Geography 5 study cards (UCSB) – Flashcards
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geography
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earth-writing; study of earth as home of humanity
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physical (natural) geography
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One of the two major divisions of systematic geography; the spacial analysis of the structure, process, and location of the Earth's natural phenomena such as climate, soil, plants, animals, and topography.
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human geography
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concentrates on patterns of human activity and on their relationships with the environment.
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geographic techniques
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Tools used by geographers to help obtain, display, and/or analyze data they have collected - Mapping and Cartography, Geographic Information Systems (GIS), Remote Sensing, Statistics
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areal differentiation
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the geographic description and explanation of spatial differences on Earth's surface; this includes physical as well as human patterns
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early history of geography
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Old areal maps, Ptolemy's book "Geographica"
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Three scholarly traditions
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Literary, Cartographic, Mathematical
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regional (General) approach
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descriptions of specific places
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systematic (specific) approach
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Analysis of specific topics across regions
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geographic features
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Surrounding landforms (mountains, rivers, forests, etc), human landscapes
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objects
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discrete, sharp boundaries, can be conceived as empty
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fields
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continuous, vague boundaries, exhaustively cover space
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Size
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Quantitative
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Shape
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Qualitative
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Graytone Value
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Quantitative
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Hue
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Qualitative
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Texture
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Qualitative
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Orientation
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Quantitative
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process
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changes to patterns of features over time; past processes explain current patterns of natural human features
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location
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absolute; latitude-longitude reading relative: dependant on other features
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distance
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measure of what it takes to overcome seperation between places
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Direction
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Cardinal - compass Relative - right, left, etc.
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phenomenon (scale)
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spatial and/or temporal extent at which a phenomenon occurs
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analysis (scale)
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scale at which phenomena will be studied
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cartographic (scale)
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relationship between the size of an object on a map and the size of the actual feature on the earth's surface
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generalization
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the process of formulating general concepts by abstracting common properties of instances
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spatial association
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covariation of 2 phenomena
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covariation
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Two or more phenomena vary together. Expressed through measures of relations commonly referred to as correlations or associations
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region
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An area distinguished by a unique combination of trends or features (internal uniformity) as compared to surrounding areas; defined by size, location, boundaries
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administrative (region)
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politically determined, hierarchical organization, uniform membership, precise boundaries
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thematic, or "formal" (region)
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1 or more variable or theme, membership strength varies, imprecise boundaries
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functional (region)
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interconnectedness, nodal (highly centralized), vague boundaries
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cognitive, or "perceptual" (region)
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how people informally organize places in their minds, shared between culturally similar people, imprecise, vague, and variable boundaries
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isochrones
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Line on a map that connects points of the same age. (iso-same, chronos-time) frack yeah latin!
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Earth's size and shape
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8000 miles diameter oblate spheroid
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Earth composition (land and water)
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71% water, 29% land
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graticule
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latitude and longitude grid
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meridians and parallels
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upways and sideways
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prime meridian
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line of the global grid running from the North Pole to the South Pole through Greenwich, England; starting point for measuring degrees of east and west longitude
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remote sensing
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the acquisition of data about earth's surface from a satellite orbiting the planet or other long-distance methods
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multispectral scanner
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a satellite launched into orbit around earth which takes readings
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resolution
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the ability to distinguish stuff in some spectrum or other
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reference maps
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maps that show the absolute location of places and geographic features determined by a frame of reference, typically latitude and longitude
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thematic maps
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Maps that tell stories, typically showing the degree of some attribute of the movement of a geographic phenomenon.
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chloropleth maps
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maps showing the distribution of a phenomenon by graded shading to indicate the density per unit area
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cartograms
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A type of thematic map that transforms space such that the political unit with the greatest value for some type of data is repsented by the largest relative area.
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isoline (map)
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map with lines that connects points of equal or very similar values
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proportional area symbol maps
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size of symbols represent the value of the attribute on the map
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conformal projection
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shapes ok, but the area is distorted (mercator projection)
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power of maps
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facilitates perception of spatial relationships; convenient scale and perspective; highlight relevant properties
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Simplication
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selective presentation
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Generalization
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averaging details until homogenization
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graphical clarity
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exaggeration of features
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Projection
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distortion leads to false sense of reality
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Symbolism
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can be misleading
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T-O maps
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mideval european maps. t=water. o=land forms.
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Distance decay
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amount of something versus the distance it has to go. shape = left half of parabola, starting from d=0 (y=x^-2)
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1st Law of Geography (Tobler's law)
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"Everything is related to everything else, but near things are more related than distant things."
