GIS, computer system for performing geographical analysis. GIS has four interactive components: an input subsystem for converting into digital form (digitizing) maps and other spatial data; a storage and retrieval subsystem; an analysis subsystem; and an output subsystem for producing maps, tables,

military intelligence: Geographic: Gained from studying natural characteristics including terrain, climate, natural resources, transportation, boundaries, and population distribution, military geographic intelligence involves evaluating all such factors that in any way influence military operations.

latitude and longitude: Technical considerations: Geographic latitude, which is the kind used in mapping, is calculated using a slightly different process. Because Earth is not a perfect sphere—the planet’s curvature is flatter at the poles—geographic latitude is the arc resulting from an angle created by the equatorial plane and the…

geographic mosaic theory of coevolution, in ecology, the theory postulating that the long-term dynamics of coevolution may occur over large geographic ranges rather than within local populations. It is based on the observation that a species may adapt and become specialized to another species

Board on Geographic Names, interdepartmental agency of the U.S. government created in 1890 and providing standardized geographic names of foreign and domestic places for use by the federal government. It was established in its present form by a public law enacted in 1947. Located in Washington,

North Pole, the northern end of Earth’s axis, lying in the Arctic Ocean, about 450 miles (725 km) north of Greenland. This geographic North Pole does not coincide with the magnetic North Pole—to which magnetic compasses point and which in the early 21st century lay north of the Queen Elizabeth

lighthouse: Geographic range and luminous range: This is known as the geographic range of the light. (One nautical mile, the distance on Earth’s surface traversed by one minute of arc latitude, is equivalent to 1.15 statute miles or 1.85 km.)

geographic range, in ecology, the collective area in which all members of a particular species are found during their lifetime. The term geographic range has often referred to the natural extent of a species’ distribution; however, it also includes areas where a species was introduced by human

evolution: Geographic speciation: One common mode of speciation is known as geographic, or allopatric (in separate territories), speciation. The general model of the speciation process advanced in the previous section applies well to geographic speciation. The first stage begins as a result of geographic separation between…

glossitis: Geographic tongue (benign migratory glossitis) refers to the chronic presence of irregularly shaped, bright red areas on the tongue, surrounded by a narrow white zone; normal tongue epithelium may grow back in one area while new areas of glossitis develop elsewhere, making the disease seem…

zenith: …it would point to the geographic zenith. Because the Earth rotates and is not a perfect sphere, the geocentric zenith is slightly different from the geographic zenith except at the Equator and the poles. Geocentric zenith is the intersection with the celestial sphere of a straight line drawn through the…

museum: South America: …Lima, Peru (1891), or the Geographical and Geological Museum at São Paulo, Brazil (1895). Others were created by provincial bodies: the regional museums at Córdoba (1887) and Gualeguaychu (1898), both in Argentina, and at Ouro Prêto, Brazil (1876); the Hualpen Museum in Chile (1882); and the Municipal Museum and Library…

geography: The development of academic geography in the United Kingdom: …in 1893 that founded the Geographical Association, which aimed to be a society for teachers of geography at all levels and became a successful lobby for the discipline.

Equator, great circle around Earth that is everywhere equidistant from the geographic poles and lies in a plane perpendicular to Earth’s axis. This geographic, or terrestrial, Equator divides Earth into the Northern and Southern hemispheres and forms the imaginary reference line on Earth’s surface

Halford Mackinder: …Geographical Society in 1904, “The Geographical Pivot of History.” In it he argued that interior Asia and eastern Europe (the heartland) had become the strategic centre of the “World Island” as a result of the relative decline of sea power as against land power and of the economic and industrial…

Géographie Universelle, major French work on regional geography of the entire world. It consists of 15 volumes in 23 parts. The work is known for its vivid characterization and description of each region. The first French attempt to provide a universal geography was Conrad Malte-Brun’s Précis de la

map: Greek maps and geography: His monumental work, the Guide to Geography (Geōgraphikē hyphēgēsis), was produced in eight volumes. The first volume discussed basic principles and dealt with map projection and globe construction. The next six volumes carried a list of the names of some 8,000 places and their approximate latitudes and longitudes. Except…

