Where the shape comes from
The oldest reading is genuinely disputed: the Shuowen sees two boats lashed side by side, while palaeographers more often read a plough with its crossbar. The word covers what is squared off, and from there a direction, a region and a way of doing something: 地方, 方向, 方法. One caution — the 方 on the left of 旗, 族 and 旅 is not this word but the pole of a fluttering banner, 㫃.
汉字 filed under 方
No published character on HSK Guide is filed under this radical yet. 汉字库.