What is a State?

What is a Nation?

History of the European State

• Pre-History
• Agriculture
• Roman Empire
• Era of Institutionalized Anarchy
• Renaissance
• Colonialism:  The Berlin Conference 1884
• Treaty of Westphalia
• Post-World War II

Geopolitics

• Columbus
• Ghengis Khan:  Map of the Mongolian Empire
• Freidrich Ratzel - The State is an Organism:  Feed to Thrive
• MacKinder’s Heartland Theory
• Containment: The Rimland Theory
• NATO
• The Fall of the Berlin Wall
• The World is Flat - The Rise of a Global Middle-Class
• —Global Consumption Patterns
• —Abundant but Finite Energy Resources
• —Thoughts on Malthus in Globalized World

Boundaries

Balkanization

Annexation

Difference Between a Nation and A State:  Soveriegnty

• Nation-State
• Multi-State Nation
• Multi-Nation State
• Stateless Nations
• Kurds
• The Basque
• The Flemish
• The Zulu
• The Palestinians

Boundaries

Evolution of Boundaries

• Delimitation
• Demarcation

Boundary Type

• Geometric Boundaries
• Antecedent Boundaries
• Physical Boundaries
• Super-Imposed Boundary
• Relic Boundary

Shape of States

• Compact
• Elongated
• Fragmented
• Perforated
• Prorupted

Governance Systems

• Federal
• Central

• Did you like the format?
• Did you learn anything you would like to share with the class?
• How did you approach the exam?

Demography in Prince William County

Building a European Geographic Information Infrastructure

GIS Samples

• Arlington County GIS
• Prostate Cancer GIS
• Migration in the United States
• Development in Prince William County - Power Point Animation
• GIS Jobs

Electoral College Map

• Voter
• Precinct
• 1990 to 2000 Congressional Reapportionment
• State:
• —Popular vote in the state wins the state
• —Electoral College Submit Votes to State Election Officials
• Current Status of the Election
• How does your nation choose its leaders?

What is a State?

http://www.project10tothe100.com/index.html

Study of Population: Demography

Components of Demographic Analysis

• Gender
• Age
• Location

Geographic Analysis of Population

• Population is not uniformly distributed over the surface of the Earth
• Population growth is not uniformly distributed
• Resources supporting large populations are not uniformly distributed over the surface of the Earth

• Where: Where is population distributed?
• Why: What explains this distribution?
• How do Geographers describe/explain these distributions?

Major Centers of Population Concentrations

• Ecumene: The portion of the Earth occupied by permanent human settlement

• East Asia
• South Asia
• Southeast Asia
• Europe
• Other Concentrations
  • Megalopolis – Northeastern United States

Sparsely populated regions

• Dry Lands
• Wetlands
• Highlands
• Cold Lands

Population Density

• Arithmetic density
• Physiologic
• Agricultural density
• Arable land

Where is Population Growing

Natural Increase

Fertility

Mortality

Why is it growing?

The Demographic Transition

Phase 1: Low Growth: Hunter/Gatherer Societies

Phase 2: High Growth: Agricultural Societies

Phase 3: Moderate Growth: Industrial Societies

Phase 4: Low Growth: Service Economy Societies

Zero Population Growth

Population Pyramids

Overpopulation

• Carrying Capacity: The number of people that can survive on a piece of land

• Thomas Malthus
  • Population growth will exceed food production leading to mass starvation
  • Critics: Does not take technology, economic development, other food sources or reproductive health into account

What is Geography?