Alfred Hettner: …of geography was the influential Geographische Zeitung (“Geographical Journal”), first published in 1899. The first volume of his Grundzüge der Länderkunde (1907; “Foundations of Regional Geography”) dealt with Europe, but its companion volume, on other regions, did not appear until 1924. He also wrote Vergleichende Länderkunde, 4 vol. (1933–35; “Comparative…

Geographos, an Apollo asteroid (one that passes inside Earth’s orbit). Geographos was discovered on September 14, 1951, by American astronomers Albert Wilson and Rudolf Minkowski at the Palomar Observatory. Geographos revolves around the Sun once in 1.39 Earth years in an eccentric moderately

al-Khwārizmī: …of the Earth”; translated as Geography), which presented the coordinates of localities in the known world based, ultimately, on those in the Geography of Ptolemy (flourished 127–145 ce) but with improved values for the length of the Mediterranean Sea and the location of cities in Asia and Africa. He also…

map: Revival of Ptolemy: …old Greek manuscripts, including Ptolemy’s Geography, from destruction. The rediscovery of this great work came at a fortunate time because the recent development of a printing industry capable of handling map reproduction made possible its circulation far beyond the few scholars who otherwise would have enjoyed access to it. This,…

geography, the study of the diverse environments, places, and spaces of Earth’s surface and their interactions. It seeks to answer the questions of why things are as they are, where they are. The modern academic discipline of geography is rooted in ancient practice, concerned with the

Strabo: …Greek geographer and historian whose Geography is the only extant work covering the whole range of peoples and countries known to both Greeks and Romans during the reign of Augustus (27 bce–14 ce). Its numerous quotations from technical literature, moreover, provide a remarkable account of the state of Greek geographical…

Elizabeth Bishop: Questions of Travel (1965) and Geography III (1976) offer spare, powerful meditations on the need for self-exploration, on the value of art (especially poetry) in human life, and on human responsibility in a chaotic world. The latter collection includes some of Bishop’s best-known poems, among them “In the Waiting Room,”…

Jedidiah Morse: …published in the United States, Geography Made Easy (1784). His geographical writings dominated the field in the United States until his death.

Sam Shepard: …of Crime (produced 1972) and Geography of a Horse Dreamer (produced 1974)—premiered in London. In late 1974 he became playwright-in-residence at the Magic Theatre in San Francisco, where most of his plays over the next decade were first produced.

Alfredo Jaar: Geography=War (1990) utilized proportionately accurate maps of the world (in which North America is much smaller than on traditional maps) to force viewers to confront their assumptions about geography and power. These maps illustrated the journey taken by toxic waste sent to Koko, Nigeria, by…

geoid, model of the figure of Earth—i.e., of the planet’s size and shape—that coincides with mean sea level over the oceans and continues in continental areas as an imaginary sea-level surface defined by spirit level. It serves as a reference surface that can be used to measure precise elevations

dating: Geologic column and its associated time scale: The end product of correlation is a mental abstraction called the geologic column. It is the result of integrating all the world’s individual rock sequences into a single sequence. In order to communicate the fine structure of this…

geology: …rocks, thereby completing a full cycle of the transfer of matter from an old continent to a young ocean and ultimately to the formation of new sedimentary rocks. Knowledge of the processes of interaction of the atmosphere and the hydrosphere with the surface rocks and soils of the Earth’s crust…

nuclear reactor: Geologic disposal: …nuclear power plants is called geologic disposal. This means that all conditioned nuclear wastes are to be deposited in mined cavities deep underground. Shafts are to be sunk into a solid rock stratum, with tunnel corridors extending horizontally from the central shaft region and tunnel “rooms” laterally from the corridors.…

geochronology: Early attempts at mapping and correlation: …one of the first large-scale geologic maps of a region is its essential accuracy in portraying what is now known to be the geologic succession for the particular area of Britain covered.

