Unit 1.2 Vocab Flashcards
Patterns
General arrangements of things being studied.
Processes
The repeated sequences of events.
Scale
The ratio between the size of things in the real world and the size of those same things on a map.
Cartographic scale
Refers to the way the map communicates the ratio of its size to the size of what it represents.
Geographic scale or Relative scale
Refers to the amount of territory that the map represents.
Scale of data
Differs from cartographic or geographic scale.
Reference maps
Aptly named because they are designed for people to refer to for general information about places.
Political maps
Show and label human-created boundaries and designations, such as countries, states, capitals, and cities.
Physical maps
Show and label natural features, such as mountains, rivers, and deserts.
Road maps
Show and label highways, streets, and alleys.
Plat maps
Show and label property lines and details of land ownership.
Locator maps
Illustrations used in books and advertisements to show specific locations mentioned in the text.
Thematic maps
Show spatial aspects of information or of a phenomenon.
Choropleth maps
Use various colors, shades of one color, or patterns to show the location and distribution of spatial data.
Dot distribution maps
Used to show the specific location and distribution of something across the territory of the map.Each dot represents a specified quantity.
Graduated symbol maps
Use symbols of different sizes to indicate different amounts of something.
Isoline maps
Also called isometric maps, use lines that connect points of equal value to depict variations in the data across space.
Topographic maps
The most common type of isoline maps. Popular among hikers.
Cartogram
In which the sizes of countries (or states or counties, or another areal unit) are shown according to some specific statistic.
Map projection
The process of showing a curved surface on a flat surface is done using this.
Geographic models
Representations of reality or theories about reality to help see general spatial patterns.
Spatial models
Look like stylized maps, and illustrate theories about spatial distributions.
Nonspatial models
Illustrate theories and concepts using words, graphs, or tables. They often depict changes over time rather than across space.
Formal regions, uniform regions, or homogeneous regions
United by one or more traits. (physical, cultural, economic)
Functional regions or nodal regions
Organized around a focal point and are defined by an activity that occurs across the region. Often united by networks of communication and transportation that are centered on a node.
Perceptual regions or vernacular regions
Different from formal and functional regions in that they are defined by the informal sense of place that people ascribe to them.
Mental maps
Maps that people create in their minds based on their own experience and knowledge.
Subregions
Shares some characteristics with the rest of the larger region but is distinctive in some ways.
Fieldwork
The act of collecting data that was observed and recorded in a location.
Quantitative data
Information that can be measured and recorded using numbers.
Qualitative data
Data collected as interviews, document archives, descriptions, and visual observations.
Regionalization
Organization of the earth’s surface into distinct areas that have similar characteristics.
Mercator projection
Used for navigation
Any straight line between two points is a true line of constant direction, but not usually the shortest distance between the two points.
Distances are true along the equator but are reasonably correct within 15 degrees within either side.
Peters projection
The Peter’s map is an equal-area projection which became the centerpiece of a controversy surrounding the political implications of map design.
Conic projection
A map projection in which an area of the earth is projected onto a cone whose vertex is usually above one of the poles, then unrolled onto a flat surface.A map projection in which the surface features of a globe are depicted as if projected onto a cone typically positioned so as to rest on the globe along a parallel (a line of equal latitude).
Robinson projection
Makes the world “look right”
Better balance of size and shape of high-latitude lands than in Mercator.
Russia, Canada, and Greenland are truer in size, but Greenland compressed.