Divisions in Geography

· Human versus Physical

· Topical versus Regional

· Descriptive versus Systematic

Tools of the Geographer

Geographic Information Systems

Global Positioning System

Types of Maps

• Reference Maps
• Thematic
  • Cartogram
  • Flow-lines Maps
  • Cartographic

Scale

· Map Scale

· Scale of Human Understanding: Atomic – Universal

· Spatio-Temporal Scale

o Geographic Scale: Individual to Global

o Historical Scale: Real-time to Human History to Planetary History

Five Themes of Geography

• Place
  • Toponym
  • Mental Map
• Region
  • Functional
  • Formal
  • Vernacular
• Location
  • Types
    • Relative Location
      • Near
      • Far
      • Next to
    • Absolute/Mathematical Location
      • Latitudes/Longitudes
      • Parallel/Meridians
      • Equator/Poles
      • Prime Meridian/International Date Line
  • Site (Physical Geography)
  • Situation
    • Good Site/Poor Situation: Agricultural Region with limited access
    • Poor Site/Good Situation: New Orleans - Below Sea Level but located at Mouth of Mississippi
    • Good Site/Good Situation: Arlington – Urban located next to Washington DC (Federal $$$)
    • Poor Site/Poor Situation: Poor agriculture/poor access
• Human Environment Interaction
  • Physical Geography
    • Climate
    • Vegetation
    • Soils
    • Landforms: Geomorphology
  • Limiting Factors in Human Settlement
    • Hot, Cold, Hilly, Dry, Wet
• Spatial Interaction/Movement

Spatial Association

Distribution

· Density

· Concentration

o Cluster

o Dispersion

o Pattern

Spatial Interaction

• Connectedness
• Diffusion

• • Relocation (Migration)
  • Expansion
    • Hierarchical
    • Contagious

Today I had my first class session as adjunct professor of Geography at Virginia International University. The class is very interesting in that they are entirely international. I have a Gambian, Nigerian, 2 Brazilians, 7 Mongolians, 1 Russian, 1 Croatian, 1 German, 4 Nepalese and 1 japanese student. One thing that makes this an interesting audience is that I cannot rely on previous lectures given to a primarily American audience at Piedmont Virginia Community College.

For example, when discussing the concept of vernacular regions, I brought up “The South.” A quick definition of a vernacular region is an area people recognize as part of their cultural identity. To Americans, the South is a familiar concept, typically referring to the area of the Southeastern United States. It references the American Civil War. These students did not have a concept of the American Civil War. This is a challenge, but not an impossible one. Since I more interested in teaching the concept rather than the South, I know when the students understand the concept when they can identify vernacular regions in their own experience. For example, most students could identify with The Middle East.

When discussing Place, Location and the Geographic Grid, students enjoyed using Google Earth as a teaching tool. Their first assignment was to find the latitude and longitude of their home. This is the first in a series of assignments requiring them to provide a descriptive account of the geography of their home.

The lecture itself was titled The Tools of Geographic Inquiry and included the following concepts:

• Place
• Location
• Region
• Functional Region
• Formal Region
• Vernacular Region
• Space
• Distribution
• Density
• Site
• Situation
• cultural landscape
• scale
• spatial association
• cultural ecology
• density
• diffusion

We also discussed Yali’s Question in Guns, Germs and Steel, relating to wealth distribution in the world post 1492, which dispels the notion that wealth belongs to the Western world because of quality of the people and replaces it with the physical geographic factors contributing to European dominance.

However, being someone who keeps track of conspiracy theories, I have to say that whoever chose “Eye in the Sky” by the Alan Parson Project for a theme for the Defense, Homeland Security and Intelligence Showcase runs counter to advocates of privacy in an era of ubiquitous computing and geospatial technologies. This is exactly what Alex Jones is taking about when discussing the concept of “hidden in plain sight” and provides him with a bit more mainstream credibility.

Though it may be a memorable song, the last time I heard it was when I saw Alan Parsons at Wolftrap in 2002. It is no coincidence that the song should be playing, especially considering that it is not difficult to decipher its meaning. The song itself is about 1984-esque themes of Government Control and spying on the public. Though I agree that intelligence gathering and defense related matters are as important as matters of social justice, environmental quality and urban planning, the choice of that song was in very poor taste.

