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Cartographic Scale

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Also called map scale, refers to the ratio between distance on a map and the actual distance on the earth's surface.

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Phenomenon Scale

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Phenomenon scale refers to the size at which geographic structures exist and over which geographic processes operate in the world. It is the 'true' scale of geographic phenomena. Determining the scale of phenomena is clearly a major research goal in geography.

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Cultural geography

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is the branch of geography dealing with human culture and its impact on the Earth. Cultural geographers study

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What are three topics that a Cultural geographer might study?

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languages, religion, foods, building styles, urban areas, agriculture, transportation systems, politics, economies, population and demographics, and more.

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Physical geography

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is the branch of geography dealing with the natural features of the Earth, the home of humans. Physical geography is closely related to geography's sister science - geology - but physical geography focuses more on the landscapes at the surface of the Earth and not what is inside our planet.

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What are three topics a Physical geographer might study?

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Physical geography looks at the water, air, animals, and land of the planet Earth (i.e. everything that is part of the four spheres - the atmosphere, biosphere, hydrosphere, lithosphere).

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cultural landscape

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the visible imprint of human activity and culture on the landscape.

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What can cultural landscape tell us about the people who live there, or who may have lived there at some time in the past?

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Pg 10 key to understanding both the simple and complex interactions and interconnections between people and the environment they occupy and modify

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Why is spatial interactions relevant to a better understanding of the discipline of geography?

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the need to understand those relationships, interactions, and processes helps frame the questions that geographers ask

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List the four distinct Areas of Study of geography described in the textbook. Describe each

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1. Spatial Tradition (also called Locational Tradition) 2. Area Studies Tradition (also called Regional Tradition) 3. Man-Land Tradition (also called Human- Environmental, Human-Land, or Culture-Environment Tradition) 4. Earth Science Tradition

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Spatial Tradition (also called Locational Tradition)

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Mapping Spatial analysis Boundaries and densities Movement and transportation Quantitative techniques and tools, such as computerized mapping and Geographic Information Systems Central Place Theory Areal distribution Spatial patterns

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Area Studies Tradition (also called Regional Tradition)

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Description of regions or areas World regional geography International trends and relationships How regions are different from one another The choreographic tradition (regions)

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Man-Land Tradition (also called Human-Environmental, Human-Land, or Culture-Environment Tradition)

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Human impact on nature impact of nature on humans Natural hazards Perception of environment Environmentalism Cultural, political, and population geography

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Earth Science Tradition

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Physical geography The lithosphere, hydrosphere, atmosphere, and biosphere Earth-sun interaction Offshoots are geology, mineralogy, paleontology, glaciology, geomorphology, and meteorology The study of the earth as the home to humans

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Region

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an are of the earth that displays a distinctive grouping of physical or cultural phenomena or is functionally united as a single organizational unit.

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Formal Regions

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Has one or more common features or a limited combination of physical or cultural features. (Great Lakes, Rocky Mountains, Rust Belt, Corn Belt)

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Functional Regions

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a region differentiated by what occurs within it rather than by physical or cultural phenomena (trade areas of town, the circulation area of a newspaper

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Vernacular Regions

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place as a cultural identity, ex, the south, the west coast

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spatial interaction

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The interdependence of places which occurs through networks in which people, ideas, and goods move between places through accessibility, and connectivity, location

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What is it that sets geography apart from cognate disciplines such as history, anthropology or geology?

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It is the only discipline concerned with understanding why and how both physical and cultural phenomena differ from place to place on the surface of the earth

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map

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A two-dimensional, or flat, representation of Earth's surface or a portion of it. it condenses our data, information and science in language that we can easily understand.

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Why are maps fundamental tool for spatial analysis in geography?

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only through the map can spatial distributions and interactions of whatever nature be reduced to an observable scale, isolated for individual study, and combined or recombined to reveal relationships not directly measurable in the landscape itself.

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geographic coordinate system

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A reference system that uses latitude and longitude to define the locations of points on the surface of a sphere or spheroid.

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What is another name that is used to describe the (GCS)?

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geographic grid

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latitude

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the angular distance north or south of the equator

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longitude

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The numbering system used to indicate the location of meridians drawn on a globe and measuring distance east and west of the prime meridian (0°).

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Parallels

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Each of the imaginary parallel circles of constant latitude on the earth's surface.

