should enter upper-level geography courses armed with basic computer skills and a diverse geospatial toolkit; (3) students should internalize the fact that invariably digital geographic explorations are influenced by scale; (4) students of geography should be able to identify natural and anthropogenic impacts to a landscape, and; (5) to help students conceptualize what geographers do, learning exercises should include local and interesting case studies. As an exercise intended to synthesize geographic concepts covered throughout a course, the learning objectives range from grasping broad theoretical concepts related to scale and measurement to learning specific computer skills related to directory structures and file naming conventions. Deliverables of the exercise include posting four maps and answers to nine questions to a website. The outcome of the exercise is a confident, geospatial tool-savvy student who is eager to further investigate the field of geography.