Am I wrong here? Consider the chorus:

Chorus:
I am the eye in the sky
Looking at you
I can read your mind
I am the maker of rules
Dealing with fools
I can cheat you blind
And I dont need to see any more
To know that
I can read your mind, I can read your mind

So here are some reasons to consider Geography as a major:

1. It is intellectually challenging, but relatively intuitive which is another way of saying that it is an “easy” discipline

2. There are more jobs than qualified people. Check out the Geography Jobs Clearinghouse if you need specific examples (http://www.gjc.org)

3. Like statistics, Geography can be applied to every discipline. I can make the case that the social and hard sciences rely on some sort of spatial reasoning.

4. The job market continues to expand and like #2 above the number of jobs outpaces the number of qualified applicants

5. Considering #2 and #4, its a field that continues to grow despite recessionary economic conditions

6. Again, because it is underlooked but a growing field, graduate funding in the form of assistantships (i.e., tuition waivers and paid living expenses) is typically available upon acceptance. Though I don’t have the statistics to support this statement, I imagine that the rate of graduate funding in Geography is the highest amongst all disciplines. I was not a stellar undergraduate, but gained acceptance and funding in all 5 master’s level Geography programs I applied to. With my overall undergraduate 2.9 GPA (admittedly with a 3.8 in Geography) I don’t think the same can be said for psychology or the hard sciences.

7. Finally, and back to my point, since Geography is at least tangentially ubiquitous in every field of the academy, you can choose topics that uniquely interesting to you and still increase your odds for a successful career.

8.  Extremely Cool Technology!

My primary weakness as an academic is my writing skills. I have no problem absorbing the information and have methodologies well thought out. But writing is a requirement. To get more practice, I am waiting until Fall 2009 to start a PhD program. At this point, attending George Mason University’s School of Public Policy is attractive and would allow me to keep my job with Arlington. However, I am actively lobbying for funding for a PhD in Geography.

My current research interests are varied and am excited to use this next year to narrow down a topic. Currently , I am interested in the Geography of Ubiquitous Computing and the policy apparati, energy, infrastructure requirements and general economics of the Industry. However, having studied medical geography, business geography, global cities, spatial segregation studies, the Pioneer Fringe, teaching community college and voting patterns, I anticipate a vivacious future in Geography and the Geographic Information Sciences.

That said, I would also like to share my academic experience as a Geographer. I started at James Madison University in 1992. It was not until 1994 when I was torn between studying ecology and archeology that both departments recommend Dr. Glen Gufaston’s Introduction to Aerial Photo Interpretation. So, I started my academic career wanting to be a photogrammetrist. Then, Dr. Stephen Wright got me interested in Digital Cartography. Both got me interested in the Geographic Information Sciences.

So, I have made a few mistakes in my life. Nothing has turned out bad financially, but I feel some tarnish on my reputation after leaving SUNY-Binghamton and the first year of graduate school they provided me. In this position, I served as a GIS Lab Assistant and data analyst on a GPS data collection project studying waterwells and location to contiminants as listed by the EPA. I also taught a Weather and Climate Lab.

I recieved my Master’s of Science in the Geographic and Cartographic Sciences program from George Mason University. While their, I participated in several interesting research positions under Dr. David Wong and worked as a GIS Lab Assistant under newly en-doctored Erwin Villiger.

Please consider the following highlights to the attached resume and academic transcripts:

• Master of Science in the Geographic and Cartographic Science from George Mason University

• Teaching Experience at the Community College Level

• Experience with non-academic technical training for Federal employees using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) technology

• Daily use of geographic concepts in my non-academic professional experience provides for real world examples

• Thorough working knowledge of demographic and socioeconomic data products

• Oliver MN, Matthews KA, Siadaty M, Hauck FR, Pickle LW. Geographic bias related to geocoding in epidemiologic studies. International Journal of Health Geographics. 2005;4:29.

• Acknowledged Cartographic Contribution in the Wand JN, Shotts KW, Sekhon JS, Mebane, WR Jr., Herron MC, Brady HE. The Butterfly Did It: The Aberrant Vote for Buchanan in Palm Beach County, Florida. The American Political Science Review, 2001;95:4.

