APHG unit 1 vocab :'(

Graduated/Proportional Symbol Map

Uses symbols that varies in size frequency based on what is being mapped

Five Themes of Geography (1986): GENIP

location: position, situation of people and things, human/environmental interaction: reciprocal relationship b/w humans & environment, region: area on Earth's surface marked by a degree of homogeneity (uniformity) of some phenomenon, place: uniqueness of a location (or similarity of two or more locales); phenomena within an area, movement: mobility of people, goods and ideas, phenomena between areas

Absolute location

Position on Earth's surface using the coordinate system of longitude (that runs from North to South Pole) and latitude (that runs parallel to the equator).

Relative location

Position on Earth's surface relative to other features. (Ex: My house is north of I-84).

Absolute distance

Exact measurement of the physical space between two places.

Relative distance

Approximate measurement of the physical space between two places.

Site

The physical character of place; what is found at the location and why it is significant.

Situation

The location of a place relative to other places.

Formal Region

Uniform/ homogeneous region is an area within which everyone shares in common one or more distinctive characteristics. The shared feature could be a cultural value such as a common language, or an environmental climate.

Functional Region

Nodal Area organized around a node or focal point. The characteristic chosen to define a functional region dominates at a central focus or node and diminishes in importance outward. This region is tied to the central point by transportation or communication systems or by economic or functional associations.

perceptual region

Vernacular -- a place that people believe exists as a part of their cultural identity. Such regions emerge from peoples informal sense of place rather than from scientific models developed through geographic thought. (Often identified using a mental map- which is an internal representation of a portion of Earth's surface). Many "belts" fit this description cotton belt (what used to be dominated by agriculture, and is often referred to as the New South), Bible Belt, sun belt, rust belt,

Cultural landscape (built environment):

Fashioning of a natural landscape by a cultural group. This is the essence of how humans interact with nature.

Cultural diffusion

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

Relocation diffusion

The spread of an idea through physical movement of people from one place to another. Ex: spread of AIDS from New York, California, & Florida.

Expansion Diffusion

The spread of a feature from one place to another in a snowballing process…

Environmental determinism

A 19th- and early 20th-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 (e.g., Jared Diamond - Guns, Germs, and Steel)

Possibilism

The physical environment may limit some human actions, but people have the ability to adjust to their environment.

Geographic Information Systems (GIS):

Collection of computer hardware and software permitting spatial data to be collected, recorded, stored, retrieved, used, and displayed.

Global Positioning System (GPS):

Satellite-based system for determining the absolute location of places.

Remote sensing

Method of collecting data or information through the use of instruments (e.g. satellites) that are physically distant from the area or object of study.

Qualitative data

Described in terms of its quality (that is, informal or relative characteristics such as culture, language, religion, etc.).

Quantitative data

Precisely describes data using numbers and measures (population, political, economic, etc.).

Map projections

Any 3-dimensional object (Earth) will project some distortion onto any 2-dimensional object (map)

Azimuthal Projection Map

Directions from a central point are preserved; usually these projections also have radial symmetry

Mercator Projection

Straight meridians and parallels that intersect at right angles, used for marine navigation

Peters Projection

Equal-area cylindrical, areas of equal size on the globe are also equally sized on the map

Robinson Projection

Distorts shape, area, scale, and distance in an attempt to balance the errors of projection properties

Fuller Projection

Using the surface of a polyhedron, it is unfolded to a net in many different ways and flattened to form a two-dimensional map which retains most of the globe's relative proportional integrity

Dot Map

One dot represents a certain number of phenomena (e.g. population)

Thematic Map

Made to reflect a particular theme about a geographic area (e.g., geographic, topographic, political, etc)

Choropleth Map

Thematic map in which areas are shaded or patterned in proportion to the measurement of the statistical variable being displayed (e.g., population density)

Isoline map

Lines drawn to link different places that share a common value. The prefix 'iso' is a Greek word meaning equal, so an isoline must be a line joining equal points. For example, a line drawn on a map to join up all the places that are the same height above sea level is called a contour.

Cartogram Map

A map on which statistical information is shown in diagrammatic form. Sizes and shapes of information are altered to show relative importance or size.

Reference Map

A generalized map type designed to show general spatial properties of features (e.g. world maps, road maps, atlas maps)

Meridians

Line of longitude (Prime Meridian, International Date Line)

Scale

Representation of a real-world phenomenon at a certain level of reduction or generalization; represented as a fraction (large scale = large detail, small area; small scale = small detain, large area)

Scale: global, regional and local

Geographic patterns, activities and effects can be observed and can occur at world-wide, regional and local levels. It is important to differentiate, understand and explain the level at which different patterns, activities and effects are seen.

Latitude

a system of imaginary horizontal lines called parallels, measured in degrees, minutes, and seconds, that indicate a location's distance north or south of the Equator (0 degrees)

toponym

the names given to specific places or geographic features, reflecting cultural, historical, and linguistic contexts

Longitude

Distance east or west of the prime meridian, measured in degrees

Distance Decay

the effects of distance on interaction, generally the greater the distance the less interaction

time-space compression

through processes such as globalization time is accelerated and the significance of space is reduced

landscape analysis

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

Map Distortion

a change in the shape, size, or position of a place when it is shown on a map

Wallerstein's World Systems Theory

divides the world into a three-tiered system of Core, Semi-Periphery, and Periphery nations, based on economic development and their role in the global capitalist system

Cartography

the science of mapmaking

Census

a complete count of a population, usually conducted by a government, to gather demographic and socioeconomic data