Unit One: Thinking Geographically

Question 1

Formal Region

Answer 1

An area in which everyone shares in one or more distinctive characteristics

Question 2

Functional Region

Answer 2

A region defined by the particular set of activities or interactions that occur within it

Question 3

Perceptual (vernacular) region

Answer 3

an area that people believe exists as part of their cultural identity

Question 4

Mercator Map Projection

Answer 4

a conformal map projection of which the meridians are usually drawn parallel to each other and the parallels of latitude are straight lines whose distance from each other increases with their distance from the equator. The size of countries at higher latitudes are greatly exaggerated.

Question 5

Robinson Map Projection

Answer 5

a map projection that does not distort the area of water to landmass as much, but whose direction does not hold as true. More accurate than Mercator in showing sizes of countries at higher latitudes.

Question 6

intervening opportunity

Answer 6

An environmental or cultural feature of the landscape that helps migration or movement.

Question 7

environmental determinism

Answer 7

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. Geography was therefore the study of how the physical environment caused human activities.

Question 8

Productive Settlements

Answer 8

According to Environmental Determinism, these are found in the Temperate Regions.

Question 9

spatial analysis tradition

Answer 9

Studying how people and places are connected to each other through transportation and communication networks

Question 10

census data

Answer 10

Geo-spatial data collected through the quantification of a population

Question 11

Distortion

Answer 11

a change in the shape, size, or position of a place when it is shown on a map

Question 12

Absolute Location

Answer 12

Exact location of a place on the earth described by global coordinates

Question 13

Relative Location

Answer 13

The position of a place in relation to another place

Question 14

Scales of Analysis

Answer 14

Looking at issues at various scales: Local, Regional, National, and Global.

Question 15

topographic map

Answer 15

A map that shows the surface features of an area.

Question 16

Global Positioning System (GPS)

Answer 16

A system that determines the precise position of something on Earth through a series of satellites, tracking stations, and receivers.

Question 17

Geographic Information System (GIS)

Answer 17

A computer system that stores, organizes, analyzes, and displays geographic data.

Question 18

Small Scale Map

Answer 18

Shows fewer details, and focuses on a larger area (region, world). 1: 300,000. Zoomed out.

Question 19

Large Scale Map

Answer 19

Maps that cover smaller areas with greater detail. 1:30,000. Zoomed in.

Question 20

Possibilism

Answer 20

The physical environment may limit some human actions, but people have the ability to adjust and modify to their environment. It differs from environmental determinism because of the emphasis on culture.

Question 21

Geographical Data

Answer 21

Quantitative or qualitative information about people, places and environments.

Question 22

geographic patterns

Answer 22

The Geometric or regular arrangement of something in a particular area.

Question 23

Sustainability

Answer 23

The use of Earth’s renewable and nonrenewable natural resources in ways that do not constrain resource use in the future.

Question 24

The “Where of Why”

Answer 24

Geographic approach using patterns that seeks to answer where people and activities are found and why they are found there. Foundation of human geography.

Question 25

Choropleth Map

Answer 25

a thematic map in which ranked classes of some variable are depicted with shading patterns or colors for predefined zones.

Question 26

Isoline Map

Answer 26

Map displaying lines that connect points of equal value; for example, a map showing elevation levels

Question 27

Dot Map

Answer 27

Maps where one dot represents a certain number of a phenomenon, such as a population.

Question 28

Proportional Symbol Map

Answer 28

Type of map that uses a symbol in varying sizes to show the magnitude of a characteristic

Question 29

Cartogram Map

Answer 29

A map in which the shape or size is distorted in order to demonstrate a variable such as travel, population or economic production

Question 30

Scale of Inquiry

Answer 30

level of geographic area being investigated. At a very large scale, a neighborhood may be the focus. At a very small scale, the entire earth may be the focus.

Question 31

Remote Sensing

Answer 31

The collection of data about Earth’s surface from a satellite orbiting the planet or other long-distance methods.

Question 32

Qualitative Data

Answer 32

Data associated with a more humanistic approach to geography, often collected through interviews, empirical observations, or the interpretation of texts, artwork, old maps, and other archives.

Question 33

Quantitative Data

Answer 33

Data associated with mathematical models and statistical techniques used to analyze spatial location and association.

Question 34

Greenwich Mean Time

Answer 34

The time in that time zone encompassing the Prime Meridian, or 0 degrees longitude

Question 35

time-space compression

Answer 35

The reduction in the time it takes to diffuse something to a distant place, as a result of improved communications and transportation systems. Speeds up communication.