question

accessibility

answer

The opportunity for contact or interaction from a given point or location, in relation to other locations. (p. 26)

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capitalism

answer

A form of economic and social organization characterized by the profit motive and the control of the means of production, distribution, and exchange of goods by private ownership. (p.18)

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cognitive distance

answer

The distance that people perceive to exist in a given situation. (p. 24)

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cognitive images (mental maps)

answer

Psychological representations of locations that are made up from people's individual ideas and impressions of these locations. (p.24)

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cognitive space

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Space defined and measured in terms of people's values, feelings, beliefs, and perceptions about locations, districts, and regions. (p. 26)

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distance-decay function

answer

The rate at which a particular activity or process diminishes with increasing distance. (p. 25)

question

economies of scale

answer

Cost advantages to manufacturers that accrue from high-volume production, since the average cost of production falls with increasing output. (p. 28)

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formal region

answer

Groups of areal units that have a high degree of homogeneity in terms of particular distinguishing features, such as religious adherence or household income. (p. 32)

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friction of distance

answer

The deterrent or inhibiting effect of distance on human activity. (p. 24)

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functional region

answer

(sometimes referred to as nodal regions) regions within which, while there may be some variability in certain attributes (religious adherence, income), there is an overall coherence to the structure and dynamics of economic, political, and social organization. (p. 32)

question

geodemographic research

answer

Uses census data and commercial data (such as sales data and property records) about the populations small districts in creating profiles of those populations for market research. (p.7)

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geographical imagination

answer

The capacity to understand changing patterns, changing processes, and changing relationships among people, places, and regions. (p. 35)

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geographic information systems (GIS)

answer

Integrated computer tools for the handling, processing, and analyzing of geographical data. (p.21)

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Global Positioning System

answer

A system of satellites which orbit the earth on precisely predictable paths, broadcasting highly accurate time and locational information. (p.23)

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globalization

answer

The increasing interconnectedness of different parts of the world through common processes of economic, environmental, political, and cultural change. (pg. 10)

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human geography

answer

The study of the spatial organization of human activity and of people's relationships with their environments. (p.21)

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identity

answer

People's sense that they make of themselves through their subjective feelings based on their everyday experiences and wider social relations. (p. 3)

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infrastructure (fixed social capital)

answer

The underlying framework of services and amenities need to facilitate productive activity. (p. 28)

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irredentism

answer

The assertion by the government of a country that a minority living outside its formal borders belongs to it historically and culturally. (p. 33)

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latitude

answer

The angular distance of a point on the earth¹s surface, measured north or south from the equator, which is 0º. (p. 22)

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lifeworld

answer

Taken for grant pattern and context for everyday living through which people conduct their lives.

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longitude

answer

The angular distance of a point on the earth's surface, measured east or west from the prime meridian (the line that passes through both poles and through Greenwich, England, and which has the value of 0º.(p. 23)

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neoliberal policies

answer

Economic policies that are predicted on a minimalist role for the state, assuming desirability of free markets as the ideal condition not only for economic organization, but also for political and social life. (p. 12)

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ordinary landscapes (vernacular landscapes)

answer

The everyday landscapes that people create in the course of their lives. (p.33)

question

physical geography

answer

Deals with Earth's natural processes and their outcomes. (concerned with climate, weather patterns, landforms, soil formation, and plant and animal ecology) (p. 21)

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place

answer

Specific geographic settings with distinctive physical, social, and cultural attributes. (p. 2)

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region

answer

Larger-sized territory that encompasses many places, all or most of which share similar attributes in comparison with the attributes of places elsewhere. (p. 20)

question

regional geography

answer

The study of the ways in which unique combinations of environmental and human factors produce territories with distinctive landscapes and cultural attributes. (p. 21)

question

regionalism

answer

A feeling of collective identity based on a population's politico-territorial identification within a state or across state boundaries. (p. 32)

question

regionalization

answer

The classification of individual places or areal units. (p. 31)

question

remote sensing

answer

The collection of information about parts of the earth's surface by means of aerial photography or satellite imagery designed to record data on visible, infrared, and microwave sensor systems. (p. 21)

question

risk society

answer

Contemporary societies in which politics is increasingly about avoiding hazards. (p. 19)

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sectionalism

answer

Extreme devotion to local interests and customs. (p. 33)

question

sense of place

answer

Feelings evoked among people as a result of the experiences and memories that they associate with a place, and to symbolism that they attach to it. (p. 34)

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site

answer

The physical attributes of a location: its terrain, its soil, vegetation, water sources, for example. (p. 23)

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situation

answer

The location of a place relative to other places and human activities. (p. 23)

question

social relations

answer

Patterns of interactions among family members, at work, in social life, in leisure activities, and in political activity. (p. 4)

question

spatial analysis

answer

The study of geographic phenomena approached in terms of their arrangement as points, lines, areas, or surfaces on a map. (p. 22)

question

spatial diffusion

answer

The way that things spread through space over time. (p. 30)

question

spatial interaction

answer

All kinds of movement and flows involving human activity. (p. 27)

question

states

answer

Independent political units with territorial boundaries that are internationally recognized by other states and by their own people. (p. 5)

question

supranational organizations

answer

Collections of individual states with a common goal that may be economic and/or political in nature and that will diminish, to some extent, individual state sovereignty in favor of group interests of the membership. (p. 5)

question

symbolic landscapes

answer

Representations of particular values and aspirations that the builders and financiers of those landscapes want to impart to a larger public. (p. 33)

question

time-space convergence

answer

The rate at which places move closer together in travel or communication time or costs. (p. 28)

question

topological space

answer

Space that is defined and measured in terms of the nature and degree of connectivity between. (p. 26)

