Abstract
Rank/scale differentiation of geographical systems is one of the fundamental forms of hierarchical ordering of the environment. Based on the rank/scale principle, it is possible to ascertain some regularities in the geographical distribution of natural and social phenomena.
The focus is on an aggregate characteristic of the distribution: the degree of territorial unevenness (concentration). The indicator of unevenness (H) is defined as a point on the Lorenz curve corresponding to the relative size (%) of the area including the "dispersed" half of an analysed phenomenon (e.g. population).
Since the scales (sizes) of individual systems differ one from another, a relativized indicator H must be introduced: the unevenness of a unit of the N+1 order is only reviewed according to the differences between the included (10-15) units of the N order. Basic regularities of the rank/scale geographical differentiation are expressed in Figure 1 (see also Hampl 1994, 1998).
It should be stressed that there was a low frequency of empirically assessed units (especially at the microregional level) and therefore the described regularities are only of a hypothetical nature. The main aim of this contribution is to verify the regularity in the rank/scale differentiation in population based on an extended empirical evaluation.
As a result, both the general shape of regularity (C-curve in Figure 1) and the extraordinary variability of individual geographical units have been confirmed. The most important factor of the variability, particularly at the mesoregional levels (0.1-1 million square kilometres) is an apparent physical geographic differentiation (corresponding to the differentiation of density of population of regions).
According to the applied scale, units with the higher density of population have slightly lower average values of H and more regular differentiation of changes in H.