Census
National count of the entire population every 10 years.
GPS
A system that determines the precise position of something on Earth through a series of satellites, tracking stations, and receivers.
GIS
A computer system that stores, organizes, analyzes, and displays geographic data.
Remote Sensing
The acquisition of data about Earth's surface from a satellite orbiting the planet or other long-distance methods.
Absolute Location
Exact location of a place on the earth described by global coordinates, using longitude and latitude.
Relative Location
The position of a place in relation to another place
Distance Decay
The diminishing in importance and eventual disappearance of a phenomenon with increasing distance from its origin.
Time Space Compression
the rapid innovation of communication and transportation technologies associated with globalization that transforms the way people think about space and time
Place
uniqueness of a location
Sense of Place
State of mind derived through the infusion of a place with meaning and emotion by remembering important events that occurred in that place or by labeling a place with a certain character.
Perception of Place
Belief or "understanding" about a place developed through books, movies, stories or pictures.
Local Scale
A spatial scale that is essentially equivalent to a community.
Regional Scale
interactions occurring within a region
Global Scale
Interactions occurring at the scale of the world, in a global setting.
National Scale
across the country
Environmental Determinism
A doctrine that claims that cultural traits are formed and controlled by environmental conditions.
Possiblism
The theory that the physical 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.
sequent occupance
the notion that successive societies leave their cultural imprints on a place, each contributing to the cumulative cultural landscape