Explore How Not All Distances Are Equally Distant

Activity

APHG Benchmarks

Learning Outcomes

Explore how not all distances are equally distant.

APHG:1.B.Majorgeographicalconceptsunderlyingthegeographicalperspective(scale,location,andplace)

•Studentswillbeabletovisualizeandanalyzevariationsinthetime-space compression.

MapURL:

Ask

Are all miles “equally” distant?

ʅ Open the map.

?Howcansomephysicaldistancesofequallengthfeelmoreorlessdistant?

Acquire

How far can you get?

ʅ Turn on the Drive From Boston layer.

?Whichothermajorcitycanyoureachinlessthananhour?

?How long do you think it would take to get to Providence?.

Explore

Are we taking the long way around?

? Why does it takes more time to get to Worcester than Manchester?

? Why do you think this map is the way it is? There is one city that is less than 50 miles away from Boston (as the crow flies) but that cannot be accessed in a 120-minute drive.

? Why is this city so inaccessible by car, and what other forms of transportation might change this rela- tionship?

more

Analyze

Howispopulationdensityrelatedtotraveltime?

ʅ Go to Bookmarks, and choose BOS-MHT/WOR .

ʅ Turn on the Population Density - Census Tracts layer.

?Describe the relationship between how fast you can travel from Boston and the population density along theroute.

Act

Which way this time?

ʅAfterlookingatthedata,clickBasemapandchangethebasemaptoLightGrayCanvas. ʅClicktheContentbuttonanddeselectalllayers.

ʅ Turn on the World Transportation layer.

ʅ Go to Bookmarks, and choose Traffic to get a better view.

? Many would assume that travel would be easier in places of lower population density because the traffic would not be as congested. That is true in various places and at certain scales. However, why might this notbethecaseintheBostonMetropolitanArea?

MEASURE

•Click the Measuretool.

•Select Distance, and then choose the unit of measure- ment.

•Clickoncetostartmeasuring,clickoncetochangedirec- tion,anddouble-clicktostopmeasuring.

TRANSPARENCY

•FromtheDetailspane,clicktheContentbutton.

•Click the three small blue dots and hover your pointer overtheword“Transparency”toopenadrop-downlist.

•You can modify transparency to see an active layer below the top layer. Set it to 50%.

Next Steps

DIDYOUKNOW?ArcGISOnlineisamappingplatformfreelyavailabletoU.S.public,private,andhomeschoolsasapartoftheWhite House ConnectED Initiative. A school subscription provides additional security, privacy, and content features. Learn more about Arc- GISOnlineandhowtogetaschoolsubscriptionat

THEN TRY THIS...

•Createhotspotsaroundlocaltransportationhubsandcorridorstovisualizesomethingclosertohome.

•UploadGPXfilesofvariouspathsthatstudentsregularlytake,andanalyzethepatterns.

•Createadrive-timelayerforyourlocalarea,andexplorethetransportationnetwork.

TEXT REFERENCES

ThisGISmaphasbeencross-referencedtomaterialinsectionsof chaptersfromthesetexts.

•HumanGeography:AShortIntroductionbyOxfordUniversityPress–Chapter1

•TheCulturalLandscapebyPearson–Chapter1

•Human Geography: People Place and Culture by WileyPress–Chapter1

•repository/ap-sf-human-geo-scale.pdf

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