The influence weakens as distance increases, through distance decay. Examples of functional regions include metropolitan areas, megaregions, school districts, and the range of broadcasting technology. WebPut simply, a functional region is a defined geographical area centered around a specific focal point with a specific function. Three main types of boundaries define a region: formal, functional, and vernacular. Outside of functional regions, other types of geographical regions include formal regions and perceptual or vernacular regions. For more information, check out StudySmarter's full explanation on this topic. They help us understand and organize the arrangements of people, places, and environments. The attribute is often based in the center of the region as a type of focal point. The line is the longest when you travel along in an east-west direction. WebPhysical geography is the spatial study of natural phenomena that make up the environment, such as rivers, mountains, landforms, weather, climate, soils, plants, and any other physical aspects of the earths surface. Functional regions are regions that have an obvious and natural structure or reason behind their existence. Webfunctional regions, nodal regions, and hierarchies and to serve as a dependent variable for identifying (in-dependent) variables relevant to relationships (func-tional distances) among locational entities. Despite this, every formal region is in principle based on a variable that can be quantified. 
Cultural regions, such as language regions or dialect areas, which are defined by shared cultural characteristics such as language or customs. A region can be defined by natural or artificial features. Vernacular Region (aka Perceptual Region or Mental Map) Definition: An area that people believe exist as part of their cultural identity. In comparing one formal political region with another, it is often helpful to use a familiar country, state, province, or political unit as a reference or guide. For example, all air flights use the twenty-four-hour time system so the pilots can coordinate flights across time zones and around the world. What dominates a functional region at a central focus? Kentucky ranks close to the middle range of the fifty US states in terms of its population of 4.3 million people. The Tropic of Capricorn is the parallel at 23.5 degrees south of the equator and is the most southerly location on Earth, receiving direct sunlight during the Southern Hemispheres summer. 
A regionis an area of land that has common features. Other than a central node and a function, there are not any defining characteristics. For example, the site of a major city might be influenced by its proximity to transportation networks, its access to natural resources, and its cultural and historical significance. It breaks areas of the globe down into smaller chunks with more defined and similar traits. In human geography, the term "situation" refers to the location of a place or phenomenon in relation to its surroundings. Formal regions are often based on physical or cultural features that are easily identifiable and can be clearly defined. A functional region is made up of a specific location and area surrounding it. The function in the functional region can be commercial, social, political, or something else. Figure 1.8 Diagram Illustrating the Width of a Time Zone. Regions, large or small, are the basic units of geography. The Eastern Hemisphere includes the continents of Europe, Asia, and Australia, while the Western Hemisphere includes North and South America. Functional regions are regions that have an obvious and natural structure or reason behind their existence. For example, a site with a favorable climate and access to water resources may be more attractive for human settlement than a site with a harsh climate and limited resources. The one necessity to be considered a functional region is that an area must contain a central node around which the function is centered or focused. Functional regions are one of the three types of regions in human geography (the others being formal and perceptual regions ). 1 - US Megaregions Map (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:MapofEmergingUSMegaregions.png) by IrvingPlNYC licensed by CC BY-SA 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/deed.en), Fig. Upload unlimited documents and save them online. People and activity will flow towards and away from the focal point at various times of the day. Create the most beautiful study materials using our templates. The node is the school and the surrounding functional area is the school district. Stop procrastinating with our study reminders. Physical characteristics of an area are frequently used to create formal regions, with natural boundaries like canyons, lakes, mountains, and rivers being used as a basis for a regions boundaries. Functional Region: the area surrounding a central node where an activity occurs. 
It is hard to decipher where economic activity is centralized. Metropolitan areas fuse as urban sprawl spreads. Absolute location is vital to the cartographic process and to human activities that require an agreed-upon method of identifying a place or point. Physical landscape is the term used to describe the natural terrain at any one place on the planet. The airports and seaports frequently welcome tourists to an area, and as the distance from the airport increases, the tourists will have other ports they can utilize. Toponyms can be derived from a variety of sources, including the names of indigenous peoples, the names of colonists or settlers, the names of geographical features, and the names of historical or cultural events. For example, a functional region can be defined by a newspaper service or delivery area. A functional region is a geographical area that is defined by the flow of goods, services, information, or other resources between the places within the region. GPS technology is widely implemented in the transport of people, goods, and services around the world. The designations of a.m. and p.m. are relative to the central meridian: a.m. refers to ante meridiem, or before noon, and p.m. refers to post meridiem, or after noon. UT, UTC, GMT, and Z all refer to the same twenty-four-hour time system that assists in unifying a common time in regard to global operations. A functional region is distinguished by a centralized hub with surrounding areas and structures that relate to a common activity. Similarly, various regions of the United States have been referred to as the Rust Belt, Sun Belt, or Bible Belt without a clear definition of their boundaries. A region can be defined by natural or artificial features. Its 100% free. The students must commute to their school every day, and a number of different transportation routes link the central hubs (schools) to the homes of the students and surrounding areas. Equinoxes, when the line of direct sunlight hits the equator and days and nights are of equal length, occur in the spring and fall on or around March 20 or 21 and September 22 or 23. Regional geography is an important branch of geography as a whole. Geomorphology (the study of the earths surface features), Coastal geography (the study of the coastal regions), Climatology (the study of climates and climate change), Biogeography (the study of the geographic patterns of species distribution), Europe (Eastern Europe and Western Europe), The Russian Realm (Russian republic of the former Soviet Union), Middle America (Caribbean, Mexico, Central America), North Africa, the Middle East and central Asia, Subsaharan Africa (Africa south of the Sahara Desert), Eastern Asia (China, Mongolia, Japan, and the Koreas), Southeast Asia (mainland region and the islands region), Australia and the Pacific (including New Zealand). The prime meridian is defined as an imaginary line that runs through the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, England, a suburb of London. The major city within a metropolitan area is where most commerce and activity takes place, being the most densely populated portion of the functional region. Which city does Burgess' concentric zone model best describe? WebAnswer (1 of 5): According to Fouberg, Murphy, and de Blijs introductory textbook on human geography (eleventh edition), a functional region is defined by a particular set of activities or interactions that occur within it. Thus the following can Harbors and ports are also examples of functional regions. For instance, residents of Massachusetts support the Boston Red Sox because that is the MLB team located in the state's capital city. 
