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Absolute Distance

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a distance that can be measured with a standard unit of length (ie. mile, kilometer)

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Absolute Location

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the exact position of an object or place measured within the spacial coordinates of a grid system (PJO)

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Accessibility

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the relative ease with which a destination may be reached from some other place

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Aggregation

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to come together into a mass, or whole

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Anthropogenic

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human-induced changes on the natural environment

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Azimuthal Projection

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a map projection in which the plane is the most developable surface

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Breaking Point

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the outer edge of a city's sphere of influence, used in the law of retail gravitation to describe the area of a city's hinterlands that depend on that city for its retail supply

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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 represented by the largest relative area.

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Cartography

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the theory and practice of making visual representations of Earth's surface in the form of maps

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Choropleth Map

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a thematic map that uses tones or colors to represent spatial data as average values per unit area

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Cognitive Map

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an image of a portion of Earth's surface that an individual creates in his or her mind. Cognitive maps can include knowledge of actual locations and relationships among locations as well as personal perceptions and preferences of particular places.

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Complementarity

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the actual or potential relationship between two places, usually referring to economic interactions

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Connectivity

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the degree of economic, social, cultural, or political connection between to places

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Contagious Diffusion

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the spread of a disease, an innovation, or cultural traits through direct contact with another person or another place

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Coordinate System

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a standard grid, composed of lines of latitude and longitude, used to determine the absolute location of any object, place, or feature on the earth's surface.

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Cultural Ecology

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also called nature-society geography, the study of the interactions between societies and the natural environments in which they live.

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Cultural Landscape

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the human-modified natural landscape specifically containing the imprint of a particular culture culture or society

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Distance Decay Effect

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the decrease in interaction between two phenomena, places, or people as the distance between them increases

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Dot Maps

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thematic maps that use points to show the precise locations of specific observations or occurrences, such as crimes, car accidents, or births.

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Earth System Science

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a systematic approach to physical geography that looks at the interaction between Earth's physical systems and processes on a global scale

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Environmental Geography

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the intersection between human and physical geography, which explores the spatial impacts humans have on the physical environment and vice versa

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Eratosthenes

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the head librarian at Alexandria during the third century B.C.; one of the first cartographers. Performed a remarkably accurate computation of Earth's circumference. He is also credited with coining the term "geography"

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Expansion Diffusion

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the spread of ideas, innovation, fashion or other phenomena to surrounding areas through contact and exchange

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Fertile Crescent

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the name given to the crescent-shaped area of fertile land stretching from the lower Nile Valley along the east Mediterranean coast and into Syria and present-day Iraq where agriculture and early civilzation first began about 8,000 B.C.

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Formal Region

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definition of regions based on common themes such as similarities in language, climate, land use, etc.

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Friction of Distance

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a measure of how much absolute distance affects the interaction between two places

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Fuller Projection

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a type of map projection that maintains the accurate size and shape of landmasses but completely rearranges direction such that the four cardinal directions--north, south, east, and west--no longer have any meaning.

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Functional Region

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definition of regions based on common interaction (or function,) for example, a boundary line drawn around the circulation of a particular newspaper.

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Geographic Information System (GIS)

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a set of computer tools used to capture, store, transform, analyze, and display geographic data

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Geographic Scale

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the scale at which a geographer analyzes a particular phenomenon, for example: global, national, census tract, neighborhood, etc. Generally, the finer the scale of the analysis, the richer the level of detail in the findings.

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Geoid

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the actual shape of Earth, which is rough and oblate, or slightly squashed. Earth's diameter is longer around the equator than along the north-south meridians

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Global Positioning System (GPS)

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a set of satellites used to help determine location anywhere on the earth's surface with a portable electronic device.

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Gravity Model

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a mathematical formula that describes the level of interaction between two places, based on the size of their populations and their distance from each other.

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Hierarchical Diffusion

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A type of diffusion in which something is transmitted between places because of a physical or cultural community between those places

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Human Geography

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the study of the spatial variation in the patterns and processes related to human activity

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Idiographic

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pertaining to the unique facts or characteristics of a particular place

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International Dateline

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the line of longitude that marks where each new day begins is centered on the 180th meridian

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Intervening Opportunities

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if one has a demand for some good or service and two places have a supply of equal price and quality, the supplier closer to the buyer will represent an intervening opportunity thereby blocking the third from being able to share its supply of goods or services. Intervening opportunities are frequently used because transportation costs usually decrease with proximity.

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Isoline

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a map line that connects points of equal or very similar values (contour map)

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Large Scale

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a relatively small ratio between map units and ground units. Large-scale maps usually have higher resolution and cover much smaller regions than small-scale maps.

