Unit 1: Thinking Geographically Flashcards
Absolute Location
the exact position of an object or place stated in spatial coordinates or a grid system designed for locational purposes, e.g., latitude and longitude.
Built landscape
the part of the physical landscape that represents material culture; the buildings, roads, bridges, and similar structures large and small of the cultural landscape.
Cartogram
a map that has been simplified to present a single idea in a diagrammatic way: the base is not normally true to scale.
census
an official enumeration of the population, with details as to age, sex, occupation, etc. The USA has a census every ten years( 2010, 2020, 2030, etc.)
Choropleth
a thematic map in which ranked classes of some variable are depicted with shading patterns or colors for predefined zones.
Connectivity
the directness of routes linking pairs of places; an indication of the degree of internal connection in a transport network; all of the tangible and intangible means of connection and communication between places.
Contagious
the rapid, widespread diffusion of a feature or trend throughout a population; person to person spread of culture.
Arithmetic Density
the total number of people divided by the total land area.
Diffusion
the process of spread of a feature or trend from one place to another over time.
Distance decay
the diminishing in importance and eventual disappearance of a phenomenon with increasing distance from its origin.
Dot Map
a thematic map in which a dot represents some frequency of the mapped variable.
Environmental determinism
a nineteenth and early twentieth century approach to the study of geography that argued that the general laws sought by human geographers could be found in the physical sciences; physical environment caused human activities.
Equator
an imaginary east-west line that encircles the globe halfway between the North and South Poles
Formal Region
an area in which everyone shares in one or more distinctive characteristics (usually cultural).
Has clear, defined, and recognized boundaries
Ex. Africa, corn belt in the US
Friction of distance
a measure of the retarding or restricting effect of distance on spatial interaction; the greater the distance, the greater the “friction” and the less the interaction or exchange, or the greater the cost of achieving the exchange.
Functional Region (Nodal)
an area organized around a node or focal point
eg. a metro system
Geographic Information System (GIS)
a computer hardware and software system that handles geographically referenced data; it uses and produces maps and has the ability to perform many types of spatial analysis
geography
the study of the physical features of the earth and its atmosphere, and of human activity as it affects and is affected by these, including the distribution of populations and resources, land use, and industries. Describing the earth
geospatial
relating to or denoting data that is associated with a particular location
geospatial technology
refers to equipment used in visualization, measurement, and analysis of earth’s features, typically involving such systems as GPS (global positioning systems), GIS (geographical information systems), and RS (remote sensing).
Global Positioning System (GPS)
a system that determines the precise position of something on Earth through a series of satellites, tracking stations, and receivers
globalization
the tendency of businesses, technologies, or philosophies to spread throughout the world, or the process of making this happen
Hierarchical
the spread of a feature or trend from one key person or node of authority or power to other persons or places; spread of culture from one important / large area to another important / large area
hinterlands
either rural or urban or both, that is closely linked economically with a nearby town or city
International Date Line
an arc that for the most part follows 180º longitude, although it deviates in several place to avoid dividing land areas. When you cross it heading east, the clock moves back 24 hours, and when you cross it going west the calendar moves ahead one day
Isoline
a thematic map with lines that connect points of equal value
Latitude
the numbering system used to indicate the location of parallels drawn on a globe and measuring distance north and south of the Equator
Longitude
the numbering system used to indicate the location of meridians drawn on a globe and measuring distance east and west of the Prime Meridian
Mental Map
(cognitive map) the map like image of the world, country, region, city, or neighborhood a person carries in mind.
Based on personal memories and changes over time as a person creates greater connections with the places they live
Mercator projection
a projection of a map of the world onto a cylinder in such a way that all the parallels of latitude have the same length as the equator, used especially for marine charts and certain climatological maps.
Meridian
line of longitude
Perceptual / Vernacular
an area that people believe to exist as part of their cultural identity, depends on personal experiences or thoughts
eg. the Midwest looks different for everyone
Physiological density
the number of people per unit of area of arable land, which is land suitable for agriculture.
place
a specific point on Earth distinguished by a particular characteristic, human or physical
ex. physical features, political system, language, religion
Place Name (Toponym)
the name given to a portion of Earth’s surface
can be cultural, descriptive, named after important people, etc
polar projection
a cartographic projection of the sphere in which the point of sight is at the center and the plane of projection passes through one of the polar circles
Possibilism
the theory that the physical environment may set limits on human actions, but people have the ability to adjust to the physical environment and choose a course of action form many alternatives.