It can be hard to decipher where the centralized focus of economic activity is located because the suburban areas of each city blend into each other. The are surrounding the central node can be considered its sphere of influence. Over 10 million students from across the world are already learning smarter. School districts are not well-defined; they shift as a result of new schools or changing demographics. School districts, cities, and county governments have formal boundaries. In a branch banking system, the main bank will create many different branches that cover a variety of geographical areas according to the needs of the population within those areas. While geographic features can serve as convenient formal borders, political disputes will often flare up in adjacent areas, particularly if valuable natural or cultural resources are found within the geographic features. All Rights Reserved. What dominates a functional region at a central focus? How do you interact with the space around you? Others are environmental geographers, part of an emerging field that studies the spatial aspects and cultural perceptions of the natural environment. WebRegional geography is a branch of geography that studies regions of all sizes across the Earth. What dominates a functional region at a central focus? Show All. What do they do for a living? Their boundaries vary with the type of region, whether it is formal, functional, or vernacular; each type has its own meaning and defined purpose. Human factors include cultural traditions, ethnicity, language, religion, economics, and politics. When identifying a region or location on the earth, the first step is to understand its relative and absolute locations. It diminishes in importance. Show All. Instead of having formal borders, like formal regions do, the boundaries of perceptual/vernacular regions are often debated. A number of alterations have been made to the International Date Line to accommodate political agreements to include an island or country on one side of the line or another. Draw a map of your home state or province and include lines of latitude and longitude. A functional region is a type of region that is defined by a specific social or economical attribute. Relative location is the location on the earths surface with reference to other places, taking into consideration features such as transportation access or terrain. People commute daily from the surrounding area to the city to carry out economic activities within the central club. In the United States, the boundaries between the different time zones are inconsistent with the lines of longitude; in some cases, time zones zigzag to follow state lines or to keep cities within a single time zone. There are twenty-four time zones that are set at 15-degree intervals each and organize time intervals around the world. The concept of a functional region is often used in economic and transportation planning, as well as in the study of social and cultural phenomena. Since there are twenty-four hours in a day, there are twenty-four time zones on Earth. Vernacular regions have loosely defined boundaries based on peoples perceptions or thoughts. They study patterns of interaction between human cultures and various environments and focus on the causes and consequences of human settlement and distribution over the landscape. Human geography incorporates studies of human culture, spatial relationships, interactions between humans and the environment, and many other areas of research that involve the different subspecialties of geography. During the Northern Hemispheres summer, the North Pole faces more toward the sun and may receive sunlight for longer portions of the twenty-four-hour day. Department stores and shopping centers are examples of functional regions based on shopping for material goods. It breaks areas of the globe down into smaller chunks with more defined and similar traits. For example, the urban cultural landscape of a city may include buildings, streets, signs, parking lots, or vehicles, while the rural cultural landscape may include fields, orchards, fences, barns, or farmsteads. The focal point of the functional region is where the greatest amount of activity in the region will occur, falling off as one increases in distance from the focal point. Areas containing a kind of service, such as cable television, or points on a map that are a terminal for an activity, such as travel or communication via telephone can also be named as functional regions. The concept of a vernacular region is often used in cultural geography and the study of regional identity. Functional regions have boundaries related to a practical function within a given area. Youre now ready to go on and explore the rest of the course! WebGeographers usually use functional regions to display economic areas (i.e. You may notice that you have left the functional region of a cell phone tower if you no longer have any phone service. Nevertheless, most people would recognize the general area being discussed when using one of the vernacular terms in a conversation. Economic regions, such as a metropolitan area or a trade region, which are defined by the flow of goods, services, and economic activity between the places within the region, Transportation regions, such as a travel shed or a commuting zone, which are defined by the flow of people or goods between the places within the region, Communication regions, such as a media market or a news region, which are defined by the flow of information between the places within the region. The states 40,409-square-mile physical area ranks it thirty-seventh in size in the United States. An example of a formal region includes the borders of the US. 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