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GIS (geographical info system)
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A computer system that stores, organizes, analyzes, and displays geographic data
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raster data format
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in a raster data format, a lake is stored as a collection of points. If the point is colored blue, then it is part of the lake.
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vector data format
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in a vector data format, a lake is stored as a polygon, which is made of several line segments representing the boundary.
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overlay
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The process of generating a new data plane by matching two or more existing data planes of the same area.
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critical distance
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the distance beyond which cost, effort, and/or means play a determining role in the willingness of the people to travel
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intervening opportunity
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The presence of a nearer opportunity that greatly diminishes the attractiveness of sites farther away.
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movement bias
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patterns of movement of people and stuff
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barriers to interaction
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Distance, Costs, Psychological, Political, and Cultural
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principle of parsimony
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The simplest explanation is the most reasonable without strong evidence against it (parse these things down)
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networks
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defined by Manuel Castells as a set of interconnected nodes without a center.
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nodes
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individuals in a network
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links
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connect nodes
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node hierarchies
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vary in importance; some places attract more interaction, and thus have bigger nodes
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social gravity
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likeliness of places to interact; I=(kP1P2)/d^B B is usually 2
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huff model
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An analysis used to determine the probability a customer has of shopping at a particular retailer. Based on size of store and location.
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Reilly's law of retail gravitation
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larger cities have larger spheres of influence than smaller ones.
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behavioral (disaggregate) approach to human geography
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geography + psychology; study of human spatial behavior
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two motivations for behavioral/cognitive geography
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improves models of spatial behavior and interaction, and its a geographical thingy in its own right
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Activity Space
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where you go in a typical day or week
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home range
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activity space near home
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criminal range
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range from a crime?
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Time Geography
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space-time paths - showing where you at certain times.
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Space-Time Prisms
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Space-time paths actually exist within prisms, it's complicated
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Space-time budgets
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budget influences how fast you can travel
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total displacement migration
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between continents, nations, regions external (international) vs internal (intra-national) completely new
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partial displacement migration
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local moves, overlapping activity space
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channelized migration
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greater migration flow between two places than expected due to reasons
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counter migration
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migrations streams often move in both directions
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refugees
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people who flee their country because of persecution or danger
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place perception
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attitudes about places, regions, and landscapes; self identification and definition based on place - I'm from SoCal
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Boundary polarization
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enmity and competition between neighbors
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culture
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Socially Shared and Transmitted Patterns of Beliefs, Behaviors, and Material Artifacts
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Ideological
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beliefs and knowledge: creation stories, language, ethical systems (mentifacts)
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technological
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material objects and techniques for use: tools, farming and cooking practices, weapons, architecture (artifacts)
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sociological
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social patterns and rituals: kinship and mating systems, politics, social hierarchy (sociofacts)
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culture ecology
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the study of the relationship, between a culture group and the natural environment in occupies
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in situ
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in the original or natural place or site
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culture hearth
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a center where cultures developed and from which ideas and traditions spread outward
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cultural convergence
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The tendency for cultures to become more alike as they increasingly share technology and organizational structures in a modern world united by improved transportation and communication.
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cultural syncretism
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The blending of elements of cultures; also refered to as hybridization or acculturation.
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# of languages
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~5000 worldwide
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language family
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A collection of languages related to each other through a common ancestor long before recorded history.
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lingua franca
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A language mutually understood and commonly used in trade by people who have different native languages
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dialects
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different forms of the same language that have unique words, meanings, and pronounciations
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standard language
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language used in education, formal language
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pidgins, creoles
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Languages that form when different societies need to devise a system of communication with each other; mixed languages
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toponymy
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the branch of lexicology that studies the place names of a region or a language
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animism
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Belief that objects, such as plants and stones, or natural events, like thunderstorms and earthquakes, have a discrete spirit and conscious life.
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shamanism
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The practice of identifying special individuals (shamans) who will interact with spirits for the benefit of the community. Characteristic of the Korean kingdoms of the early medieval period and of early societies of Central Asia. (p. 292)
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secularism
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The belief in material things instead of religious things. This was a shift away from Medieval thinking.
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Universalizing religion
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meant for all, diffuse by expansion, Christianity, Islam, Buddhism
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ethnic religion
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meant for specific cultures, diffuse by diasporas, Hinduism, Judaism
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Traditional (Tribal)
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small local religion with close, animistic ties to nature, shrinking, ex. Shinto (japanese)
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proselytizing
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trying to convert someone else to your religion
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Hagerwhatever's model thing
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mostly random, with some distance decay thrown in.
