We may once again modify our statement of the purpose of geography to read: the study that seeks to provide scientific description of the earth as th… - Richard Hartshorne

Geography is concerned to provide accurate, orderly, and rational description and interpretation of the variable character of the earth surface.

So important, indeed, is the use of maps in geographic work, that, without wishing to propose any new law, it seems fair to suggest to the geographer a ready rule of thumb to test the geographic quality of any study he is making: if his problem cannot be studied fundamentally by maps - usually by a comparison of several maps - then it is questionable whether or not it is within the field of geography.

Geography is that discipline that seeks to describe and interpret the variable character from place to place of the earth as the world of man.