Thinking Geographically Unit 1 Flashcards
Reference Maps
General Information/Navigators
Political Reference Map
Map of states, countries, and capitals
Physical Reference Maps
Map of Natural Features
Road Reference Maps
Map of Highways, streets, etc.
Thematic Maps
Communicate information about the data of a place to think about what is there
Chloropleth Thematic Map
Data by color by state
Dot Density Thematic Maps
Data by Dots
Graduated/Proportional Symbol Thematic Map
Data by a variety of sized shapes
Cartogram Thematic Map
Size of a country by a certain variable
Isoline Thematic Map
Depicts different variations of data with different colors (weather)
Absolute Location
Exact, precise, latitude, longitude, address
Relative Location
Relationship to another place
Absolute Distance
Exact, precise, miles, kilometers, feet, map scale
Relative Distance
Spatial Interaction: connections, contact, movement, flow of things between places.
Absolute Direction
Exact precise, Cardinal Directions: NSEW
Clustering
Close Together, Density; the number of something in a defined area
Dispersal/Distribution
How items are spread out or divided among an area of land
Fieldwork/Field Observations
The act of an individual physically visiting a place or location and recording, firsthand, information there.
Geospatial Technologies
Utilized by businesses, organizations, individuals, and government agencies to make decisions.
Global Positioning System (GPS)
Satellites orbit the Earth and communicate locational information to GPS receivers.
Aerial Photography
Professional images captured from planes or drones.
Remote Sensing
The use of cameras or other sensors mounted on aircraft or satellites which orbit the Earth above the atmosphere to collect digital images of the Earth’s surface.
Sense of Place
Factors that contribute to the uniqueness of a location
Cultural Landscape/Built Envrionment
Physical artifacts that humans have created which make up the landscape. Human produced.
Placelessness
A location without a sense of Place, no distinct attributes.
Toponym
Location’s name; usually reflective of the culture or history of a place.
Site/Physical Landscape
Environmental features of a location; includes climate, water sources, topography, soil, vegetation, and elevation.
Spatial Intercations
Connections, contacts, movements, and flow of things between places.
Distance decay
Two places feeling really far apart because of lots of barriers like mountains, oceans etc. Or cultural barriers like not speaking the same language.
Time-Space Compression
New technology that fights distance decay like Google Translate, and horses, and boats to travel long distances.
Friction of Distance
Going places closer to you because they are more convenient and not traveling somewhere far to get the same result. Interactions with a close place = high, interactions with a far place = low.
Clustering
Close Together
Density
of something in a defined area
Dispersal
Far apart
Distribution
The way something is spread out over an area.
Flow Maps
A type of thematic map, shows data trends, usually uses arrows, sizes of arrows, amount of arrows.
Regionalization
Splitting the different countries into different segments to explain locations in more detail
Diffusion
The process which a characteristic spreads across space from one place to another
Expansion Diffusion
Fast Spreading
Relocation Diffusion
Spreading something by people migrating
Cultural Ecology
The study of how humans interact or adapt to their environment.
Environmental Determinism
The belief that climate and landforms are the most powerful forces shaping societal and cultural development. (Only doing things that the land allows)
Possibilism
More modern interpretation, acknowledged the limitations imposed by the natural environment, but focusing on the role of human culture to modify and respond to the environment to better fit human needs. (Not letting the environment/land shape dictate decisions)
Small Scale Maps
Shows LARGE areas with SMALL amounts of data, zoomed in.
Large Scale Maps
Shows SMALL areas with LARGE amounts of data, and details.
National Level of Analysis
A map of the whole world giving data
Sub-State Level of Analysis
A map of the country divided up into states giving data
Country Level of Analysis
Gives a more distinct/detailed data of an area by dividing it up into smaller areas such as counties.
Why are there different scaled maps?
Different scales reveal different variations of spatial patterns
Regions are defined as…
One or more unifying characteristics (human or physical) or patterns of activity. (Formal, Functional, Vernacular)
Formal Region
United by one or more specific traits. (Political, Social, Economic, Environmental)
Economic Region
Similarity between money/currency/trade agreements. Or countries that share an economic status/trade status groups countries into a region.
Social/Cultural Rgion
grouping of countries by religion/language/cultures/traditions/human society/values to show the social area of the continent/country/world.
Political Region
Countries/capitals/literal groupings of countries, cities, and counties
Environmental Region
A physical landmark that marks a region such as the Sahara Desert which could include many different countries but falls under the region of the physical landmark it resides in or by.
Functional Region
Organized around a central node (focal point) and the relationship is typically based on economics, travel, or communications. It is usually related to travel.
Perceptual/Vernacular Region
Based on a person’s perspective or perspective of a certain location.
(Informal, sense of place, cultural identity, boundaries often vary widely because people have a different sense of what defines and unites these regions)