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Latitude

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the angular distance north or south of the equator, defined by lines of latitude or parallels

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Law of Retail Gravitation

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a law that states that people will be drawn to larger cities to conduct their business because larger cities have a wider influence on the surrounding hinterlands

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Location Charts

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on a map, a chart or graph that gives specific statistical information of a particular political unit or jurisdiction.

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Longitude

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the angular distance east or west of the Prime Meridian, defined by lines of longitude of jurisdiction

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Map Projection

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a mathematical method that involves transferring the earth's sphere onto a flat surface. This term can also be used to describe the type of map that results from the process of projecting. All map projections have distortions in either area, direction, distance, or shape.

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Map Scale

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the ratio between the size of an area on a map and the actual size of the same area on Earth's surface

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George Perkins Marsh

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an inventor, diplomat, politician, and scholar, his classic work, "Man and Nature, or Physical Geography as Modified by Human Action," provided the first description of the extent to which natural systems had been impacted by human actions.

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Mercator Projection

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a true conformal cylindrical map projection, the Mercator projection is particularly useful for navigation because it maintains accurate direction. Mercator projections are famous for their distortion in area that makes landmasses at the poles appear oversized.

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Meridian

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a line of longitude that runs north-south. All lines of longitude are equal in length and intersect at the poles.

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Natural Landscape

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the physical landscape or environment that has not been affected by human activities.

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Nomothetic

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concepts or rules that can be applied universally

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Parallel

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an east-west line of latitude that runs parallel to the equator and that marks distance north or south of the equator

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W. D. Pattison

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he claimed that geography drew from four distinct traditions: the earth-science tradition, the culture-environment tradition, the locational tradition, and the area-analysis tradition.

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Perceptual Region

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highly individualized definition of regions based on perceived commonlities in culture and landscape

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Peters Projection

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an equal-area projection purposely centered on Africa in an attempt to treat all regions of Earth equally.

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Physical Geography

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the realm of geography that studies the structures, processes, distributions, and changes through time of the natural phenomena of Earth's surface

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Preference Map

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a map that displays individual preferences for certain places

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Prime Meridian

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an imaginary line passing through the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, England, that marks 0º line of longitude

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Projection

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the system used to transfer locations from Earth's surface to a flat map

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Proportional Symbols Map

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a thematic map in which the size of a chosen symbol--such as a circle or triangle--indicates the relative magnitude of some statistical value for a given geographic region.

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Ptolemy

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Roman geographer-astronomer, author of "Guide to Geography," which included maps containing a grid system of longitude and latitude

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Qualitative Data

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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.

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Quantitative Data

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

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Quantitative Revolution

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a period in human geography associated with the widespread adoption of mathematical models and statistical techniques

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Reference Map

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a map type that shows reference information for a particular place, making it useful for finding landmarks and for navigation

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Region

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A territory that encompasses many places that share similar physical, cultural, and/or both attributes

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Regional Geography

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the study of geographic regions

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Relative Distance

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a measure of distance that includes the costs of overcoming the friction of absolute distance separating two places. Relative distance often describes the amount of social, cultural, or economic, connectivity between two places.

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Relative Location

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the position of a place relative to the places around it

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Relocation Diffusion

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the diffusion of ideas, innovations, behaviors, and so on from one place to another through migration.

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Remote Sensing

answer

the observation and mathematical measurement of the Earth's surface using aircraft and satellites. The sensors include both photographic images, thermal images, multispectral scanners, and radar images.

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Resolution

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a map's smallest discernible unit. If, for example, an object has to be one kilometer long in order to show up on a map, that map's resolution is one kilometer

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Robinson Projection

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a projection that attempts to balance several possible projection errors. It does not maintain completely accurate area, shape, distance, or direction, but it minimizes errors in each.

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Carl Sauer

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geographer from the University of California at Berkeley who defined the concept of cultural landscape as the fundamental unit of geographical analysis. This landscape results from interaction between humans and the physical environment. Sauer argued that virtually no landscape has escaped alteration by human activities.

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Sense of Place

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feelings evoked by people as a result of certain experiences and memories associated with a particular place

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Site

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the absolute location of a place, described by local relief, landforms, and other cultural or physical characteristics.

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Situation

answer

the relative location of a place in relation to the physical and cultural characteristics of the surrounding area and the connections and interdependencies within that system; a space's spatial context

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Small Scale

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a map scale ratio in which the ratio of units on Earth is quite small. Small-scale maps usually depict large areas.

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Spatial Diffusion

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the ways in which phenomena, such as technological innovations, cultural trends, or even outbreaks of a disease travel over space

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Spatial Perspective

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an intellectual framework that looks at the locations of specific phenomena, how and why that phenomena is , and, finally, how it is spatially related to phenomena in other place

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Sustainability

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the concept of using Earth's resources in such a way that they provide for people's needs in the preset without diminishing Earth's ability to provide for future generations

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Thematic Layers

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individual maps of specific features that are overlaid on one another in a Geographical Information System to understand and analyze a spatial relationship.