Earth sciences: William Smith and faunal succession: …when William Smith published his Geologic Map of England and Wales with Part of Scotland (1815). A self-educated surveyor and engineer, Smith had the habit of collecting fossils and making careful note of the strata that contained them. He discovered that the different stratified formations in England contain distinctive assemblages…

marine geology, scientific discipline that is concerned with all geological aspects of the continental shelves and slopes and the ocean basins. In practice, the principal focus of marine geology has been on marine sedimentation and on the interpretation of the many bottom samples that have been

dating: Multiple ages for a single rock: the thermal effect: These are called geologic provinces. By contrast, rocks that have approached their melting point—say, 750 °C (1,382 °F), which can cause new zircon growth during a second thermal event—are rare, and those that have done this more than once are almost nonexistent.

geologic time, the extensive interval of time occupied by the geologic history of Earth. Formal geologic time begins at the start of the Archean Eon (4.0 billion to 2.5 billion years ago) and continues to the present day. Modern geologic time scales additionally often include the Hadean Eon, which

dike, in geology, tabular or sheetlike igneous body that is often oriented vertically or steeply inclined to the bedding of preexisting intruded rocks; similar bodies oriented parallel to the bedding of the enclosing rocks are called sills. A dike set is composed of several parallel dikes; when the

engineering geology, the scientific discipline concerned with the application of geological knowledge to engineering problems—e.g., to reservoir design and location, determination of slope stability for construction purposes, and determination of earthquake, flood, or subsidence danger in areas

Richard Kirwan: …books on chemistry, Kirwan wrote Geological Essays (1799), a controversial response to the pioneering work of geologist James Hutton; a work on comparative climatology; a two-volume work on logic; and a volume of essays on metaphysics.

undersea exploration: Exploration of the seafloor and the Earth’s crust: …those that employ Seabeam and Gloria (Geological Long-Range Inclined Asdic) permit mapping two-dimensional swaths with great accuracy from a single ship. These methods are widely used to ascertain the major features of the seafloor. The Gloria system, for example, can produce a picture of the morphology of a region at…

museum: South America: …in the case of the Geological Museum in Lima, Peru (1891), or the Geographical and Geological Museum at São Paulo, Brazil (1895). Others were created by provincial bodies: the regional museums at Córdoba (1887) and Gualeguaychu (1898), both in Argentina, and at Ouro Prêto, Brazil (1876); the Hualpen Museum in…

marine geology, scientific discipline that is concerned with all geological aspects of the continental shelves and slopes and the ocean basins. In practice, the principal focus of marine geology has been on marine sedimentation and on the interpretation of the many bottom samples that have been

dating: Analysis of separated minerals: …mineral is widespread in the geologic record, it is more valuable for dating as more units can be measured for age and compared by the same method. However, if a single parent-daughter pair that is amenable to precise analysis can be measured in a variety of minerals, the ages of…

geology, the fields of study concerned with the solid Earth. Included are sciences such as mineralogy, geodesy, and stratigraphy. An introduction to the geochemical and geophysical sciences logically begins with mineralogy, because Earth’s rocks are composed of minerals—inorganic elements or

geology, the fields of study concerned with the solid Earth. Included are sciences such as mineralogy, geodesy, and stratigraphy. An introduction to the geochemical and geophysical sciences logically begins with mineralogy, because Earth’s rocks are composed of minerals—inorganic elements or

Arthur L. Day: …and president (1938) of the Geological Society of America, which created the Arthur L. Day Award in his honour.

Sir William Edmond Logan: In 1842, when the Geological Survey of Canada was formed, Logan was made its director, and he served in this capacity until 1869. His chief work for the Geological Survey was his monumental Report on the Geology of Canada (1863), a compilation of 20 years of research. Another of…

Sir Henry Thomas De La Beche: …a geologist who founded the Geological Survey of Great Britain, which made the first methodical geologic survey of an entire country ever undertaken.

