Introduction Flashcards
Absolute Location
The exact position of an object or place, measured with spacial coordinates of a grid system
Absolute Distance
A distance that can be measured with a standard unit of length, such as a mile or kilometer
Accessibility
The relative ease with which a destination may be reached from some other place
Anthropogenic projection
A map projection in which the plane is the most developable surface
Anthropogenic
Human induced changes on the natural environment
Breaking point
The outer edge of a city’s sphere of influence, used in law of retail gravitation to describe the area of a city’s hinterlands that depend on the city for its retail supplies
Carl Sauer
Geographer from the University of Cal Berkley who defined the concept of cultural landscape as the fundamental unit of geographical analysis. This landscape results from interaction between humans and the physical environment Sauer argued that virtually no landscape has escaped alteration by human activities.
Cartograms
A type of thematic map that transforms space such that the political unit with the greatest value for some type of data is represented by the largest relative area.
Cartography
The theory and practice of making visual representations of Earth’s surface in the form of maps.
Choropleth map
A thematic map that used tones or colors to represent spacial data as average values per unit area.
Cognitive map
An image of a portion of Earth’s surface that an individual crests in his or her mind. Cognitive maps can include knowledge of actual locations and relationships among locations as well as personal perceptions and preferences of particular places.
Complementarity
The actual or potential relationship between two places usually referring to economic interactions
Connectivity
The degree of economic social cultural or political connection between two places
Contagious diffusion
The spread of the disease an innovation or cultural traits through direct contact another person or another place
Coordinate system
Standard grid composed of lines of latitude and longitude used to determine the absolute location of any object place or feature on Earth’s surface
Cultural ecology
The study of interactions between societies and the natural environment which they live
Cultural landscape
The human modified natural landscape specifically containing the imprint of a particular culture or society
Distance decay effect
the decrease in interaction between two phenomena places or people as the distance between them increases
Dot maps
Thematic maps that points to show the precise locations of specific observations or occurrences such as crimes car accidents or birth
Earth System Science
A systematic approach to physical geography that looks at the interaction between Earth’s physical systems and processes on a global scale
Environmental geography
The intersection between human and physical geography which explores the spatial impact humans have on the physical environment and vice versa
Eratosthenes
The head librarian Alexandra during the third century BC one of the first cartographers. preformed a remarkably accurate computation of earth circumference is also credited with coining the term geography
Expansion diffusion
The spread of ideas innovations fashion or other phenomena to surrounding areas through contact and exchange
Fertile Crescent
The name given to the crescent shaped area fertile land stretching from the lower Nile Valley along the east Mediterranean coast and into Syria and present-day Iraq where agriculture and early civilization first began about 8000 BC
Formal Region
Definition of regions based on common themes such as similarities in language climate land-use etc.
Friction of distance
A measure of how much absolute distance affects the interaction between two places
Fuller projection
A type of map projection that maintains accurate size and shape of land masses but completely rearrange direction such that the four cardinal directions north south east and west no longer have any meaning
Functional Region
Definition of regions based on common interaction or function for example a boundary line drawn around the circulation of a particular newspaper
Geographical Information Systems GIS
A set computer tools used to capture store transform analyze and display geographic data
Geoid
The actual shape of earth which is rough and oblate or slightly squashed Earth’s diameter is longer around the equator than along the north-south meridians
Global positioning system GPS
A set of satellites used to help determine location anywhere on earth surface with a portable electronic device
Gravity model
A mathematical formula that describes the level of interaction between two places based on the size of their populations and their distance from each other
Hierarchal diffusion
Type of diffusion in which something is transmitted between places because of the physical or cultural community between those places