EDUCATION

George Mason University, Geography and Earth Science Department, M.S., Geographic and Cartographic Science, December 1998

James Madison University, Center for Geographic Information Sciences, B.S. Geographic Information Science, May 1996

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

Urban Research Planner, Planning Research and Analysis Team

Arlington County Government

01/2007 to present

• Content Management System Team Lead
  
• Database Development of Residential and Commercial Tracking system
• Ad hoc cartographic requests
• Develop original research for the Planning Information Reports Series
  

County Demographer

Prince William County Government - Woodbridge, VA: 12/2006 to 12/2007

• Perform spatial and statistical analysis of population trends in the County
• Develop forecasts of County housing and population growth
• Serve as spokesperson for Demographic activities

Assistant Professor - Adjunct Piedmont Virginia Community College - Charlottesville, VA: 08/2005 – 12/2006

• Delivered 18 credit hours of Cultural and World Geography lectures
• Developed lesson plans and evaluation criteria
• Engaged students in the subject matter and fostered a challenging and supportive learning environment

Learning Lab Director - Computers4Kids, Charlottesville, VA: 06/2006 – 12/2006

GIS Specialist University of Virginia - Health System, Charlottesville, VA: 10/2004 - 7/2006

• Provide research support for medical study entitled: Prostate Cancer in Blacks: The Role of Poverty and Diet
• Responsible for geographic & statistical analysis and cartographic output

Social Science Research Analyst US Dept of Commerce - Minority Business Development Agency, Washington, DC: 05/2000 - 10/2004

• Develop, train, and provide GIS support for MBDA staff and clients
• Provide statistical research for agency policy reports.
• Served as a liaison between information technology and federal staff

Survey Statistician US Bureau of Census, Suitland, MD: 02/1999 - 05/2000

• Compiled GIS database and prepared cartographic visualization of statistical data
• Assisted in development, design, and analysis of statistical surveys
• Performed a quality control functions for database errors

PUBLICATIONS

Oliver MN, Matthews KA, Siadaty M, Hauck FR, Pickle LW. Geographic bias related to geocoding in epidemiologic studies. International Journal of Health Geographics. 2005;4:29.

ACKNOWLEDGED CARTOGRAPHIC CONTRIBUTIONS

Wand JN, Shotts KW, Sekhon JS, Mebane, WR Jr., Herron MC, Brady HE. The Butterfly Did It: The Aberrant Vote for Buchanan in Palm Beach County, Florida. The American Political Science Review, 2001;95:4.

The Minority Telecommunications Development Program, National Telecommunications and Information Agency, The US Department of Commerce. December 2000. Changes, Challenges, and Charting New Courses: Minority Commercial Broadcast Ownership in the United States.

PROJECT WORK AND OTHER ACTIVITIES

Virginia Tech Urban Planning Department - Alexandria Campus: Fall 2003. I worked in preparing a matrix of Cities connected by Ambassadorial resources (Embassies) in support of the Globalization and World Cities project. (http://www.lboro.ac.uk/gawc/)

The Institute for Public Policy: Fall 1998, Worked on an environmental justice grant from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as primary Geographic Information Scientist to statistically model the relationship between the location of hazardous waste sites and population segments using spatial econometric methods.

University of Maryland/George Mason University: Summer/Fall 1998, Research Assistant for a Housing and Urban Development (HUD) funded project at the University of Maryland, on the Potential of GIS for housing policy research using microdata for Section 8 subsidized housing.

The College of Arts and Sciences at George Mason University: Summer 1998, Development and presentation of a geographic information systems demonstration for the 1998 World Conference on Technology at George Mason University.

The National Consortium for Geographic Information and Analysis (NCGIA): Summer 1998, assisted with the development of curriculum for the NCGIA’s Core Curriculum Development for the Geographical Information Sciences Project.