Chapter 1 - Thinking Geographically Flashcards
Abiotic
A system composed of nonliving or inorganic matter.
Atmosphere
The thin layer of gases surrounding Earth.
Biosphere
All living organisms on Earth.
Biotic
The system composed of living organisms.
Cartography
The science of making maps.
Concentration
The spread of something over a given area.
Connection
Relationships among people and objects across the barrier of space.
Contagious diffusion
The rapid, widespread diffusion of a feature or trend throughout a population.
Cultural ecology
The geographic study of human-environment relationships.
Cultural landscape
Fashioning of a natural landscape by a cultural group.
Density
The frequency with which something exists within a given area.
Diffusion
The process of spread of a feature or trend 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 nineteenth- and early twentieth-century approach to the study of geography that argued that the general laws sought by human geographers could be found in the physical sciences. Geography was therefore 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 (uniform/homogenous region)
An area in which everyone shares in one or more distinctive characteristics.
Functional region (nodal region)
An area organized around a node or focal point.
Geographic grid
A system of imaginary arcs drawn in a grid pattern on Earth’s surface.
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, analyzes, and displays geographic data.
Global Positioning System (GPS)
A system that determines the precise position of something on Earth through a series of satellites, tracking stations, and receivers.
Globalization
Actions or processes that involve the entire world and result in making something worldwide in scope.
Greenwich Mean Time (GMT)
The time in that time 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.
Hydrosphere
All of the water on and near Earth’s surface.
International Date Line
A meridian that for the most part follows 180° longitude. When you cross the International Date Line heading east (towards America), the clock moves back 24 hours (one day), and when you go west (towards Asia), the calendar moves ahead one day.
Latitude
The numbering system used to indicate the location of parallels drawn on a globe and measuring distance north and south of the equator (0°).
Lithosphere
Earth’s crust and a portion of the upper mantle directly below the crust.
Location
The position of anything on Earth’s surface.
Longitude
The numbering system used to indicate the location of meridians drawn on a globe and measuring distance east and west of the prime meridian (0°).
Map
A two-dimensional, or flat, representation of Earth’s surface, or a portion of it.
Map scale
The relationship between the size of an object on a map and the size of the actual feature on Earth’s surface.
Meridian
An arc drawn on a map between the North and South poles.
Parallel
A circle drawn around the globe parallel to the equator and at right angled to the meridians.
Pattern
The 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.
Prime meridian
The meridian, designated as 0° longitude, that passes through the Royal Observatory at Greenwich, England.
Projection
The system used to transfer locations from Earth’s surface to a flat map.
Region
An area of Earth distinguished by a distinctive combination of cultural and physical features.
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 other long-distance methods.
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 other places.
Space
The physical gap or interval between two objects.
Space-time compression
The reduction in time it takes to diffuse something to a distant place, as a result of improved communications and transportation systems.
Spatial interaction
The movement of physical processes, human activities, and ideas within and among regions.
Stimulus diffusion
The spread of an underlying principle, even though a specific characteristic is rejected.
Toponym
The name given to a portion of Earth’s surface.
Transnational corporation
A company that conducts research, operates factories, and sells products in many countries, not just where its headquarters or shareholders are located.
Vernacular region (perceptual region)
An area that people believe exists as part of their cultural identity.
