AMSCO Unit 1 Chapter 2 Flashcards
Spatial Approach
An approach that considers the arrangement of the phenomena being studies across the surface of the earth.
The Spatial Approach focus on what 7 things?
Location, Distance, Direction, Orientation, Pattern, Flow, Interconnection
Space
The area between 2 or more phenomena
Location
Where specific phenomena are located either on a grid system or relative to another location
Place
The specific human and physical characteristics of a location
Two types of place
Site and Situation
Site
the characteristics at the immediate location
Ex. soil types, climate, labor force
Situation
The location of a place relative to its surroundings and it’s connectivity to another place
Sense of place
state of mind derived through the infusion of a place with meaning and emotion by remembering important events that occurred in that place or by labeling a place with a certain character.
Placelessness
A place that inspires no strong emotional ties in people or lacks uniqueness
What are toponyms? How can they be uses”
Names for a designated place
They are used to inspire an ideal of a location, memorialize an event or person.
Ex. Mount Denali
What is time-space compression?
The shrinking “time-distance” or relative distance, between locations because of improves methods of transportation and communication
Ex. Europeans music
Spatial Interactions
The contact, movement, and flow of things between locations
Flow
The patterns and movement of ideas, people, products, and other phenomena
Distance Decay
The interaction between two places declines as the distance between the two places increase.
Why is distance decay less influential than it once was? What “thing” has impacted this?
Accessibility and remoteness are changing. The Internet has impacted this.
Patterns
The general arrangement of things being studies
Human-environment interaction
The connection and exchange between humans and the natural world
3 geographic concepts
Natural Resources, Sustainability, Land use
What is a natural resource
An item that occurs in the natural environment that people can use
Ex. Wood, water, fish, soil, oil, minerals
Renewable resource
theoretically are unlimited and will not be depleted based on human use
Ex. air, water, solar energy
Non-renewable resource
are limited and can be exhausted
Ex. Soil, Fossil fuels, earth minerals
Sustainability
use of resources now in ways that allow their use in the future while minimizing negative impacts on the environement
Land Use
the study of how land is utilized, modified and organized by people
Built Environment
The physical artifacts that humans have created and that form part of the landscape, in their understanding of land use
Ex. buildings, road signs, fences
Cultural Landscape
Anything built by humans and is in the realm of land use
Cultural Ecology
The study of how humans adapt to the environment
Environmental Determinism
The belief that landforms and climate are the most powerful forces shaping human behavior and societal development while ignoring the influence of culture
Ex. Used to justify racism
Possiblism
A view that acknowledges limits on the effects of the natural environment and focuses more on the role that human culture plays
Ex. Netherlands water management system
Geographic Scale
sometimes called relative scale refers to the areas of the world being studied
Scales of Analysis
Global
World Regional
National
National Regional
Local
G: the whole world
WR: multiple countries of the world
N: one country
NR: a portion of a country or a regions or regions in a country
L: a province, state, city, county, or neighborhood
Aggregation
when geographers organize data into different scales such as by census tract, city, county, or country
A world map with data aggregated by country can be used to show
Patterns
The concept of scale analysis can also be used on
Charts, graphs, other
To avoid a false conclusion use these questions
Is the conclusions supported by the scale of the data?
Is the scale of the conclusions appropriate for the scale of the data?
Is the data accurate and trustworthy?
Is there other data that could support or negate the conclusion?
Regions
have boundaries, unifying characteristics, cover space, and are created by people
3 types of regions
Formal, Functional, Perceptual
Formal regions are untied by one or more traits
Political: Brazil in South America
Physical: The Sahara, a vast desert in northern Africa
Cultural: Southwestern Nigeria, an area where most people speak Yoruba
Economic: The Gold coast of Africa (Ghana) which exports gold
Functional Region
Regions are organized around a focal point and are usually defined by activity, usually political, social, or economic, that occurs in the region
Ex. Airport is a node, and the locations that flights connect form a functional region
Perceptual Regions
defined by the informal sense of place that people ascribe to them
Ex. The south
Large world region
Ex. Central America, Sub-Saharan Africa, Russian Federation
Sub-regions
Shares some characteristics with the rest of the larger region but is distinctive in some ways
Ex. Most people in Brazil are Roman-Catholics however Brazil’s primary language is Portuguese which makes it unlike any other country in the mostly Spanish speaking Latin America
Regions are
generalizations