Rocky Mountains: Study and exploration: …surveys were organized by the U.S. government following the American Civil War: the survey of the 40th parallel led by Clarence King (1867–78), the geologic survey of Nebraska and Wyoming led by Ferdinand Hayden (1867–78), the 100th-meridian survey led by George Wheeler (1872–79), and the expeditions to the Green and…

geology: Isotopic geochemistry: …used as a form of geologic thermometer. The ratio of oxygen-16 to oxygen-18 in calcium carbonate secreted by various marine organisms from calcium carbonate in solution in seawater is influenced by the temperature of the seawater. Precise measurement of the proportions of oxygen-16 with respect to oxygen-18 in calcareous shells…

geologic time, the extensive interval of time occupied by the geologic history of Earth. Formal geologic time begins at the start of the Archean Eon (4.0 billion to 2.5 billion years ago) and continues to the present day. Modern geologic time scales additionally often include the Hadean Eon, which

geology, the fields of study concerned with the solid Earth. Included are sciences such as mineralogy, geodesy, and stratigraphy. An introduction to the geochemical and geophysical sciences logically begins with mineralogy, because Earth’s rocks are composed of minerals—inorganic elements or

James Hall: …culminated in his massive report Geology of New York (part 4, 1843), a classic in American geology. Although he could not explain the uplift of the sedimentary beds that formed the Appalachians, his observations were instrumental in forming the geosynclinal theory.

George Ferdinand Becker: …report from this work is Geology of the Comstock Lode and Washoe District (1882).

Joseph Barrell: …he presented his ideas in Geology of the Marysville Mining District, Montana (1907). In this classic work on geology he proposed the then new concept that molten magma from the Earth’s interior infiltrated fissures in the crust and created intrusions, lavas, and metamorphism.

wolf spider: ” Burrowing wolf spiders (Geolycosa), which spend most of their lives in burrows, have heavy front legs that are used for digging. The wolf spiders with the largest bodies are mostly of the genus Lycosa, a large group that includes L. tarentula of southern Europe (see tarantula).

paleogeography: Linear magnetic anomalies: Earth’s magnetic field has another important property. Like the Sun’s magnetic field, Earth’s magnetic field periodically “flips,” or reverses polarity—that is, the North and South poles switch places. Fluctuations, or anomalies in the intensity of the magnetic field, occur at the boundaries between…

dynamo theory, geophysical theory that explains the origin of Earth’s main magnetic field in terms of a self-exciting (or self-sustaining) dynamo. In this dynamo mechanism, fluid motion in Earth’s outer core moves conducting material (liquid iron) across an already existing weak magnetic field and

geomagnetic field, magnetic field associated with Earth. It is primarily dipolar (i.e., it has two poles, the geomagnetic North and South poles) on Earth’s surface. Away from the surface the dipole becomes distorted. In the 1830s the German mathematician and astronomer Carl Friedrich Gauss studied

North Pole: …steadily migrating northwest)—or with the geomagnetic North Pole, the northern end of Earth’s geomagnetic field (about 79°30′ N 71°30′ W). The geographic pole, located at a point where the ocean depth is about 13,400 feet (4,080 metres) deep and covered with drifting pack ice, experiences six months of complete sunlight…

geomagnetic reversal, an alternation of the Earth’s magnetic polarity in geologic time. See polar

geomagnetic field: Dipolar field: …hemispheres not far from the geomagnetic poles. The weakest field occurred along the magnetic equator, with the lowest value being observed on the Atlantic coast of South America.

geomagnetic reversal, an alternation of the Earth’s magnetic polarity in geologic time. See polar

South Pole: …it coincide with the geomagnetic South Pole, the southern end of the Earth’s geomagnetic field (this pole also moves; during the early 1990s it was located about 79°13′ S, 108°44′ E). The geographic pole, at an elevation of some 9,300 feet (2,830 metres; the elevation also changes constantly) above sea…

geomagnetic storm, disturbance of Earth’s upper atmosphere brought on by coronal mass ejections—i.e., large eruptions from the Sun’s outer atmosphere, or corona. The material associated with these eruptions consists primarily of protons and electrons with an energy of a few thousand electron volts.

geomagnetic storm of 1859, largest geomagnetic storm ever recorded. The storm, which occurred on Sept. 2, 1859, produced intense auroral displays as far south as the tropics. It also caused fires as the enhanced electric current flowing through telegraph wires ignited recording tape at telegraph

geomagnetic field: Magnetospheric substorms—unbalanced flux transfer: Magnetospheric substorm is the name applied to the collection of processes that occur throughout the magnetosphere at the time of an auroral and magnetic disturbance. The term substorm was originally used to signify that the processes produce an event, localized in…

geologic history of Earth: Time scales: A magnetic-polarity time scale for the stratigraphy of normal and reversed magnetic stripes can be constructed back as far as 280–260 million years ago, which is the age of the oldest extant segment of ocean floor.

