The modern international and domestic science advancements have brought forward new opportunities as well as higher requirements to the development of geographic science in China. In planning the disciplinary structure of geographic science in the "Development Strategy of Discipline and Frontier Research in China (2021-2035)", we propose a modified disciplinary structure for the geographic science in the new era. The geographic science in China can be categorized into four secondary disciplines, i.e., integrated geography, physical geography, human geography, and information geography, considering the current situation and development outlook of geographic science. The tertiary disciplines under each secondary discipline are nearly fully developed, and a few quaternary disciplines under tertiary disciplines have already been widely accepted and used. We hope this new disciplinary structure can play a breakthrough role for improving the branches of geographic science, promoting the development of emerging disciplines under the framework of geographic science, and better serving the international and domestic development needs in the new era.

Physical geography, one of the branches of geographic science, is the basic discipline of geographic science. And it is the scientific foundation of ecology, environmental science and other related disciplines. Physical geography focuses on spatial characteristics, evolution and regional differentiation of the earth's surface. In the new period of rapid development of social economy, and science and technology, physical geography is more closely and widely connected with human geography and, information geography. Based on "The Development Strategy of Discipline and the Frontier Research (2021-2035)" and geography subject planning, this paper analyzed the forming process of the physical geography, expressed sub-discipline structure of comprehensive physical geography, sectoral physical geography, human survival environment, and proposed the development strategy of physical geography and its branch disciplines, key priority of development goals and directions.

Human geography is a discipline which studies the formation and evolution of the geographical distribution pattern of human activities. The main research objects of human geography focus on human activities and human-earth relationship. The scientific questions to be answered by human geography cover both natural science and social science, and thus it has distinctive interdisciplinary features. In China, the economic and social processes of human activities are playing an important role in explaining the law in human geography discipline as human society development is approaching or has entered the post-industrialization stage. The logics and methods of social science have become important tools through which the changes in processes and patterns of human geography can be reasonably discussed and properly understood. Research methodology of human geography shows integration characteristics between natural sciences and social sciences. The outcomes of human geography research reveal scientific laws in geographical distribution pattern and evolution of human activities. It becomes one of primary disciplines for both the national and local governments to manage and optimize the pattern of spatial development and protection. It has wide applications in spatial planning, regional strategy and policy making, and the modernization of spatial governance. The unique feature in integrating academic research and policy-making applications provides human geography discipline in China a superiority of leading the world in the discipline. Besides comprehensive human geography, human geography in China has five subdisciplines, namely, economic geography, urban geography, rural geography, social and cultural geography and political geography. Each subdiscipline has priority and key research fields, and coordinates with the rest of subdisciplines.

The arrival of the information era has exceptionally advanced the development of geographic science. The research scope of the discipline has expanded from the space of traditional physical and human geography to the space of information geography. Meanwhile, the discipline gradually formed three subdisciplines, i.e., geographic remote sensing science, geographic information science, and geographic data science. In the context of preparing the disciplinary structure of geographic science of the "Development Strategy of Discipline and Frontier Research in China (2021-2035)", this paper summarized the history, definition, and disciplinary structure of information geography. Additionally, it highlighted the strategic layout of the discipline, as well as the goals and key directions of its priority development fields. We expect this paper to provide insight into the new discipline that could help promote the developments and applications of remote sensing and geographic information within the framework of geographic science, strengthening the synthesis of geographic research and promoting the integrated development of geographic science.