Prime Meridian
an imaginary line passing through the Royal Observatory at Greenwich, England, serving by agreement as the 0º line of longitude
Projection
the system used to transfer locations from Earth’s surface to a flat map
Relative Location
the position of a place or activity in relation to other places or activities; implies spatial relationships and usually suggests the relative advantages or disadvantages of a location with respect to all competing locations.
Remote sensing
the acquisition of data about Earth’s surface from a satellite orbiting the planet or other long-distance methods
Scale (implied degree of generalization)
the size of an area, from local to global
Different on a map from the scale of analysis
ex. a map showing the US’s income per capita by state has a national scale (showing the whole US), but a sub-national scale of analysis (showing the data by state)
Sequent occupance
successive habitation of same area over time; builds layer after layer in the region
Site
the physical character of a place; the absolute location of a place or activity described by local relief, landform, and other physical characteristics
Situation
the relative location of a place or activity in relation to the physical and cultural characteristics of the larger regional or spatial system of which it is a part; the location of a place relative to other places
Spatial
of or pertaining to space on or near Earth’s surface. Often a synonym for geographical and used as an adjective to describe specific geographic concepts or processes
Thematic map
a map that demonstrates a particular feature or a single variable. Four types: dot, isoline, choropleth, and proportional symbol
Time zone
a geographic region within which the same standard time is used.
Time-space compression
an influence on the rate of expansion diffusion of an idea, observing that the spread or acceptance of an idea is usually delayed as distance from the source of the innovation increases
Paul Vidal de la Blache
introduced the contemporary culture landscape, sometimes called the regional studies approach; “Among the connections that tie people to a certain environment, one of the most tenacious is food supply; clothing and weapons are more subject to modification than the dietary regime, which experience has shown to be best suited to human needs in a given climate.”
Ibn Battuta
best known as an extensive traveler or explorer, whose account documents his travels and side-excursions over a period of almost thirty years, covering some 73,000 miles (117,000 km). This journeying covered almost the entirety of the known Islamic world, extending also to present-day India, the Maldives, Sri Lanka, Southeast Asia and China, a distance readily surpassing that of his prior, near-contemporary and traveler Marco Polo.
Ernest W. Burgess
a sociologist at the University of Chicago, developed the concentric-zone model in 1925 with five zones; a city grows outward from a central area in a series of concentric rings, like the growth rings of a tree.
Walter Christaller
German geographer who in the early 1930s first formulated central-place theory as a series of models designed to explain the spatial distribution of urban centers. Crucial to his theory is the fact that different goods and services vary both in threshold and in range
William Morris Davis
an American geographer, geologist and meteorologist, often called the “father of American geography”. His most influential scientific contribution was the cycle of erosion, first defined around 1884, which was a model of how rivers create landforms. Though the cycle is considered overly simplistic today, it was a crucial early contribution to geomorphology. It suggests that (larger) rivers have three main sections: upper course, middle course, and lower course- each of which has distinct landforms and other properties associated with it.
Eratosthenes
coined the name geography: geo meaning “the earth” and graphein meaning “to write.” He is noted for devising a system of latitude and longitude, and for being the first known to have calculated the size of the Earth within a remarkable 0.5 percent accuracy. He prepared one of the earliest maps of the known world
Herodatus
He is almost exclusively known for writing The Histories, a collection of ‘inquiries’ about the different places and peoples he encountered during his wide ranging travels around the Mediterranean littoral and into Mesopotamia. He took as the unifying theme for this work the conflict between the ancient Greeks and the Persians or ‘Medes’
Richard Hartshorne
a prominent American geographer. He is the author of The Nature of Geography (1939) and Perspective on the Nature of Geography (1959)
Homer Hoyt
an economist who studied housing data for 142 American cities, presented his sector model of urban land use in 1939. he maintained that high-rent residential districts were instrumental in shaping the land-use structure of the city. Because these areas were reinforced by transportation routes, the pattern of their development was one of sectors or wedges, not concentric zones
Alexander von Humboldt
he is considered one of the founders of modern geography work on botanical geography was foundational to the field of biogeography; set about the task of collecting and analyzing data about the relationships between the spatial distribution of rocks, plants, and animals.