geomagnetics, branch of geophysics concerned with all aspects of the Earth’s magnetic field, including its origin, variation through time, and manifestations in the form of magnetic poles, the remanent magnetization of rocks, and local or regional magnetic anomalies. The latter reflect the

geomagnetic field, magnetic field associated with Earth. It is primarily dipolar (i.e., it has two poles, the geomagnetic North and South poles) on Earth’s surface. Away from the surface the dipole becomes distorted. In the 1830s the German mathematician and astronomer Carl Friedrich Gauss studied

augury: …other marks on paper (geomancy), fire and smoke (pyromancy), the shoulder blades of animals (scapulimancy), entrails of sacrificed animals (haruspicy), or their livers, which were considered to be the seat of life (hepatoscopy).

Southeast Asian arts: 19th–21st century: …using the ancient theory of geomancy (fengshui), with the city facing the Huong (Perfume) River and the Ngu Binh mountain protecting the imperial gates from evil spirits. It consisted of a series of simple rectangular one-story pavilions, laid out among trees inside a group of courts. These buildings were southern…

rock: Rock mechanics: …of study is known as geotectonics.

John Geometres was a Byzantine poet, official, and monk, known for his short poems in classical metre. Geometres held the post of protospatharios (commander of the guards) at the Byzantine court and later was ordained priest. His poems, on both contemporary politics and religious subjects, are

Archimedes’ Lost Method: Bonaventura Cavalieri in his Geometria Indivisibilibus Continuorum Nova Quadam Ratione Promota (1635; “A Certain Method for the Development of a New Geometry of Continuous Indivisibles”). Cavalieri observed what happens when a hemisphere and its circumscribing cylinder are cut by the family of planes parallel to the base of the…

James Gregory: …and of the Hyperbola”) and Geometriae Pars Universalis (1668; “The Universal Part of Geometry”). In the former work he used a modification of the method of exhaustion of Archimedes (287–212/211 bce) to find the areas of the circle and sections of the hyperbola. In his construction of an infinite sequence…

Emil Artin: Artin’s books include Geometric Algebra (1957) and, with John T. Tate, Class Field Theory (1961). Most of his technical papers are found in The Collected Papers of Emil Artin (1965).

geometric distribution, in statistics, a discrete probability distribution that describes the chances of achieving success in a series of independent trials, each having two possible outcomes. The geometric distribution thus helps measure the probability of success after a given number of trials.

population ecology: Exponential and geometric population growth: …of organisms whose growth is geometric. In these species a population grows as a series of increasingly steep steps rather than as a smooth curve.

fat and oil processing: Isomerization reactions: …of natural oils has the cis configuration, in which hydrogen atoms lie on one side of a plane cutting through the double bond and alkyl groups lie on the other side. During hydrogenation some of the unsaturation is converted to the trans configuration, with like groups on opposite sides of…

mathematics: The Elements: …constructions and proofs of plane geometric figures: Book I deals with the congruence of triangles, the properties of parallel lines, and the area relations of triangles and parallelograms; Book II establishes equalities relating to squares, rectangles, and triangles; Book III covers basic properties of circles; and Book IV sets out…

mean: geometric mean of x1 and x2. The geometric mean of n numbers x1, x2, …, xn is defined to be the nth root of their product:

pottery: Central America: …was painted with black curvilinear geometric motifs, in contrast to their earlier rectilinear style. During the period of Montezuma I in the 15th century, designs became more naturalistic, and birds, fish, and plant forms were freely utilized. European motifs first appear after the conquest, and such techniques as tin glazing…

drafting: Perspective: Geometric perspective is a drawing method by which it is possible to depict a three-dimensional form as a two-dimensional image that closely resembles the scene as visualized by the human eye. The camera produces photographs with such resemblance. Images produced by the eye, the camera,…

allometry: …common example of allometry is geometric scaling, in which surface area is a function of body mass. In general, for organisms that preserve their basic shape as they vary in size, the organism’s linear dimensions vary as the 13 and their surface area as the 23 powers of their body…

