APHG Unit I - Key terms

Vocabulary unit 1

Abiotic

Composed of nonliving or inorganic matter

Absolute location

Description of the position of a place in a way that never changes, such as geographic coordinates of latitude and longitude.

Acculturation

The process of changes in culture that result from the meeting of two groups, each of which retains distinct cultural features.

Assimilation

The process by which a group's cultural features are altered to resemble those of another more dominant group.

Atmosphere

A thin layer of gases surrounding Earth

Behavioral geography

An approach to human geography that emphasizes the importance of understanding the psychological basis for individual human actions in space.

Biosphere

All living organisms on Earth, including plants and animals, as well as microorganisms

Biotic

Composed of living organisms

Cartogram

A map in which the projection and scale are distorted in order to convey the information of a variable

Cartogram Map

Cartography

The science of making maps

Choropleth map

A map in which areas are shaded or patterned in proportion to the measurement of the variable.

Citizen science

Scientific research by amateur scientists

Climate

The long-term average weather condition at a particular location.

Concentration

The extent of a feature's spread over a given area

Connection

The relationships among people and object across the barrier of space

Conservation

The sustainable management of natural resources to meet human needs

Coordinated Universal Time

The official time reference for the entire world based on the time at Greenwich, England. This abbreviation comes from the French translation of the term.

Cultural Ecology

Geographic approach that emphasizes human-environment relationships.

Cultural landscape

The visible imprint of human activity and culture on the landscape

Culture

The body of customary beliefs, material traits, and social forms that together constitutes the distinct tradition of a group of people

Density

The frequency with which something exists within a given unit of area

Diffusion

The process of spread of a feature or trend from one place to another over time

Direction (Distortion)

the direction from one place to another can become distorted

Distance (Distortion)

the distance between two points bay become increased or decreased

Distribution

The arrangement of something across Earth's surface.

Dot Distribution Map

Ecology

The scientific study of ecosystems

Ecosystem

A biological community of interacting organisms and their physical environment.

Environmental determinism

A nineteenth- and early twentieth-century approach to the study of geography that argued that the general laws sought by human geographers could be found in the physical sciences. Geography was therefore the study of how the physical environment caused human activities.

Expansion diffusion

The spread of a feature or trend among people from one area to another in a additive process.

Gall-Peters Projection

Geographic Information Science (GIScience)

Analysis of data about Earth acquired via satellite and other electronic info technologies

Geographic Information System (GIS)

A computer system that stores, organizes, analyzes, and displays geographic data.

Geotagging

Identification and storage of a piece of information by its precise latitude and longitude coordinates

Global Positioning System (GPS)

A system that determines the precise position of something on Earth through a series of satellites, tracking stations, and receivers.

Globalization

Actions or processes that involve the entire world and result in making something worldwide in scope.

Goode Homolosine Projection

Graduated symbol map

Humanistic geography

The study of different ways that individuals form ideas about place and give those places symbolic meanings.

Hydrosphere

All the water at and near the surface of the earth.

International Date Line

An arc that for the most part follows 180° longitude, although it deviates in several places to avoid dividing land areas. When you cross the International Date Line heading east (toward America), the clock moves back 24 hours, or one entire day. When you go west (toward Asia), the calendar moves ahead one day.

Isoline map

Lithosphere

Earth's crust and a portion of upper mantle directly below the crust

Location

The position of anything on Earth's surface.

Map

A two-dimensional, or flat, representation of Earth's surface or a portion of it.

Map scale

The relationship between the size of an object on a map and the size of the actual feature on Earth's surface.

Mashup

A map that overlays data from one source on top of a map provided by a mapping service

Mercator Projection

Nonrenewable resource

Something produced in nature more slowly than it is consumed by humans

Participatory GIS (PGIS)

Community-based mapping, representing local knowledge and information.

Pattern

The geometric or regular arrangement of something in a study area.

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.

Poststructuralist Geography

Geographic approach that examines how the powerful in a society dominate, or seek to control, less powerful groups, how the dominated groups occupy space, and confrontations that result from the domination.

Preservation

Maintenance of a resource in its present condition, with as little human impact as possible.

Relative Size (Distortion)

One area could appear larger than another on a map bu in reality is smaller

Scale

The relationship between the portion of Earth being studied and Earth as a whole

Shape (Distortion)

could appear more elongated or squat

Spacial Association

The relationship between the distribution of one feature and the distribution of another feature.

Sustainability

The use of Earth's renewable and nonrenewable natural resources in ways that do not constrain resource use in the future.

Syncretism

The combining of elements of two groups into a new cultural feature

Vladimir Koppen's Climate zones

Tropical climates

Dry climates

Warm mid-latitude climates

Cold mid-latitude climates

Polar climates

Volunteered Geographic Information (VGI)

Creation and dissemination of geographic data contributed voluntarily and for free by individuals

Winkel Projection

Site

The physical character of a place

Situation (Relative location)

The location of a place relative to another place

Toponym

The name given to a portion of Earth’s surface

Uneven development

The increasing gap in economic conditions between core and peripheral regions as a result of the globalization of the economy

Remote sensing

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