units 1-7 vocab

Reference Map

Reference Map

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

Thematic Map

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

Absolute Distance

The distance that can be measured with a standard unit length, such as a mile or kilometer.

Absolute Direction

Based on the cardinal points of north, south, east, and west

Relative Distance

Distance measured in terms such as cost or time which are more meaningful for the space relationship in question

Relative Direction

Directions such as left, right, forward, backward, up, and down based on people's perception of places

Clustering

When objects in an area are close together.

Dispersal

When objects in an area are relatively far apart.

Elevation

The height of land above sea level.

Map Projection

the scientific method of transferring locations on Earth's surface to a flat map.

Absolute Location

The exact position of an object or place, measured within the spatial coordinates of a grid system.

Relative Location

The position of a place in relation to another place.

Geographic Information System (GIS)

A collection of computer hardware and software that permits spatial data to be collected, recorded, stored, retrieved, manipulated, analyzed, and displayed to the user.

Satellite Navigation System

a device used to plot the user's position on a map, using GPS technology to obtain the location.

Remote Sensing

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

Field Observations

A method of studying what people are doing and observing how their actions and reactions vary.

Media Reports

Articles published by newspapers and magazines and television news programs.

Travel Narratives

records of the places, people, and occurrences of a particular region that a traveler visits.

Landscape Analysis

Using field observation, spatial data, and aerial photography to gather data to define and describe landscapes.

Photographic Interpretation

The identification, description and measurement of objects in images, especially in aerial photographs, for geologic, cartographic or military purposes.

Census Data

Systematically acquiring and recording information about the members of a given population.

Satellite Imagery

Images of the earth taken from orbiting satellites. Images can be taken in a variety of forms so as to detect specific information about the earth, vegetation and other types of land cover.

Space

The physical gap or interval between two objects

Place

A specific point on Earth distinguished by a particular character.

Flows

the movement of objects, people and ideas between places.

Distance Decay

The diminishing in importance and eventual disappearance of a phenomenon with increasing distance from its origin.

Time-space compression/convergence

The increasing sense of connectedness between a space due to technology

Pattern

the geometric arrangement of objects in space

Human Environment Interaction

The geographic theme that explores how people use, adapt to, and modify the environment

Sustainability

meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs

Natural Resources

Materials or substances such as minerals, forests, water, and fertile land that occur in nature and can be used for economic gain.

Land Use

Various ways humans use the land such as agricultural, industrial, residential, or recreational

Environmental Determinism

the view that the natural environment has a controlling influence over various aspects of human life including cultural development

Possibilism

The theory that the physical environment may set limits on human actions, but people have the ability to adjust to the physical environment and choose a course of action from many alternatives.

Scales of Analysis

the study of a phenomena globally, regionally, or locally

Global Scale

the level of geography that encompasses the entire world as a single unified area

Regional Scale

Interactions occurring within a region, in a regional setting.

National Scale

Interactions occurring within a country.

Local Scale

the level of geography that describes the space where an individual lives or works; a city, town, or rural area

Regional Analysis

The study of the cultural, economic, political, physical, or other factors that contribute to the distinctiveness of geographical areas.

Formal Region

An area within which everyone shares in common one or more distinctive characteristics.

Functional (Nodal) Region

An area organized around a node or focal point

Perceptual (Vernacular) Region

A region that only exists as a conceptualization or an idea and not as a physically demarcated entity.

Geographic Data

information that identifies the geographic location of features and boundaries on earth (natural and constructed).

Mercator Projection

a projection of a map of the world onto a cylinder in such a way that all the parallels of latitude have the same length as the equator, used especially for marine charts and certain climatological maps.

Robinson Projection

A projection that maintains overall shapes and relative positions without extreme distortion. Most classrooms use this projection.

Isoline Map

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

Dot Map

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

Cartogram Map

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

Travel Documents

All the necessary documents you would need to take with you on a trip i.e passport or ID card, visa, etc.

Personal Interview

A face-to-face conversation in which a researcher surveys an individual to obtain research data

Policy Document

Documents created by the government or other organizations

Climate

The average weather conditions in an area over a long period of time

Landforms

the natural features of the land's surface

Water Bodies

inland areas of water (rivers, lakes, reservoirs etc)

Distribution

The arrangement of something across Earth's surface.

