How To Use

Why Are Some Places Packed — and Others Empty?

This is a five-part small-group activity. Nothing is graded or saved automatically — work in your group, and take a screenshot or copy your answers into your notes before you close this page, since everything clears on refresh.

1The Hook

Study the unlabeled world population density map. Don't worry about naming exact countries — just describe where it's darkest and where it's lightest, and write your group's hypothesis.

2Case Study Application

Pick your assigned region pair. Brainstorm your own explanations first, then reveal the sorting challenge to check your thinking against the standard Physical vs. Human factors framework.

3The Central Florida Connection

Apply the same thinking to fast-growing Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford — a case that's almost entirely driven by human factors.

4Think Like a Geographer

A short reflection connecting Central Florida's growth to the concepts of Power and Process.

5Formative Check — Annotate the Map

Click the map to drop labeled pins marking physical and human factors, building your own annotated map as evidence of your thinking.

Shrake Development Labs
IB DP Geography · Population & Settlement

Why Are Some Places Packed — and Others Empty?

Screenshot or write down your answers — nothing is saved
1The Hook

Look Closely — Say Nothing Yet

This map shows real, live population density data for the entire world — no country names, no legend, no labels. In your small group, study where it's darkest and where it's lightest. Don't name countries yet — just describe the pattern.

Real data: NASA SEDAC / CIESIN Gridded Population of the World (GPW v4, 2020), via NASA GIBS. Pan and zoom freely — no labels, on purpose.
2Case Study / Application

Test Your Hypothesis Against a Real Extreme

Pick your group's assigned region pair below. Each pair sits right next to the other on the map, yet their population density could not be more different.

Now check your thinking. Geographers group explanations like these into two categories. Drag each factor into the correct bin below — or click a chip, then click a bin.

Physical Factors

Human Factors

3Case Study / Application

Coming Home: Orlando–Kissimmee–Sanford

Before you close this activity, apply the same physical vs. human framework to a place much closer to you.

+38,000
residents added to the Orlando–Kissimmee–Sanford metro area between 2024 and 2025 — one of the fastest-growing metro areas in the entire United States.

Unlike the Nile Valley or the Ganges Plain, this growth has almost nothing to do with physical geography. The pull factors here are almost entirely human: jobs in tourism, healthcare, tech, and logistics. But not entirely — a useful contrast to the physical-factor-heavy pairs you just studied.

Your group's 3-minute case study summary should use at least 2 physical factors and at least 2 human factors.
4Think Like a Geographer

Power & Process, Right Where You Live

"Central Florida's growth is a Process happening right where you live. What Power — state incentives, employers, housing cost, climate — is driving people to move here specifically, and who benefits most from that growth?"

5Formative Check

Annotate the Map

Click anywhere on the map below to drop a pin. Label it, choose Physical or Human, and build your own evidence map covering everything you've studied today.

Physical factor Human factor
6Submit

Submit to Your Teacher

Sends everything you wrote in this activity to your teacher.