Chapter 1 Basic Concepts Flashcards
Abiotic
Composed of no living or inorganic matter
Atmosphere
The thin layer of gases surrounding earth
Biosphere
All living organisms on earth
Biotic
Composed of living organism
Cartography
The science of making maps
Climate
The long-term average weather condition at a particular location
Concentration
The spread of something over a given area
Connection
Relationships among people and objects across the barrier of space
Conservation
The sustainable management of a natural resource
Contagious diffusion
The rapid, widespread diffusion of a feature of trend throughout a population
Cultural ecology
A geographic approach that emphasizes human-environmental relationships
Cultural landscape
The fashioning of a natural landscape by a cultural group
Culture
The body of customary beliefs, social forms, and material traits that together constitute a group’s distinct tradition
Density
The frequency with which something exists within a given unit if area
Diffusion
The process of spread of a feature or tend from one place to another over time
Distance decay
The diminishing in importance and eventual disappearance of a phenomenon with increasing distance from its origin
Distribution
The arrangement of something across earth’s surface
Ecology
The scientific study of ecosystems
Ecosystem
A group of living organisms and the abiotic spheres with which they interact
Environmental determinism
A 1800 and early 1900s approach to the study of geography which argued that the general laws sought by humans geographers could be found in the physical sciences
Geography was the study of how the physical environment caused human activities
Expansion diffusion
The spread of a feature or trend among people from one area to another in an additive process
Formal region
An area in which everyone shares in common one or more distinctive characteristics
Functional region (nodal)
An area organized around a node or focal point
Geographic information science (GIScience)
The development and analysis of data about earth acquired through satellite and other electronic information technologies
Geographic information system (GIS)
A computer system that stores, organizes, analyses and displays geographic data
Global Positioning System (GPS)
A system that determines the precise position of something in earth through a series of satellites, tracking stations, and receivers
Globalization
Actions or processes that involve the entire wiles and results in making something worldwide in scope
Greenwich mean time (GMT)
The time in the zone encompassing the prime meridian or 0 longitude
Hearth
The region from which innovative ideas originate
Hierarchical diffusion
The spread of a feature or trend from one key person or node of authority or power to other persons or places
Housing bubble
A rapid increase in the value of houses fooled by a sharp decline in their value
Hydrosphere
All the water on or near earth’s surface
International date line
An arc that for the most part follows 180 longitude, although it deviates in several places to avoid dividing land areas
When you go east (toward Mercia), clock goes back 24 hrs.
When you go west (toward China) clock goes ahead 24 hrs.
Latitude
The numbering system used to indicate the location of parallels drawn on the globe and measuring distance N & S of the equator
Lithosphere
Earth’s crust and a portion of the upper mantle
Location
The position of anything on earth’s surface
Longitude
The numbering system used to indicate location of meridians drawn on a globe and measuring distance E & W of the prime meridian
Map
Two-dimensional, flat, representation of earth’s surface of a portion of it
Map scale
The relation between the size of an object on a map: the size of the actual figure on earth
Mental map
A representation of a portion of earth based off what a person knows about a place
Meridian
An arc drawn on a map between the N & S Poles
Network
A chain of communication that connects places
Nonrenewable resource
Something produced in nature more so lowly than it is consumed by humans
Parallel
A circle drawn around the globe parallel to the equator
Pattern
The geometric or regular arrangement of something in a study area
Place
A specific point on earth distinguished by a particular characteristic
Polder
Land created by the Dutch by draining water from an area
Possibilism
The theory that the physical environment may set limits on human actions, but people have the ability to adjust to the physical environment and choose a course of action from many alternatives
Preservation
The maintenance of resources in their present condition, with very little human impact - don’t touch!
Prime meridian
The meridian, designated as 0 longitude- passes through Royal Observatory at Greenwich, England
Projection
A system used to transfer locations from earth’s surface to a flat map
Region
An area distinguished by an unique combination of trends or features
Regional (or cultural landscape) studies
An approach to geography that emphasizes the relationships among social and physical phenomena in a particular area of study
Relocation diffusion
The spread of a feature or trend through bodily movement of people from one place to another
Remote sensing
The acquisition of data about earth’s surface from a satellite orbiting the planet or from other long-distance methods
Renewable resource
Something produced in nature more rapidly than it is consumed by humans - bamboo
Resource
A substance in the environment that is useful to people, economically & technologically feasible to access & socially acceptable to use
Scale
The relationship between the portion of earth being studied and earth as a whole
Site
The physical character of a place
Situation
The location of a place relative to another place
Space
The physical gap or interval between two objects
Space-time compression
The reduction in the time it takes to diffuse something to distant place as a result of improved communication & transport system
Stimulus diffusion
The spread of an underlying principle even though a specific characteristic is rejected
Sustainability
The use of earth’s renewable and nonrenewable natural resources in ways that do not constrain resource use in the future
Toponym
The name given to a portion of earth’s surface
Transnational corporations
A company that conducts research, operates factories, and sells products in many countries, not just where its headquarters or shareholders are located
Uneven development
The increasing gap in economic conditions between core and peripheral regions as a result of globalization of the economy
Vernacular region (perceptual region)
An area that people believe exists as part of cultural identity