Arithmetic Density

The total number of people divided by the total land area.

Physiological Density

The number of people per unit of arable land

Agricultural Density

The ratio of the number of farmers to the amount of arable land

Carrying Capacity

the largest population that an environment can support at any given time

Population Pyramid

A bar graph that represents the distribution of population by age and sex

Demographic

relating to the structure of populations

Fertility

the incidence of childbearing in a country's population

Mortality

death

Crude Birth Rate (CBR)

The total number of live births in a year for every 1000 people alive in the society.

Crude Death Rate (CDR)

the number of deaths per 1,000 individuals per year

Dependency Ratio

The number of people under age 15 and over age 64 compared to the number of people active in the labor force

Rate of Natural Increase (RNI)

the difference between number of births and deaths

Population Doubling Time

The number of years it takes a population to double; calculated by dividing the number 72 by the rate of natural increase

Demographic Transition Model

a model of how the size of a population changes as a country develops its economy

DTM Stage One

hunting and gathering society, in which a society has a low total population with fluctuations in both the birth and death rates. When the birth rates are high the death rates are low & vice versa. Example: No countries in this stage.

DTM Stage Two

agricultural society, birth rates remain high but death rates decline because of more stable food sources and the diffusion of modern medicine (birth rates & death rates remain higher than the world average) & technology.

DTM Stage Three

industrial society, birth rates start to decline while death rates continue to decline, factories and economies become important (birth/death rates are around the world averages)

DTM Stage Four

tertiary (service-based) societies, birth rates and death rates are almost equal, no longer an industrial society, rather it has shifted towards post-industrial.

DTM Stage Five

low death rates, very low birth rates, decrease in natural increase rate.

Epidemiological Transition Model

The theory that says that there is a distinct cause of death in each stage of the demographic transition model. It can help explain how a country's population changes so dramatically.

ETM Stage 1

Pestilence, famine, and human conflict cause high CDR.

ETM Stage 2

Receding pandemics with improved sanitation and nutrition, rapidly declining CDR

ETM Stage 3

Degenerative and human created diseases. Decrease in human deaths from infectious diseases and an increase in chronic disorders.

ETM Stage 4

medicine delays degenerative diseases; life expectancy reaches a peak

ETM Stage 5

a proposed stage of reemergence of infectious and parasitic diseases and some become resistant to antibiotics; CDR increases

Malthusian Theory

The theory that population grows faster than food supply

Esther Boserup

Geographer who believed that our farming technology will always improve in order to be able to feed the growing population of the planet.

Neomalthusians

a belief that the world is characterized by scarcity and competition in which too many people fight for few resources. Pessimists who warn of the global ecopolitical dangers of uncontrolled population growth.

Pronatalist

Policies that encourage people to have children.

Antinatalist

Policies that discourage people from having children.

aquaculture (aquafarming)

The cultivation of seafood under controlled conditions

Bid rent theory

geographical economic theory that refers to how the price and demand on real estate changes as the distance towards the Central Business District (CBD) increases.

Biotechnology

The manipulation of living organisms or their components to produce useful products.

Central America (Mesoamerica)

the 5th hearth of agriculture (5,500 years ago), crops include: squash, pepper, cassava, cotton, lima bean, maize, potato, and sweet potato.

clustered settlement pattern

a settlement where buildings are clustered around a particular point.

Columbina Exchange

the global exchange of goods and ideas resulting from the encounter between the peoples of the Eastern and Western hemispheres

commercial farming

growing large quantities of crops or livestock in order to sell them for a profit

commodity chain

series of links connecting the many places of production and distribution and resulting in a commodity that is then exchanged on the world market

Community Supported Agriculture (CSA)

network between agricultural producers and consumers whereby consumers pledge support to a farming operation in order to receive a share of the output from the farming operation

conservation

Protecting and preserving natural resources and the environment

deforestation

The removal of trees faster than forests can replace themselves.

dispersed settlement pattern

A rural settlement pattern characterized by isolated farms rather than clustered villages.

Domestication

the taming of plants and animals for human use, such as work or as food.

East Asia

the 3rd hearth of agriculture (9,500 years ago) whose crops include, rice soybean, and walnut.