THE ELEMENTS OF GEOGRAPHY

LOCATION

A fundamental aspect of geography that directly affects tourism is the need for measuring and indicating exact locations on the earth.

LINES OF LATITUDE

Lines that are drawn around the globe parallel to the Equator.

LINES OF LONGITUDE

Lines that are drawn around the globe through the poles.

PRIME MERIDIANS

Meridians measure longitude. One meridian was chosen as the base point of reference, or the prime meridian. The prime meridian was established as the longitude of the Royal Observatory at Greenwich near London by the British.

Longitude is a measure of a point eastward or westward with respect to the prime meridian of Greenwich. Since the earth is circular, it has 360 of longitude

LOCATION

Any location may be stated in degrees, minutes and seconds east or west longitude and north and south latitude

The world can be divided into hemispheres

The northern – southern hemisphere divides the world at the equator

TIME

The meridian marking the change of date at 180 degrees is called the international date line

The surface of the earth is divided into twenty- four time zones

The time of the initial or zero, zone begins at the prime meridian at Greenwich

GREENWICH MEAN TIMEGreenwich Mean Time (GMT) is a term originally referring to mean solar time at the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, London. It is now often used to refer to Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) when this is viewed as a time zone

MILITARY TIME 0000

0100 1300

0200 1400

0300 1500

0400 1600

0500 1700

0600 1800

0700 1900

0800 2000

0900 2100

1000 2200

1100 2300

1200

DAY LIGHT SAVING TIME

Daylight saving time - is the convention of advancing clocks so that afternoons have more daylight and mornings have less. Typically clocks are adjusted forward one hour near the start of spring and are adjusted backward in autumn.

Adding daylight to afternoons benefits retailing, sports, and other activities that exploit sunlight after working hours, but causes problems for farming, entertainment and other occupations tied to the sun

DST IN THE PHILIPPINES

DST was primarily intended to help deal with the country's energy crisis by minimizing the number of hours during which electric lighting was needed, reducing the strain on the national power grid.

Daylight Saving Time Around the World

  DST observed  DST formerly observed  DST never observed

Most areas of North America and Europe observe daylight saving time (DST), while most areas of Africa, Asia (except Russia), and Antarctica do not. South America is mixed, with most countries in the warmer north of the continent near the equator not observing DST, while some southern countries and southern parts of Brazil do. Oceania is also mixed, with New Zealand and parts of southern Australia observing DST while most other areas do not.

EXERCISES:

Country /City Standard Time When GMT is Local Time

1. Ireland (Dublin ) dst GMT 0 0245

2. South Africa (Johannesburg )

GMT +2 1740

3. Afghanistan (Kabul) GMT +0430 1130

4. Thailand ( Bangkok) GMT + 7 0952

5. Australia (Sydney) dst

GMT +10 1216

6. Chile (Santiago) dst GMT -4 0328

7. Costa Rica (San Jose)

GMT -6 1946

8. USA (Los Angeles) dst

GMT – 8 0530

9. French Polynesia (Marquesas Islands )

GMT -0930 1550

10. USA (Hawaii – Honolulu)

GMT – 10 2008