Geographic Data In Action [AP Human Geography Review Unit 1 Topic 3]

[0:00]governments, individuals, businesses, and organizations around the world are constantly using geographic data to solve problems, create new goods, respond to different challenges in life and reshape the world for the better. Let's start with governments. Let's say that you work in your city's local government and you've been tasked with trying to reduce the traffic-related deaths in the city. Well, the first thing you could do is start by looking at a global scale to see which countries have low traffic related deaths and which countries have higher traffic related death. You could check to see which policies and safety standards around the world are the most effective and look to see how you could implement those policies into your own city. Or let's say you want to look nationally, so you change your scale from a global scale to a national scale, where after further investigation, you could see that in the United States of America, there was 35,766 fatal vehicle crashes in the year 2020. Which could lead you to analyze federal documents and policies to gain insight into how the United States federal government is working to improve car safety standards throughout the nation. And use national legislation to decrease traffic related deaths. Or perhaps a more regional approach would be better and you decide to look at the amount of traffic-related deaths at the state level. Now you can look at how different states handle their roadways, what policies they have in place for motorists and look at their regional safety standards. Or you could look for patterns or trends that may exist between states that have lower fatal motor crashes, such as states like Massachusetts, which had 4.9 deaths per 100,000 people. And states that have a higher rate such as Mississippi that had 25.4 deaths per 100,000 people. Then of course, there is the local scale where you could look at data from your own city and try to identify different intersections that have higher rates of accidents. Once identified you could direct tax dollars to those intersections to identify why they have higher rates of accidents and then could work to try and correct the problem by removing blind spots or adding traffic lights instead of stop signs at busier intersections. We can see that depending on the scale we use to approach a topic, we gain different insight into different levels of geographic data, which can be used in a variety of different ways. As our scale moves from global to local, we gain more details and specific information from the data. And this is just one example of how governments use geographic data. Local governments will also use data to determine where to build new schools and create new school boundaries. They will use data to figure out how land should be zoned, which will dictate how the land can be used and what buildings and industries can be built. Regional governments use data to create voting districts and determine which projects should get state funding. They also work with cities around the region to allocate funding for roads and infrastructure projects to promote commerce throughout the area. National governments use geographic data to help determine which laws should be passed, change tax policies, determine where federal funding should go, and to better understand the different needs and wants society has and will have in the future. And that's just scratching the surface on how geospatial data can be used in order to help make decisions. So we've already looked at how governments on different scales use geospatial data to make decisions, but what about businesses? On a local scale, a business can look at how a city is zoned to see which locations could be used for a storefront. Businesses would also cross-reference census data to see where people are living in a city and look at the medium income of residents to determine where their customers are and where the business should open up a store. Regionally, businesses can compare the sales of different stores located in different regions to look for stores that are outperforming others to help improve their underperforming stores. Or could look at the different tax rates of different regional governments to determine which geographic area would be best for them to locate. If we look at a national or global scale, we can see businesses look at country's tax rates, environmental standards, employment and labor laws, and other regulations that could increase production costs. This allows businesses to determine where to produce their products and allows them to maximize their profits and minimize their cost. Now, many of the different data points that I referenced for businesses and governments come from census data. Throughout AP human geography, you will use information from the census to better understand a place. In the United States, the census is conducted every 10 years, and it is the official count of all individuals in the population. The census collects demographic data, it provides information on a population, such as the amount of people in an area, the gender and age breakdown, how many people are living in a home, or the different races living in an area. This data is used by schools, businesses, religious institutions, governments, individuals, and other organizations. Speaking of individuals, they also use geographic data. For example, let's say that you currently live in Georgia, but you want to move up to the great state of Minnesota. It's just something about those nice Minnesota winters that just sounds really appealing to you. Before you go and purchase your new home, you'll most likely look for a city that will be near where you will work, or at least has opportunities for you to work. You will then want to look at the average cost of homes to find a housing market that you can afford. As you start to refine your search, you'll start to look at the local schools, crime rates, social offerings, and public services of the area to determine which place would be best for you to live. Or you might look at situational factors of your new possible home. Does the neighborhood have easy access to the surrounding cities? Can you quickly get to different places and businesses? Or is it connected to other places in the region? All of these decisions require the use of different data. Plus when you finally make a decision and purchase your new house, you probably are going to use a GPS to get to your new home, which is more geospatial data. No, no, look. It it means go up to the right, bear right, over the bridge and hook up with 307. Make a right. Maybe it's a shortcut. Wait, it's said go to the right. It can't mean that. There's a lake there. It knows where it's going. The machine. There's no right here. So geographic data is important and depending on your scale it can be used in different ways. All right, that was just a quick look at geographic data. Now comes the time to practice what we've learned. Answer the questions on the screen and when you're done, check your answers in the comment section down below. Also, if you're looking for help with your AP human geography class, check out my ultimate review packet. It has resources for every single unit from practice quizzes, review videos, study guides, FRQ help and much more. It's a great resource that can help you get an A in your class and a five on that national exam. As always, I'm Mr. Sin. Thank you so much for watching and I'll see you next time online.