Unit 1 Terms

Question 1

Built Landscape

Answer 1

definition: an area of land represented by its features and patterns of human occupation and use of natural resources.

example: city

Question 2

Breaking Point

Answer 2

The outer edge of a city’s sphere of influence, used in the law of retail gravitation to describe the area of a city’s hinterlands that depend on that city for its retail supplies.

Question 3

Sequent Occupance

Answer 3

definition: the notion that successive societies leave their cultural imprints on a place, each contributions to the cumulative cultural landscape

example: Chinatown

Question 4

Cultural Landscape

Answer 4

definition: a geographic area that includes cultural resources and natural resources associated with the interactions between nature and human behavior

example: California State Parks

Question 5

Arithmetic Density

Answer 5

definition: the total number of people divided by the total land area

Question 6

Physiological Density

Answer 6

definition: the number of people per unit area of arable land

example: Singapore 6,483

Question 7

Diffusion

Answer 7

Diffusion is the spread of an idea or characteristic over time. When people move, or relocate, they spread ideas along with them. Therefore this is called relocation diffusion.

Question 8

Connectivity

Answer 8

The relationships among people and objects across the barrier of space. Geographers are concerned with the various means by which connections occur.

Question 9

Scattered

Answer 9

If objects are relatively far apart.

Question 10

Distribution

Answer 10

definition: arrangement of features in space

example: patterns, density, concentration

Question 11

Environmental Determinism

Answer 11

definition: view that natural environment has an influence over aspects of human life

example: climate

Question 12

Absolute Location

Answer 12

definition: the position of a place on a certain item on Earth

example: 40 N, 90 W

Question 13

Relative Location

Answer 13

definition: the regional place relative to other places

example: the McDonald’s near Walmart

Question 14

Site

Answer 14

definition: the physical character of a place

example: dirty streets

Question 15

Toponym

Answer 15

definition: place name

example: Walmart

Question 16

Natural Landscape

Answer 16

the physical environment of a region that is largely untouched by human intervention or development. It includes elements such as landforms, climate, vegetation, and wildlife.

Question 17

Cartographer

Answer 17

The science of making maps

Question 18

Land Use

Answer 18

the way in which land is used within a given area

Question 19

Sustainability

Answer 19

the use of natural resources in a way that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.

Question 20

Formal Region (Uniform)

Answer 20

an area within which everyone shares distinctive characteristics

Question 21

Functional Region (Nodal)

Answer 21

defined by a social or economic function that occurs between a node or focal point and the surrounding areas. For example the circulation area of the New York Times is a functional region and New York is the node.

Question 22

Vernacular or Perceptual Region

Answer 22

An area that people believe exists as part of their cultural identity due to shared cultural traits

Question 23

Scale

Answer 23

the relationship between the portion of Earth being studied and Earth as a whole, specifically the relationship between the size of an object on a map and the size of the actual feature on Earth’s surface.

Question 24

Distance Decay

Answer 24

as the distance between two places increases, the interaction between those two places decreases.

Question 25

Friction of Distance

Answer 25

based on the notion that distance usually requires some amount of effort, money, and/or energy to overcome.

Question 26

Time-Space Compression

Answer 26

he metaphorical shrinking of our world due to developments in technology, communications, transport, and capitalist processes

Question 27

Distortion

Answer 27

the alteration of the original shape (or other characteristic) of an object, image, sound, waveform or other form of information or representation

Question 28

Geographic Information System (GIS)

Answer 28

a computer system for capturing, storing, checking, and displaying data related to positions on Earth’s surface

Question 29

Global Positioning System (GPS)

Answer 29

commonly used to determine an individual’s exact location on Earth.

Question 30

Map Scale

Answer 30

the relationship between distance on a map and the corresponding distance on the ground.

Question 31

Thematic Map

Answer 31

maps that tell a story about a place., displays one or more variables such as population or income level

Question 32

Statistical Map

Answer 32

geographic entities defined by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget for collecting, tabulating, and publishing federal statistics.

Question 33

Cartogram

Answer 33

maps in which the geometry or size of a region is distorted in order to convey some variable

Question 34

Dot Map

Answer 34

Thematic maps that use points to show the precise locations of specific observations or occurrences, such as crimes, car accidents, or births.

Question 35

Choropleth Map

Answer 35

Maps with areas shaded or patterned in proportion to the measurement of the statistical variable

Question 36

Isoline Map

Answer 36

Maps that show lines that join points of equal value

Question 37

Mental Map (Cognitive)

Answer 37

An image of a portion of Earth’s surface that an individual creates 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.

Question 38

Model

Answer 38

various theories and frameworks used to express physical space.

Question 39

Remote sensing

Answer 39

the process of taking pictures of the Earth’s surface from satellites (or, earlier, airplanes) to provide a greater understanding of the Earth’s geography over large distances.

Question 40

Gravity Model

Answer 40

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.