Unit 1 Flashcards
don't fail this !!
a specific point on earth, distinguished by a particular characteristic.
place
an area of earth defined by one or more distinctive characteristics. (ex. North America, Latin America, etc)
region
the relationship between the portion of earth being studied and earth as a whole.
scale
the physical gap or interval between two objects.
space
relationships among people and objects across the barrier of space.
connection
science of mapmaking
cartography
a system that determines the precise position of something on Earth.
global positioning system (GPS)
the identification and storage of a piece of information by its precise latitude and longitude coords.
geotagging
the analysis of data about earth acquired through satellite and other electronic information technologies.
geographic information science (GI-science)
captures, stores, queries, and displays the geographic data.
geographic information system (GIS)
scans of Earth’s surface from satellites transmit images in digital form to a receiving station on Earth’s surface.
remote-sensing
the creation and dissemination of geographic data contributed voluntarily and for free by individuals.
volunteered geographic information (VGI)
scientific research done by amateur scientists.
citizen science
community-based mapping
participatory GIS (PGIS)
a map that overlaps data from one source on top of a map provided by a mapping service.
mashup
the relationship of a feature’s size on a map to its actual size on Earth. (three kinds: ratio, written, graphic)
map scale
the scientific method of transferring locations on Earth’s surface to a flat map.
projection
an arc drawn between the north and south poles.
meridian
a circle drawn around the globe parallel to the equator and at right angles to the meridians.
parallel
the numbering system used to identify a meridian.
longitude
a numbering system used to indicate the location of a parallel.
latitude
0 degrees longitude (passes through Greenwich)
prime meridian
aka Universal Time (UT); the time at prime meridian and is the master reference time for all points on Earth.
Greenwich Mean Time (GMT)
at 180 degrees longitude, it is the point where you move the clock back 24 hours if heading eastward towards America and vice versa.
international date line
the position that something occupies on Earth’s surface.
location
the name given to a place on Earth (derived from people of prominence, religious affiliation, physical features, or origins of its settlers)
toponym
the physical character of a place (includes climate, water sources, topography, soil, vegetation, latitude, elevation, etc)
site
the location of a place relative to other places
situation
a combination of cultural features such as language and religion, economic features such as agriculture and industry, and physical features such as climate and vegetation.
cultural landscape
an area within which everyone shares in common one or more distinctive characteristics. (common language, economic activity, climate, etc). The character may be predominant instead of universal.
formal/uniform region
an area organized around a node or focal point.
functional/nodal region
an area that people believe exists as part of their cultural identity.
vernacular/perceptual region
occurs within a region if the distribution of one feature is related to the distribution of another feature.
spatial association
conducts research, operates factories, and sells products to many countries, not just where its headquarters and principal shareholders are located.
transnational corporation
examines how the powerful in a society dominate, or seek to control, less powerful groups, how the dominated groups occupy space, and confrontation that results from domination.
poststructuralist geography
a branch of human geography that emphasizes the different ways that individuals form ideas about place and give those places symbolic meanings.
humanistic geography
emphasizes the importance of understanding the psychological basis for individual human actions in space.
behavioral geography
the increasing gap in economic conditions between regions in the core and periphery that results from the globalization of the economy
uneven development
a place from which an innovation originates
hearth
the spread of a feature from one place to another
expansion diffusion
the spread of an idea from persons or nodes of authority or power to other persons or places.
hierarchical diffusion
a rapid, widespread diffusion of a characteristic throughout the population
contagious diffusion
the spread of an underlying principle even though a characteristic itself apparently fails to diffuse
stimulus diffusion
a chain of communication that connects places
network
the farther away someone is from another, the less likely the two are to interact., contact diminishes with increasing distance and eventually disappears
distance decay
the reduction in the time it takes for something to reach another place
space-time compression
a substance in the environment that is useful to people, economically and technologically feasible to access, and socially acceptable to use.
resource
the use of Earth’s resources in ways that ensure their availability in the future.
sustainability
produced in nature more rapidly than it is consumed by humans.
renewable resource
produced in nature more slowly than it is consumed by humans.
nonrenewable resource
the sustainable use and management of Earth’s natural resources to meet human need such as food, medicine, and recreation
conservation
the maintenance of resources in their present condition, with as little human impact as possible.
preservation
composed of living organisms
biotic system
composed of non-living or inorganic matter
abiotic system
a thin layer of gases surrounding Earth
atmosphere
all the water on and near Earth’s surface
hydrosphere
Earth’s crust and a portion of upper mantle directly below the crust.
lithosphere
all living organisms on Earth, including plants and animals, as well as microorganisms.
biosphere
a group of living organisms and the abiotic spheres with which they interact.
ecosystem
the scientific study of ecosystems
ecology
the geographic study of human-environment relationships
cultural ecology
the physical environment caused social development
environmental determinism
the physical environment may limit some human actions, but people have the ability to adjust to their environment.
possibilism
a piece of land that is created by draining water from an area.
polder
used to show varying levels of variation
topographic maps
a map that tells a story or has a underlying meaning (think theme)
thematic maps
used to show different weather-related conditions (such as temperature, wind patterns, etc)
weather maps
color-coded maps used to show different sets of statistics.
chorpleth map
connects data of the same value on maps
isoline maps
used to show clusters of data
dot-density maps
uses a variation of lines to show direction
flow line map
statistics in relation to a map (certain area with more numbers grows in size in comparison to regions that don’t have as many numbers that stay the same)
cartogram
the body of customary beliefs, material traits, and social forms that together constitute the distinct tradition of a group of people
culture
a force or process that involves the entire world and results in making something worldwide in scope
globalization
the process of changes in culture that result from the meeting of two groups, each of which retains distinct cultural features
assimilation
the process by which a group’s cultural features are altered to resemble those of another more dominant group
acculturation
the spread of something over a given area
concentration
the geometric or regular arrangement of of something in a particular area
pattern
the combining of elements of two groups into a new cultural feature
syncretism
the total number of live births in a year for every 1,000 people alive in the society
crude birth rate (CBR)
the total number of deaths in a year for every 1,000 people alive in the society
crude death rate (CDR)
the scientific study of population characteristics
demography
a way to measure the number of births in a society
total fertility rate (TFR)
a process of change in a society’s population from high crude birth and death rates and low rate of natural increase to a condition of low crude birth and death rates, low rate of natural increase, and higher total population.
demographic transition
major improvements in manufacturing goods and delivering them to market
industrial revolution
medical technology invented in europe and north america has diffused to developing countries and enabled more people to experience longer and healthier lives
medical revolution
when a country reaches stage 4 of the demographic transition when the CBR declines to the point where it equals the CDR and the NIR reaches zero
zero population growth (ZPG)