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Thematic Map

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a type of map that displays one or more variables-such as population, or income level-within a specific area.

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Time-Space Convergence

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the idea that distance between some places is actually shrinking as technology enables more rapid communication and increased interaction between those places.

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Topographic Maps

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Maps that use isolines to represent constant elevations. If you took a topographic map out into the field and walked exactly along the path of an isoline on your map, you would always stay at the same elevation.

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Topological Space

answer

the amount of connectivity between places, regardless of the absolute distance separating them.

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Transferability

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the costs involved in moving goods from one place to another

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Visualization

answer

use of sophisticated software to create dynamic computer maps, some of which are three dimensional or interactive.

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Human-induced environmental chance is often referred to as _______________.

answer

anthropogenic

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Conserving resourced to ensure enough for future generations is called ____________.

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sustainability

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______________ argued that cultural landscapes should form the the basic unit of geographic inquiry.

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Carl Sauer

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A _____________ is a map portraying a particular feature that is used in GIS

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thematic layer

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The oldest field of geography is ____________.

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cartography

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(FREE RESPONSE) Technological innovations have greatly influenced the methods by which geography can be done today. (A) Describe three technological advances that have dramatically changed the capabilities of the discipline of geography. (B) List an application for each type of technology

answer

(A) Remote sensing uses satellites and airplanes to capture images of Earth's surface, global positioning system, (GPS,) with a handheld receiver people can retain highly accurate geographic location in terms of latitude and longitude, global information system, (GIS,) software programs that use thematic layers to map analyze and model spatial data. (B) Remote sensing to detect vegetation on Earth's surface, for example, the amount of deforestation in Brazil can be accurately measured. GPS to determine precise distances between two points, hikers and campers need GPS to navigate unfamiliar grounds. GIS, helpful for understanding spatial processes such as determining higher property values in part of a city.

question

___________ refers to concepts that are universally applicable.

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Nomothetic

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A _________________ boundaries are fuzzy because they allow for individual interpretation.

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perceptual region's

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If a geographer performs a study on people's perceptions of the Deep South using interviews as the primary data source, the geographer's method is __________________.

answer

qualitative data

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True of False? Regions are conceptual units.

answer

True

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________________ refers to conceptual hierarchy of spaces.

answer

geographic scale

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(FREE RESPONSE) Geography is unique from other disciplines in that is applies a spatial perspective to different phenomena and processes that occur on Earth's surface. (A) Define the spatial perspective. Include in your definition what it means to think geographically. Include descriptions of the types of data that geographers analyze. (B) Provide an example of a problem that can be solved only from a spatial perspective.

answer

(A) Spatial perspective is observing the spatial location of things on Earth's surface and determining why and how these things occupy their specific locations geographically. Distance, the physical space between two places, accessibility, the ease of reaching one location from another, and connectivity, the degree of linkage between locations in a network, help geographers analyze spatial interaction. (B) For example, spatial perspective can be used to insure district lines are not gerrymandered. A specific case of gerrymandering would be in Florida, where the Supreme Court ruled that district lines need to be redrawn due to purposeful illegal gerrymandering.

question

(FREE RESPONSE) The region is highly contested yet critical concept in the study of human geography. (A) Why and how do geographers perform the regionalization process? (B) What is regional geography? (C) Discuss the different types of regions that human geographers study, and provide an example of each type.

answer

(A) Because grouping places together creates a more manageable place of study. Places are grouped together based on their shared characteristics. (B) Despite much debate about exactly what makes a region, the concept itself remains important because regions often form the basic units of geographic research. Regional geography is the study of regions. (C) Formal regions have specific characteristics that are usually uniform from one place to another. These regions may include properties such as rolling hills, redwood trees, religion, or ethnicity. Tibet is a region of high mountains and plateaus, most people have a common culture and observe the religious practices of Buddhism. Functional regions have special identities because of the social and economic relationships that tie them together. For example, the San Francisco Bay Area depends on its heart, which is the actual city of SF to generate economic activity for the entire region. Perceptual regions exist in the minds of people, a common example is, the American Deep South. The boundary line is based on physical and cultural characteristics, and possibly on stereotypes they associate with the Deep South.

question

Seattle is located on Puget Sound in northwestern Washington. It has a large university, a famous downtown market, and a moist, marine climate. Seattle's primary economic activities include ship and aircraft construction and high-technology enterprises. This information gives us a description of Seattle's ____________.

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site

question

Lines of longitude ________.

answer

intersect at the poles.