Ellsworth Huntington
one of the best known U.S. proponents of Ratzel’s ideas; argued that climate was a major determinant of civilization; according to him climate of maritime northwestern Europe produced greater human efficiency as measured by better health conditions, lower death rates, and higher standards of living.
Halford John Mackinder
proposed the heartland theory in the early twentieth century based on environmental determinism, the heartland theory addresses the balance of power in the world and, in particular, the possibility of world conquest based on natural habitat advantage. It held that the Eurasian continent was the most likely base from which to launch a successful campaign for world conquest.
Thomas Robert Malthus
English economist and cleric was the most famous pioneer observer of population growth with the publishing in 1798 of An Essay on the Principle of Population, known as the “dismal essay.” He believed that the human ability to multiply far exceeds our ability to increase food production. He maintained that “a strong and constantly operating check on population” will necessarily act as a natural control on numbers. He regarded famine, disease, and war as the inevitable outcome of the human population’s outstripping the food supply.
W.D. Pattison
wrote The Four Traditions of Geography: Earth science tradition, human-environment tradition, regional / landscape, and spatial tradition
Ptolemy
main work is his Geographia. This too is a compilation of what was known about the world’s geography in the Roman Empire during his time; devised and provided instructions on how to create maps both of the whole inhabited world and of the Roman provinces
Friedrich Ratzel
a German trained in Biology and Chemistry who originated geopolitical theory in the late 1800’s; greatly influenced by the theories of social Darwinism. He stated seven laws of state growth; the model portrays the state as behaving like a biological organism; thus, its growth and change are seen as “natural” and inevitable; pioneered the belief of environmental determinism
Carl Ritter
he is considered one of the founders of modern geography; In his view, “geography was a kind of physiology and comparative anatomy of the earth: rivers, mountains, glaciers, &c., were so many distinct organs, each with its own appropriate functions; and, as his physical frame is the basis of the man, determinative to a large extent of his life, so the structure of each country is a leading element in the historic progress of the nation;” His 20-volumne Erdkunde was a monumental work of comparison and classification; He and von Humboldt urged human geographers to adopt the methods of scientific inquiry used by natural scientists.
W. W. Rostow
in 1960 proposed a widely cited model for economic advancement. Generalizing on the “sweep of modern history,” he theorized that all developing economies may pass through five successive stages of growth and advancement.
Carl Sauer
conducted pioneering research on the origins and dispersal of plant and animal domestication, was one of the first t propose that the process of domestication was independently invented at many different times and locations. He believed that domestication did not develop in response to hunger. He maintained that necessity was not the mother of agricultural invention, because starving people must spend every waking hour searching for food and have no time to devote to the centuries of leisurely experimentation required to domesticate plants.
Ellen Churchill Semple
suggested in 1911 that such desert-dwelling peoples “receive from the immense monotony of their environment the impression of unity.” She proposed that the unobstructed view of the stars and planets provided by the clear desert skies allowed the herders to see that the heavenly bodies moved across the sky in an orderly, repeated progression. Concluded that desert dwellers “gravitate inevitably into monotheism;” carried Ratzel’s ideas to the United States; claimed that geography was the study of the influences of the natural environment of people.
Johann Heinrich von Thunen
German scholar-farmer who developed the core-periphery model in the nineteenth century (economic determinism). In his model he proposed an “isolated state” that had no trade connections with the outside world; possessed only one market, located centrally in the state; and had uniform soil, climate, and level terrain throughout. He created this model to study the influence of distance from market and the concurrent transport costs on the type and intensity of agriculture.
Alfred Weber
German geographer who was a major theorists of industrial location. He devised a model of how to understand industrial locations in regard to several factors, including labor supply, markets, resource location, and transpiration.
SADD
Shape, Area, Distance, Direction
The things distorted by map projections
Mercator and Gall-Peters show true direction and distort everything else
Robinson distorts everything, but only slightly