mathematics: Numerical calculation: By correlating the geometric sequence of numbers a, a2, a3,…(a is called the base) and the arithmetic sequence 1, 2, 3,…and interpolating to fractional values, it is possible to reduce the problem of multiplication and division to one of addition and subtraction. To do this Napier chose a…

geometric series, in mathematics, an infinite series of the form a + ar + ar2 + ar3+⋯, where r is known as the common ratio. A simple example is the geometric series for a = 1 and r = 1/2, or 1 + 1/2 + 1/4 + 1/8 +⋯, which converges to a sum of 2 (or 1 if the first term is excluded). The Achilles

Geometric style, style of ancient Greek art, primarily of vase painting, that began about 900 bc and represents the last purely Mycenaean-Greek art form that originated before the influx of foreign inspiration by about 800 bc. Athens was its centre, and the growing moneyed population of new Greek

Colin Maclaurin: In his first work, Geometrica Organica; Sive Descriptio Linearum Curvarum Universalis (1720; “Organic Geometry, with the Description of the Universal Linear Curves”), Maclaurin developed several theorems similar to some in Newton’s Principia, introduced the method of generating conic sections (the circle, ellipse, hyperbola, and parabola) that bears his name,…

fat and oil processing: Isomerization reactions: …of natural oils has the cis configuration, in which hydrogen atoms lie on one side of a plane cutting through the double bond and alkyl groups lie on the other side. During hydrogenation some of the unsaturation is converted to the trans configuration, with like groups on opposite sides of…

mathematics: The precalculus period: …Cambridge, published in 1670 his Geometrical Lectures, a treatise that more than any other anticipated the unifying ideas of the calculus. In it he adopted a purely geometric form of exposition to show how the determinations of areas and tangents are inverse problems. He began with a curve and considered…

optics: Geometrical optics: An optical image may be regarded as the apparent reproduction of an object by a lens or mirror system, employing light as a carrier. An entire image is generally produced simultaneously, as by the lens in a camera,…

geometrid moth, (family Geometridae), any member of a group of moths (order Lepidoptera) that includes the species commonly known as pug, wave, emerald, and carpet moths. The larvae of geometrid moths are called by a variety of common names, including inchworm, cankerworm, looper, and measuring

geometrid moth, (family Geometridae), any member of a group of moths (order Lepidoptera) that includes the species commonly known as pug, wave, emerald, and carpet moths. The larvae of geometrid moths are called by a variety of common names, including inchworm, cankerworm, looper, and measuring

Gaspard Monge, count de Péluse: In Géométrie descriptive (1799; “Descriptive Geometry”), based on his lectures at the École Normale, he developed his descriptive method for representing a solid in three-dimensional space on a two-dimensional plane by drawing the projections—known as plans, elevations, and traces—of the solid on a sheet of paper.…

mathematics: Analytic geometry: Descartes’s La Géométrie appeared in 1637 as an appendix to his famous Discourse on Method, the treatise that presented the foundation of his philosophical system. Although supposedly an example from mathematics of his rational method, La Géométrie was a technical treatise understandable independently of philosophy. It…

topology: Fundamental group: Thurston’s conjecture implies the Poincaré conjecture, and in recognition of his work toward proving these conjectures, the Russian mathematician Grigori Perelman was awarded a Fields Medal at the 2006 International Congress of Mathematicians.

lepidopteran: Annotated classification: Superfamily Geometroidea Almost 22,000 species; adults with abdominal tympana; some authorities classify each of the 3 major families as a separate superfamily. Family Geometridae (measuring worm, or inchworm, moths) Approximately 21,000 species, abundant worldwide; adults and larvae commonly very cryptic, resembling

geometry, the branch of mathematics concerned with the shape of individual objects, spatial relationships among various objects, and the properties of surrounding space. It is one of the oldest branches of mathematics, having arisen in response to such practical problems as those found in

boron group element: Less-common compounds: …gallium, indium, and thallium are coordinated to five or six atoms. These compounds have structures of the following types, M again representing any boron group element, D any donor molecule, and X any halogen (again, the solid lines are bonds in the plane of the screen, the atoms so bonded…