unit 1 Flashcards
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The study of where things are found on the Earth’s surface and the reasons for the locations.
Geography
A specific point on Earth, distinguished by a particular characteristic.
Place
An area of Earth defined by one or more distinctive characteristics.
Region
The relationship between the portion of Earth being studied and the 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
Two-dimensional or flat-scale model of Earth’s surface, or a portion of it.
Map
The science of mapmaking.
Cartography
System that determines the precise position of something on Earth.
GPS (Global Positioning System)
Identification and storage of a piece of information by its precise latitude and longitude coordinates.
Geotagging
Analysis of data about Earth acquired through satellite and other electronic information technologies.
Geographic Information Science
Captures, stores, queries, and displays the geographic data.
GIS (Geographic Information System)
Acquisition of data about Earth’s surface from a satellite orbiting Earth or from other long-distance methods,
Remote Sensing
Creation and dissemination of geographic data contributed voluntarily and for free by individuals.
VGI (Volunteered Geographic Information)
Scientific research by amateur scientists.
Citizen Science
Community-based mapping.
PGIS (Participatory GIS)
Map that overlays data from one source on top of a map provided by a mapping service, such as Google Maps or Google Earth.
Mashup
Describes the relationship between map and Earth distances in words.
Written
Consists of a bar.
Graphic 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
The location of each meridian identified on Earth’s surface according to a numbering system.
Longitude
A circle drawn around the globe parallel to the equator and at right angles to the meridians.
Parallel
The numbering system to indicate the location of a parallel.
Latitude
The meridian that passes through the Royal Observatory at Greenwich, England, at 0 degrees longitude.
Prime Meridian
Time at the prime meridian, and is the master reference time for all points on Earth.
GMT (Greenwich Mean Time)
When you cross this, which, for the most part, follows 180 degrees longitude, you move the clock back 24 hours if you are moving towards America.
International Date Line
The position that something occupies on Earth’s surface.
Location
The name given to a place on Earth.
Toponym
The physical characteristic of a place.
Site
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.
Formal/Uniform Region
An area organized around a node or focal point.
Function/Nodal Region
An area that people believes exists as part of their cultural identity.
Vernacular/Perceptual Region
The body of customary beliefs, material traits, and social forms that together constitute the distinct tradition of a group of people.
Culture
Occurs within a region if the distribution of one feature is related to the distribution of another feature.
Spatial Association
A force or process that involves the entire world and results in making something worldwide in scope.
Globalization
Conducts research, operates factories, and sells products in many countries, not just where its headquarters and principal shareholders are located.
Transnational Corporation
The arrangement of a feature in space.
Distribution
The frequency with which something occurs in space.
Density
The extent of a feature’s spread over space.
Concentration
Geometric arrangement of objects in space.
Pattern
Process by which a group’s cultural features are altered to resemble those of another group.
Assimilation
Process of changes in culture that result from the meeting of two groups.
Acculturation
Combination of elements of two groups into a new cultural feature.
Syncretism
Process by which a feature spreads across space from one place to another over time.
Diffusion
A place from which an innovation originates.
Hearth
The spread of an idea through physical movement of people from one place to another.
Relocation Diffusion
The spread of a feature from one place to another in an additive process.
Expansion Diffusion
The spread of an idea from persons or nodes of authority of power to other persons or places.
Hierarchial Diffusion
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 further away someone is from another, the less likely the two are to interact.
Distance Decay
The reduction in the time it takes for something to reach another place.
Space-Time Compression
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 a way to 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 needs such as food, medicine and recreation.
Conservation
The maintenance of resources in their present condition
Preservation
A group of living organisms and the abiotic spheres with which they interact.
Ecosystem
The scientific study of ecosystems.
Ecology
Pioneering nineteenth-century German geographers Alexander von Humboldt and Carl Ritter believed that the physical environment caused social development, an approach called _______.
Environmental Determinism
The physical environment may limit some human actions, but people have the ability to adjust to their environments.
Possibilism
A piece of land that is created by draining water from an area.
Polder
