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spatial distribution — English
The pattern according to which any variable, such as an object or a condition, is located. In more common words, it is the answer to questions like “where are these things?”, “where have these murders occurred?”, “where is the post office in this town?”, “where in the world do equatorial forests occur?”, “where do the poor people live?”, and so on. The crucial word is “where”. The first question any proper geographer ever asks, is “where?”. Geography is a spatial science and is essentially concerned with the patterns described by the location of phenomena. Geographers draw maps to indicate (describe) the locations of phenomena. To graphically describe the spatial distribution, that is, to draw a map of the occurrence of a phenomenon is any geographer’s first objective. One may nearly go as far as to say that if something cannot be mapped, it is not geography, but that would be slightly extreme. However, to map the phenomenon is one of the most valuable aspects in the study of the phenomenon. The pattern described by the spatial location of a phenomenon reveals a multitude of information about the phenomenon (see “spatial pattern”). To explain the spatial distribution pattern adds to the understanding of the phenomenon and often explains the cause-effect relationship. From the question “where?”, a multitude of questions such as “why there?”, “why not here?”, “why first here and later there?”, could flow and the answers to these questions are extremely important in the study of anything on Earth. Geographers are specifically equipped to find answers to these questions since they are trained and experienced in spatial research techniques.