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utility

answer

The usefulness of a specific place or location to a particular person or group. (p. 25)

question

world region

answer

Large-scale geographic divisions based on continental and physiographic settings that contain major groupings of peoples with broadly similar cultural attributes. (p. 5)

question

Vertical relations

answer

Spatial relationships that link different elements in the same location; how humans interact with their environment (nature/man-made).

question

Horizontal relations

answer

Spatial relationships that link different elements in separate locations; inter-place interrelationships -> flows of people and human creations across earth's surface=how people move "stuff" between places w/ difficulty or ease

question

Correlation

answer

a reciprocal relation between two or more things (variables)

question

Causation

answer

the act of causing something to happen

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Direct vs indirect relationship

answer

positive and negative relationships (graphs) between variables

question

Bifurcation

answer

The place where something divides into two branches; split in two

question

Categorization

answer

The act of distributing things into classes or categories of the same type

question

Disaggregation (spatial)

answer

To break into pieces

question

De Jure

answer

legally: by law; legally set boundaries/territories

question

Nomothetic approach

answer

pertaining to or involving the study or formulation of general or universal laws; legality (generalize relationship; positivism)

question

Deduction

answer

reasoning from the general to the particular (or from cause to effect)

question

Induction

answer

generalization: reasoning from detailed facts to general principles

question

Aggregate

answer

To build up (not break apart)

question

Surrogate variable

answer

variable that measures something you can't measure directly

question

Epistemology

answer

The study of knowledge; what can we know/how we know it

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Ontology

answer

The study or theory of existence (what you accept as real/factual statement)

question

Methodology

answer

Epistemology and ontology combined. A set of rules and procedures which indicate how research and argument are to be conducted

question

Positivism

answer

Epistemology: We know what we know through experience, but experiences must be established as verifiable evidence on which we can agree. Ontology: Agreed upon evidence establishes existence. Methodology: "testing" and "verifying" factual statements using scientific method.

question

Humanism

answer

Epistemology: Knowledge is subjective Ontology: Existence is established through perception/ There are as many different realities as there are perceptions of them. Methodology: Investigate" individual worlds", emphasize individuality not "truth".

question

Longitudinal study

answer

Study of variables over time

question

Toponym

answer

Simplest way to communicate a location "placename" (country;state;town;neighborhood) Doesn't have to be a legal name

question

Relative Location

answer

The location of a place relative to somewhere else

question

Absolute location

answer

grids/L&L/time and space/angular measure/meridians & tropics. A measurable location. 15°=1 hour

question

Cognitive location

answer

where you think places are (mental map)

question

Absolute distance

answer

measuring a distance/place using a measure (ft/mi/km)

question

Relative distance

answer

Expressed in terms cost or time. F of D. ideas of Time Space Convergence, Cost SC, and geo. unevenness

question

Cognitive Distance

answer

How far you think it is; can have a direction angle

question

threshold

answer

Minimum level of demand needed for a service to be provided

question

census tracks

answer

geographical areas that represent the smallest territorial unit for which population data is available; used for taking a census

question

reapportionment

answer

to redistribute or reallocate (maintain equa population per district for # of seats in congress)

question

gerrymander

answer

redrawing political lines (regions) to deliberately gain an advantage

question

Absolute space

answer

physical space independent of what occupies it

question

topological space

answer

way places are connected (roads/trains etc...) sometimes determines horizontal relationships

question

cognitive space

answer

space defined and measured in terms of the nature and degree of people's values, feelings, beliefs, and perceptions about locations, districts, and regions

question

ghetto

answer

a poor densely populated city district occupied by a minority ethnic group linked together by economic hardship and social restrictions

question

apartheid

answer

a social policy or racial segregation involving political and economic and legal discrimination against non-whites (ex/ spatial control in south africa in the 20th century>ended 1990's>nelson mandela)

question

ethnographic boundaries

answer

Break up people into racial/ethnic groups

question

geometric boundaries

answer

straight lines using meridian/parallels or compass/directional bearing lines

question

physiographic boundaries

answer

using rivers/water bodies/heigh of land/mountains ranges to make boundaries

question

Complementarity

answer

On the face of it a straightforward idea but embedded in the historical development of spatial interaction; trading/"lets dance"

question

Transferability

answer

Friction of Distance is key but also topological space and the ability of the good or service to bear the cost of transport

question

Intervening Opportunity

answer

Spatial competition between places and influences on peoples' choices/decisions regarding places. (tourism: las vegas/Atlantic city) disrupted change in opportunity

question

Diffusion

answer

the spread of social institutions (and myths and skills) from one society to another

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