Saturday, July 26, 2008

The Ten Big Questions in Geography

This is from an article I previously wrote for another website - "How to Know the Big Questions in Geography" - found at:
How to Know the Big Questions in Geography

An article appearing in the August 2002 issue of the academic journal "Professional Geographer" by Cutter, Golledge, and Graf, discusses ten big questions that scholars and researchers working in the field of geography should be addressing through their research endeavors. The questions were in response to a challenge by a science correspondent for the New York Times, John Noble Wilford. Cutter, Golledge, and Graf (2002) respond to Wilford's challenge by articulating these ten big questions in geography research. The ten questions indeed carry with them important societal implications and they are broad enough so that most geographic scholarly research can fit within one of their frameworks. These questions are meant to encourage geographic research that would generate public interest, media attention, as well as the respect of policy makers. This article presents the ten big questions in geography.

Geography Big Question #1: What makes places and landscapes different from one another, and why is this important?

Geography Big Question #2: Is there a deeply held human need to organize space by creating arbitrary borders, boundaries, and districts?

Geography Big Question #3: How do we delineate space?

Geography Big Question #4: Why do people, resources, and ideas move?

Geography Big Question #5: How has the earth been transformed by human action?

Geography Big Question #6: What role will virtual systems play in learning about the world?

Geography Big Question #7: How do we measure the unmeasurable?

Geography Big Question #8: What role has geographical skill played in the evolution of human civilization, and what role can it play in predicting the future?

Geography Big Question #9: How and why do sustainability and vulnerability change from place to place and over time?

Geography Big Question #10: What is the nature of spatial thinking, reasoning, and abilities?

The ten big questions in geography originally appeared in the following academic paper: Cutter, Susan L., Reginald Golledge, and William L. Graf. 2002. "The Ten Big Questions in Geography." Professional Geographer (August 2002): pages 305-317.

Original article by Paul McDaniel may be found here:
How to Know the Big Questions in Geography

Wednesday, July 23, 2008

World's Busiest International Airports

Airports are a place of exciting fascination for many geographers. They are places representing many ideas of geography all in one: the wonders of aviation and air travel, international and domestic travel, globalization, global interconnectedness, transportation and tourism geography, and they are also interesting to geographers who study human impact on the landscape. Airports are somewhat like mini-cities. At any rate, here is a list of the top thirty busiest airports in the world in 2007 by passenger traffic. For each entry, I list the name of the airport, the city, state, and country, the number of passengers passing through the airport in 2007, and the airline that operates a major hub at that particular airport:

Hartsfield-Jackson-Atlanta International Airport (ATL), Atlanta, Georgia, USA

1. Hartsfield-Jackson-Atlanta International Airport (ATL), Atlanta, Georgia, USA - 89,379,287 - Delta Airlines, Air Tran Airways
2. O'Hare International Airport (ORD), Chicago, Illinois, USA - 76,159,324 - United Airlines, American Airlines
3. London Heathrow Airport (LHR), London, England, UK - 68,068,554 - British Airways, BMI, Virgin Atlantic
4. Tokyo-Haneda International Airport (HND), Tokyo, Japan - 66,671,435 - Japan Air Lines, All Nippon Airways
5. Los Angeles International Airport (LAX), Los Angeles, California, USA - 61,895,548 - Delta Airlines, United Airlines
6. Charles de Gaulle International Airport (CDG), near Paris, France - 59,919,383 - Air France
7. Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport (DFW), Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas, USA - 59,784,876 - American Airlines
8. Frankfurt Airport (FRA), Frankfurt am Main, Germany - 54,161,856 - Lufthansa
9. Beijing Capital International Airport (PEK), Chaoyang, Beijing, People's Republic of China - 53,736,923 - Air China, China Southern Airlines
10. Madrid Barajas International Airport (MAD), Barajas, Madrid, Spain - 52,122,214 - Iberia
11. Denver International Airport (DEN), Denver, Colorado, USA - 49,863,389 - United Airlines, Frontier Airlines
12. John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK), Queens, New York City, USA - 47,810,630 - Delta Airlines, Jet Blue Airways, American Airlines
13. Amsterdam Airport Schiphol (AMS), The Netherlands - 47,793,602 - KLM/Royal Dutch Airlines, Northwest Airlines
14. McCarran International Airport (LAS), Las Vegas, Nevada, USA - 47,595,140 - U.S. Airways, Southwest Airlines
15. Hong Kong International Airport (HKG), Hong Kong SAR, People's Republic of China - 46,995,000 - Cathay Pacific, Dragon Air
16. George Bush Intercontinental Airport (IAH), Houston, Texas, USA - 42,978,617 - Continental Airlines
17. Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport (PHX), Phoenix, Arizona, USA - 42,197,080 - U.S. Airways, Southwest Airlines
18. Suvarnabhumi Airport (BKK), Bangkok, Thailand - 41,210,081 - Thai Airways International, Bangkok Airways, Orient Thai Airlines
19. Singapore Changi Airport (SIN), Changi, Singapore - 36,701,556 - Singapore Airlines
20. Orlando International Airport (MCO), Orlando, Florida, USA - 36,480,416 - Southwest Airlines, Delta Airlines
21. Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR), Newark, New Jersey, USA - 36,391,911 - Continental Airlines
22. Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport (DTW), Romulus, Michigan, USA - 36,126,555 - Northwest Airlines
23. San Francisco International Airport (SFO), San Mateo County, California, USA - 35,793,117 - United Airlines
24. Tokyo-Narita International Airport (NRT), Narita, Chiba, Japan - 35,530,035 - Japan Air Lines, All Nippon Airways, Northwest Airlines
25. London Gatwick Airport (LGW), Crawley, England, UK - 35,218,399 - British Airways
26. Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport (MSP), Fort Snelling, Minnesota, USA - 35,160,505 - Northwest Airlines
27. Dubai International Airport (DXB), Dubai, United Arab Emirates - 34,348,110 - Emirates
28. Munich-Franz Josef Strauss Airport (MUN), Munich, Bavaria, Germany - 33,959,422 - Lufthansa
29. Miami International Airport (MIA), Miami, Florida, USA - 33,740,416 - American Airlines
30. Charlotte Douglas International Airport (CLT), Charlotte, North Carolina, USA - 33,383,812 - U.S. Airways

Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport (DFW), Dallas, Texas, USA

Tuesday, July 15, 2008

GeoManiaWorld Updates

Check out the latest updates and modification to the GeoManiaWorld - Geography Trivia Games and Map Quizzes website:
GeoManiaWorld - Geography Trivia Games and Map Quizzes

There is a now a random geo fact that changes with each browser refresh, and there are more links to more cool sites with free online geography games! Check it out!

Also, check back in with the blog soon as I will get back to updating it more often (I've been out of town a good bit over the past couple of weeks).

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