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Even though some cities are far apart in terms of absolute distance, they are actually quite connected economically and socially. This is representative of ______________.

answer

topological space

question

Regarding ______________, places seem to be getting closer together.

answer

time-space convergence

question

Give examples and non-examples of relative distance.

answer

centimeters

question

(FREE RESPONSE) The notion of time-space convergence has had dramatic impacts on how geographers think of distance. (A) Define time-space convergence, and give an example of this process at work in the world today. (B) Describe the effects of this convergence on the level of connectivity between places. Does the process connect all areas of the globe? (C) Discuss Tobler's first law of geography as it relates to the notion of time-space convergence. Does this law still apply and/or will it apply in the future?

answer

(A) Time-space convergence the idea that distance between some places is actually shrinking as technology enables more rapid communication and increased interaction between those places. Amazon.com, planes between New York City and London. (B) The increase in transportation and communication technology have brought certain places closer together, therefore more connected. However, it is important to recognize that this process of shrinking distance is somewhat limited to developed parts of the globe where these technologies are available. (C) Tobler's first law of geography states, "Everything is related to everything else, but near things are more related than distant things." Since the notion of time-space convergence is shrinking the distance between places, Tobler's law will not apply because as technology becomes more advanced, distance will no longer be a factor in connectivity.

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Tobler's first law of geography states, "Everything is related to everything else, but ___________________."

answer

near things are more related than distant things

question

Rap music first appeared in New York in the 1970's Later it spread to large cities with vibrant African-American populations- such as Los Angeles, Oakland, Chicago, Philadelphia, and Detroit- without being absorbed by the smaller cities and rural areas in between. This type of spatial diffusion is called _________________.

answer

hierarchical diffusion

question

Stores and restaurants in Oregon that find it cheaper to buy fresh vegetables grown in California than those grown in Florida are taking advantage of ________________.

answer

intervening opportunities

question

According to the gravity model, which two places are most likely to have a high level of interaction?

answer

Two cities, one with a large population and the other with a medium population that are very close in distance like Seattle and Tacoma, Washington

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________________ is NOT a good example of a barrier to spatial diffusion.

answer

A highway system

question

(FREE RESPONSE) Geographers define space, location, and distance according to both absolute and relative measures. (A) Describe the difference between absolute and relative measures of distance. (B) Give two examples of instances where the degree of interaction between places is more related to connectivity than to absolute distance. (C) Describe the difference between absolute and relative measures of location. Give examples.

answer

(A) Absolute distance is measured with a standard unit of length; whereas relative distance overcomes the friction of absolute distance, it describes the social, cultural, or economic connectivity between two places. (B) Honolulu and the American mainland. Havanna, Cuba and Key West, Florida (negate) China and America are economically bound together. (C) Absolute location is the exact position of an object or place measured within the spacial coordinates of a grid system; whereas, relative location describes a places relationship to places around it. Fort Lauderdale is 30 minutes is 30 minutes away from Boca Raton.

question

The ratio between distance on a map and distance on Earth's surface is called ______________.

answer

scale

question

Cartography is the art and science of _______________.

answer

mapmaking

question

Map projections attempt to correct for errors in _____________.

answer

area, distance, shape, and direction

question

The Mercator projections preserve __________________.

answer

direction

question

Topographic maps use __________________ to convey change over space.

answer

isolines

question

Which of the following map projections preserves the correct shape of the Earth's landmasses?

answer

Fuller's

question

The size of a map's smallest discernible unit is _____________.

answer

resolution

question

(FREE RESPONSE) Scale is an extremely important concept in geography because spatial relationships appear to vary depending upon the scale at which they are measured. (A) Define scale. Discuss the relationship of scale to resolution. (B) Discuss the role of scale in interpreting geographical information. (C) In the 2000 U.S. presidential election. George W. Bush won the electoral votes of every southern state. Explain how an analysis of these results at the country level could yield additional valuable information about voting patterns at finer geographical scales.

answer

(A) Scale is a ratio in which the ratio of units on Earth is quite small. Small-scale maps usually depict large areas. Resolution is the smallest discernible unit on a map, therefor, the resolution determines the size of the scale. (B) The role of large-scale maps may depict smaller areas, like farms and neighborhoods. Small objects such as, automobiles, cattle, and shrubs can be identified. Small-scale maps cover large regions where the smallest discernible detail may be a city, an island, or a river. (C) The electoral college is based on a state's population, so although Bush had roughly two-thirds of the states, he was still only slightly ahead of his opponent. The state's voting pattern could lead to that region's spatial perspective.

question

(FREE RESPONSE) Preference maps are a unique type of isoline map used in human geography. (A) Use your knowledge of preference maps to describe why some places might be more attractive than others as places to live. (B) Use your knowledge of preference maps to describe why certain places my or may not be more attractive for certain cohorts.

answer

(A) Big cities with beautiful scenery and sunny weather are usually more attractive, (i.e. CALIFORNIA, Florida, Colorado.) Another aspect to these attractive states have a higher economic opportunity and quality of life. (B) Certain places that are less attractive have a lower quality of life, lower economic opportunity, rural, and erratic weather.

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