UNIT 1: Chapter One - Unit Overview, Pages 1-7

Question 1

Physical Geography

Answer 1

The study of the spatial characteristic of various elements of the physical environment (e.g., landforms, bodies of water, climate, ecosystems, and erosion)

Question 2

Human Geography

Answer 2

The study of the spatial characteristics of humans and human activities (e.g., population, culture, politics, urban areas, and economics).

Question 3

Four-Level Analysis

Answer 3

The thinking skills used by geographers help them understand why things and people are where they are, and why the location of an item or of people with particular traits are important.

Question 4

Theory

Answer 4

A system of ideas and concepts that attempt to explain and prove why or how interactions have occurred in the past or will occur in the future.

Question 5

Concepts

Answer 5

Key vocabulary, ideas, and building blocks that geographers use to describe our world.

Question 6

Processes

Answer 6

Involve a series of steps or actions that explain why or how geographic patterns occur.

Question 7

Models

Answer 7

Representations of reality or theories about reality, to help geographers see general spatial patterns, focus on the influence of specific factors, and understand variations from place to place.

Question 8

Spatial Models

Answer 8

Stylized maps, they illustrate theories about spatial distributions. Have been developed for agricultural and urban land use, distributions of cities, and store or factory location.

Question 9

Nonspatial Models

Answer 9

Illustrate theories and concepts using words, graphs, or tables. They often depict changes over time rather than across space with more accuracy than spatial models.

Question 10

Time-distance Decay

Answer 10

The idea where things, such as cities, near each other are more closely connected or related than things that are far apart.

Question 11

Spatial Patterns

Answer 11

The general arrangement of things being studied.

Question 12

Networks

Answer 12

A set of interconnected entities, sometimes called nodes.

Question 13

Quantitative Data

Answer 13

Any information that can be measured and recorded using numbers.

Question 14

Geospatial Data

Answer 14

Both quantitative and spatial. It has a geographic location component to it such as a country, city, zip code, latitude, longitude, or address, and is often used with geographic information systems because it lends itself to analysis using formulas and is mappable.

Question 15

Qualitative Sources

Answer 15

Not usually represented by numbers. Data collected as interviews, photographs, remote satellite images, descriptions, or cartoons.

Question 16

Scales of Analysis

Answer 16

Looking at topics at the local, regional, country, or global scale. Being able to zoom in and out in order to develop a more complete understanding of the topics being studied.