Geographic grid, to construct a map whereby all or part of the earth could be drawn on a flat surface and the relative positions of places and regions could be marked

Maps became the tools used by geographers to depict spatial relationships

Ptolemy, designed a map of the world and then, using a coordinate system, compiled the location of 8k known places

Strabo, compiled Geographia, which described the then known world and revealed a fascination with the distinctive physical and human characteristics that make each location unique.

Their most enduring contribution was the development of a scholarly approach that emphasized the importance of describing the world from a spatial perspective, and recognizing the interdependence of the physical and cultural elements of the world.

Muhammad al Idrisi, an Islamic explorer and famed geographer who serves as a bridge from ancient to modern thought

Marco polo, who undertook a 24 year journey of discovery to China and East Asia

Ibn Battuta, a moroccan explorer who traveled as far as China and Southeast Asia and expanded the horizons of the Muslim World

They established human geography, completed regional studies inside and out of China, studied geomorphological processes, and wrote geographical encyclopedias

analysis of the processes that led to differences and similarities

Nathaniel Bowditch, created The New American Practical Navigator, published in 1802, which still remains as the navigator bible

Alexander von Humboldt, traveled to Europe and Latin America to synthesize information in his Kosmos book, where he attempted to build a comprehensive description of the earth

Karl Ritter, with Die Erdkunde, though geography itself could provide an understanding of the human dimension of the world.

the relationships between people and the lands that support them;

the existence of distinctive areas or regions, including analysis and explanation of how they came to be formed

the physical characteristics of the earth, perhaps the oldest of all geographic traditions.

the location of physical and cultural features and activities (spatial distributions)

geomorphologists are concerned with the location of terrain features and with the ways in which those features have acquired their shapes and forms

biogeographers, study the distribution of plants and animals, the ways organisms live together, the processes (natural and people-induced) that affect the biological Earth and the effect on environmental changes on human life

Climatologists study the long-term characteristics of the atmosphere and any climatic differences created by temperature or energy and moisture conditions in various parts of the Earth.

Urban geographers, examine the location and spatial structure of cities to explain why urban areas are distributed as they are and to account for patterns of settlement and economic and cultural activity within cities.

Cultural geographers, examine the ways in which groups of people organize themselves, distribituion and diffusion of such cultural institutions as langauge and religion, as social and poltical structures

Economic Geography involves the study of systems of livelihood, especially the distribution of related activities and explanations for such distribution, they are concerned with the analysis of natural and cultural resources with utilization and structures of power and control over and patterns of access to resources at various scales that determine the equity which resources are shared.

historical geographers, study past landscapes and the changes that have taken place.

regional geography involves the analysis of environmental and human patterns within a single area.

GIS provides an information layer, a map showing specific type of information such as political boundaries, physical features, economic activities, cultural attributes, or any of a large number of other possibilities.

It serves to compound distances, areas and volumes, optimal routes, facilities selected location etc.

Governments use GIS to track everything from power lines to demographic profiles.

Law uses GIS to identify crime hotspots and to build geographic profiles of criminals

Geographers find their GIS skills are in high demand by employers in both public and private sectors.

geo economics, cares about spatial distribution of supply, demand and resources, and social impact of these.

Geographers use Chorological framework, meaning a (place) study.

Government, municipal and regional planners, facilitating orderly residential business and industrial growth, analyzing developmental problems such as poverty etc.