Geography can be regarded as a science concerned with the rational development and testing of theories that explain and predict the spatial distribution and location of various characteristics on the surface of the earth followed by the development of theories and generalizations which may be tested or used in prediction which are fundamental to the subject. It is to the procedure by which such theories are established that the term scientific method is applied and it is this procedure, which paved the way for the quantitative revolution in geography.
The introduction of quantitative techniques has proved very useful for carrying out researches in physical, human and regional geography. The land use survey based on the quantitative technique has been adopted by geographers in different countries to bring about an improvement of the social services and understanding the process of economic, regional and social development. The quantitative techniques have been employed for determining the indices of crop concentration, crop distribution and crop diversification as well as for the determination of a regional based on these indices. The functional zones of a city are classified on quantitative method and also on Kendall's method. Based on the quantitative techniques, the geographers have evolved a technique of measuring the pressure of population on food resources.
By using the quantitative techniques, the validity of die geographical data can be assessed and the process of generalization will lead to development of a theory. If the theory has a general application it may then be used for prediction.
Behavioral Revolution in Geography. Traditionally, the focus of geographical study has been spatial distributions and content of areas. But there is renewed emphasis upon the processes which give rise to these distributions. People are the essence of human geography. From time immemorial the human being has been structured in such a way that his world outlook, motivations, scale of values, actions and intentions are determined by his own personal and group life experience. Geographers are able to understand better the spatial distributions of problems that challenge people by assessing human behavior. The behavioral process is controlled by economic, social, political and psychological aspects, which give rise to the various distributions.
Human behavior and its operation in any particular area might be understood in terms of the scale of value of the occupying group. These values motivate the organization of the area, so that the resources can be utilized by its occupants. As the values change, so too, will the organization of the areas. The irregular spatial arrangement and distribution of the world population results from the adjustments that men of differing cultural traditions have made to the physical resources. The adjustment has changed in the part, causing population shifts and will change in the future as new resources are discovered or as new techniques are developed to utilize known resources.
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