KVS APHug Unit 1

Absolute Location

the exact position of an object or place stated in spatial coordinates or a grid system designed for locational purposes, e.g., latitude and longitude.

Built landscape

the part of the physical landscape that represents material culture; the buildings, roads, bridges, and similar structures large and small of the cultural landscape.

Cartogram

a map that has been simplified to present a single idea in a diagrammatic way: the base is not normally true to scale.

Census

an official enumeration of the population, with details as to age, sex, occupation, etc. The USA has a census every ten years( 2010, 2020, 2030, etc.)

Choropleth

a thematic map in which ranked classes of some variable are depicted with shading patterns or colors for predefined zones.

Connectivity

the directness of routes linking pairs of places; an indication of the degree of internal connection in a transport network; all of the tangible and intangible means of connection and communication between places.

Contagious diffusion

the rapid, widespread diffusion of a feature or trend throughout a population; person to person spread of culture.

Arithmetic Density

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

Diffusion

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

Distance decay

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

Distortion

area, distance, direction, shape

Dot

a thematic map in which a dot represents some frequency of the mapped variable.

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; physical environment caused human activities.

Equator

an imaginary east-west line that encircles the globe halfway between the North and South Poles.

Formal Region

an area in which everyone shares in one or more distinctive characteristics (usually cultural).

Friction of distance

a measure of the retarding or restricting effect of distance on spatial interaction; the greater the distance, the greater the "friction" and the less the interaction or exchange, or the greater the cost of achieving the exchange.

Functional Region (Nodal)

an area organized around a node or focal point.

Geographic Information System (GIS)

a computer hardware and software system that handles geographically referenced data; it uses and produces maps and has the ability to perform many types of spatial analysis.

Geography

the study of the physical features of the earth and its atmosphere, and of human activity as it affects and is affected by these, including the distribution of populations and resources, land use, and industries. Describing the earth.

Geospatial

relating to or denoting data that is associated with a particular location.

geospatial technology

refers to equipment used in visualization, measurement, and analysis of earth's features, typically involving such systems as GPS (global positioning systems), GIS (geographical information systems), and RS (remote sensing).

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

the tendency of businesses, technologies, or philosophies to spread throughout the world, or the process of making this happen.

Hierarchical diffusion

the spread of a feature or trend from one key person or node of authority or power to other persons or places; spread of culture from one important / large area to another important / large area.

Hinterlands

either rural or urban or both, that is closely linked economically with a nearby town or city.

International Date Line

an arc that fro the most part follows 180º longitude, although it deviates in several places to avoid dividing land areas. When you cross it heading east, the clock moves back 24 hours, and when you cross it going west the calendar moves ahead one day.

Isoline

a thematic map with lines that connect points of equal value.

Latitude

the numbering system used to indicate the location of parallels drawn on a globe and measuring distance north and south of the Equator.

Longitude

the numbering system used to indicate the location of meridians drawn on a globe and measuring distance east and west of the Prime Meridian.

Map

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

Mental Map

(cognitive map) the map like image of the world, country, region, city, or neighborhood a person carries in mind.

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.

Meridian

line of longitude

Model

a simplified abstraction of reality, structured to clarify causal relationships: e.g., Demographic Transition, Gravity Model, etc.

Network

the areal pattern of sets of places and the routes (links) connecting them along which movement can take place.

Pattern (linear, centralized, random),

be able to understand diagrams for each

Perceptual / Vernacular region

an area that people believe to exist as part of their cultural identity.

Physiological

the number of people per unit of area of arable land, which is land suitable for agriculture.

Place

a specific point on Earth distinguished by a particular characteristic.

Place Name (Toponym)

the name given to a portion of Earth's surface.

polar projection

a cartographic projection of the sphere in which the point of sight is at the center and the plane of projection passes through one of the polar circles

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.

Prime Meridian

an imaginary line passing through the Royal Observatory at Greenwich, England, serving by agreement as the 0º line of longitude.

Projection

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

Proportional Symbol

a thematic map in which the size of a symbol varies in proportion to the frequency or intensity of the mapped variable.

Region (formal/uniform, functional / nodal, perceptual / vernacular)

an area distinguished by a unique combination of trends or features.

Regionalism

the expression of a common sense of identity and purpose combined with the creation and implementation of institutions that express a particular identity and shape collective action within a geographical region.

Relative Location

the position of a place or activity in relation to other places or activities; implies spatial relationships and usually suggests the relative advantages or disadvantages of a location with respect to all competing locations.

Remote sensing

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

Scale (implied degree of generalization)

the size of an area student, from local to global.

Sequent occupance

successive habitation of the same area over time; builds layer after layer in the region.

Site

the physical character of a place; the absolute location of a place or activity described by local relief, landform, and other physical characteristics.

Situation

the relative location of a place or activity in relation to the physical and cultural characteristics of the larger regional or spatial system of which it is a part; the location of a place relative to other places.

Spatial

of or pertaining to space on or near Earth's surface. Often a synonym for geographical and used as an adjective to describe specific geographic concepts or processes.

Spatial interaction

the movement and flows involving human activity.

Stimulus

the spread of an underlying principle, even though a specific characteristic is rejected.

Thematic

a map that demonstrates a particular feature or a single variable. Four types: dot, isoline, choropleth, and proportional symbol.

Time zone

a geographic region within which the same standard time is used.

Time-spaced compression

an influence on the rate of expansion diffusion of an idea, observing that the spread or acceptance of an idea is usually delayed as distance from the source of the innovation increases.

Human Geography

One of the major divisions of geography; the spatial analysis of human population, its cultures, activities, and landscapes.

Relocation Diffusion

Sequential diffusion process in which the items being diffused are transmitted by their carrier agents as they evacuate the old area and relocate to new ones.

Cultural Hearth

Heartland, source area, innovation center, place of origin of a major culture.

Cultural ecology

The multiple interactions and relationships between a culture and the natural environment.