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Great Circle

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the intersection of a sphere and a plane containing the center of the sphere; divides a sphere into two hemispheres

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Small Circle

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Any circle that does not have the same center as the center of the earth (All latitude lines other than the Equator)

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_____ is the study of spatial variation across the earth's surface, including how current spatial patterns came to be, and of interactions between different locations on earth's surface.

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geography

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Its focus on _____ is what sets geography apart from its cognate disciplines such as history, anthropology, or geology.

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spatial patterns

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_____ location refers to the position of a place or thing in relation to that of other places or things.

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relative

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The geographical concept of ______ refers to the different ways in which various locations on Earth's surface interact with one another through travel, communications, trade, etc

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human interaction

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_____ scale refers to the ratio of distance as measured on a map, to the actual distance that it represents on Earth's surface.

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Cartographic, or map, scale

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The Area of Study within geography referred to as _____ is that branch of the discipline that focuses on the Earth as the habitat of humans. Important subfields within this Area of Study include geomorphology, climatology, biography, and natural hazards research.

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Physical Systems

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A _____ is defined as being "An area of the earth that displays a distinctive grouping of physical (i.e. a climate _____) or cultural phenomena (i.e. a culture _____), or is functionally united as a single organizational unit (such as a large metropolitan area, county, state, or country).

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region

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The Area of Study in geography known as _____ focuses on understanding spatial patterns of human populations, cultures, human interactions and political systems. Important subfields within this Area of Study include the study of population geography and demographics, cultural geography, political geography, geopolitics, and the study of human interactions across space.

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Human Systems

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A _____ is the tangible, physical record of a given culture that can be seen in the landscape itself. It is created through the processes involved in a given group of people occupying a particular landscape, and interacting with the natural environment as they use its resources for food, shelter, and transportation

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cultural landscape

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The _____ Area of Study within Geography explores the interaction of the physical and human environment of the Earth and how they are used and abused by humans. It includes the study of the location and use of natural resources, and of human impact on water, air, climate, land-forms, plants, and animals.

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. Environment (also known as human-environment interactions)

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A ____ is defined as being a representation, usually on a flat surface, of a whole or part of an area on Earth's surface. It is used to describe spatial relationships of specific features that it is designed to represent.

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map

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The _____ is a set of imaginary lines that intersect at right angles to form a system of reference for locating points on the surface of the earth.

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Geographic Coordinate System (Geographic Grid)

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The _____ are the endpoints of the axis about which Earth rotates

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North and South Poles

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A feature's ____ is its angular distance east or west of the prime meridian measured in degrees ranging from 0 to 180.

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. Longitude

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Which one of the following is NOT one of the seven key parallels that are associated with the effect that earth-sun positions have on seasonality at different latitudes?

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Prime Meridian

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Distortion is greatest on a _____-scale map

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small

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The two primary categories of maps are ____ maps and _____ maps

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General-Purpose maps and Thematic maps

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The principal symbol used to show elevation on topographic maps is the _____, which is defined as being a line along which all points are of equal elevation above a datum plane, which is usually (not always) defined as being mean (average) sea level.

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contour line

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_____ maps are maps that are dedicated to a single class of features, such as vegetation assemblages, climate regions, culture regions, etc.

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Thematic

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_____ features are features that occur at a particular location (i.e., one set of coordinates) on Earth's surface, and can be represented on map using points, or symbols that provide a schematic representation of the type of feature being represented.

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point

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_____ maps are used to portray linear movement between places, and can depict either qualitative information (i.e., air traffic routes, animal migration routes, etc), by using lines of uniform thickness, or quantitative information, by using varying line thicknesses to depict larger movements versus smaller movements (i.e., thicker lines to depict large numbers of people moving to California between 1950 and 1990, and thinner lines to depict smaller numbers of people moving from the northern Great Plains states during the same time period).

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Flow line

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The ____ is a method of using satellite observations for the determination of extremely accurate locational information. When the ground-based receiver is activated, it records the positions of a number of the satelltes simultaneously, then determines its latitude, longitude, altitude, and the time.

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Global Positioning System (GPS)

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A _____ is a configuration of computer hardware and software that can be used for assembling, storing, manipulating, analyzing, and displaying geographically-referenced information.

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Geographic Information System (GIS)

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