Location

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1. Location - Where is this place?

Text Description - could be as simple as, "Down the block", but often entails many words to identify a specific starting point, such as a surveying point, and may include angles and distances, metes and bounds, or some other method of description of location.

Latitude Longitude - Another method starts by dividing the spherical earth into angular segments called Latitudes and Longitudes. By specifying these values with a high precision, an exact location can be described on the earth.

Coordinate Systems - One can also orient a flat surface, or plane, on the earth and measure things in reference to each other using a coordinate system, thereby simplifying the curvature of the earth as well as our mathematics.

GPS Time - Another method uses a system of satellites pulsing time beacon signals which can be received and interpreted by Global Positioning System (GPS) devices to obtain a position on the earth relative to the satellite positions.

Site and Situation - In addition to finding a specific location, geographers want to know What is at this location? Germehl considers this as the "site" and wants to know the "conditions" there. For example, it may be a home, or a park, or a microrganism, depending on the size of the location description: a point, linear feature, or circumscribed area. In addition to knowing where and what is there, Gersmehl wants us to consider the "situation", or how it is linked to other places. For example, a home could be part of a community, census block, or school district, depending upon the choice of focus of the geographer (or even just a memory from childhood in a grandparent)

TOPIC SECTIONS

Geographic Principles.

1. Location.

2. Eight Aspects

3. Time Change