aphug

absolute location

Exact location of a place on the earth described by global coordinates

Cartogram

A special kind of map that distorts the shapes and sizes of countries or other political regions to present economic or other kinds of data for comparison.

Cartography

The science of making maps

Chloropleth Map

A thematic map that uses tones or colors to represent spatial data as average values per unit area.

Climate

Overall weather in an area over a long period of time

Contagious Diffusion

The rapid, widespread diffusion of a feature or trend throughout a population.

cultural ecology

Geographic approach that emphasizes human-environment relationships.

cultural landscape

the visible imprint of human activity and culture on the landscape

distance decay

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

Dot Distribution Map

A map where dots are used to demonstrate the frequency or intensity of a particular phenomena

environmental determinism

A doctrine that claims that cultural traits are formed and controlled by environmental conditions.

Expansion Diffusion

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

formal region

An area in which everyone shares in one or more distinctive characteristics

functional region

A region defined by the particular set of activities or interactions that occur within it

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

Geographic 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.

graduated symbol map

A map with symbols that change in size according to the value of the attribute they represent.

hearth

The region from which innovative ideas originate

isoline map

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

latitude

Distance north or south of the equator

longitude

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

map scale

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

place

A specific point on Earth distinguished by a particular character.

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.

projection

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

region

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

relocation diffusion

The spread of a feature or trend through bodily movement of people from one place to another.

resource

A substance in the environment that is useful to people, is economically and technologically feasible to access, and is socially acceptable to use.

site

The physical character of a place

situation

the location of a place relative to other places

space-time compression

The reduction in the time it takes to diffuse something to a distant place, as a result of improved communications and transportation systems

Stimulus Diffusion

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

Sustainability

The ability to keep in existence or maintain. A sustainable ecosystem is one that can be maintained

toponym

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

vernacular region

an area that people believe exists as part of their cultural identity

assylum seeker

Someone who has migrated to another country in the hope of being recognized as a refugee

Circular Migration

The temporary movement of a migrant worker between home and host countries to seek employment.

emigration

movement of individuals out of a population

forced migration

Permanent movement compelled usually by cultural factors.

guest worker

a foreign laborer living and working temporarily in another country

immigration

Movement of individuals into a population

internal migration

Permanent movement within a particular country.

Internally Displaced Person (IDP)

Someone who has been forced to migrate for similar political reasons as a refugee but has not migrated across an international border

international migration

Permanent movement from one country to another.

interregional migration

Permanent movement from one region of a country to another.

Intraregional Migration

Permanent movement within one region of a country.

mobility

All types of movement from one location to another.

pull factor

a factor that induces people to move to a new location

push factor

a factor that induces people to leave old residences

quota

a limited or fixed number or amount of people or things, in particular.

refugee

A person who has been forced to leave their country in order to escape war, persecution, or natural disaster

step migration

Migration to a distant destination that occurs in stages, for example, from farm to nearby village and later to a town and city

Unauthorized immigrants

A person who enters a country without proper documents to do so

Business Services

Services that primarily meet the needs of other businesses, including professional, financial, and transportation services

central place theory

A theory that explains the distribution of services, based on the fact that settlements serve as centers of market areas for services; larger settlements are fewer and farther apart than smaller settlements and provide services for a larger number of people who are willing to travel farther.

consumer services

Businesses that provide services primarily to individual consumers, including retail services and education, health, and leisure services

food desert

An area in a developed country where healthy food is difficult to obtain

gravity model

A model that holds that the potential use of a service at a particular location is directly related to the number of people in a location and inversely related to the distance people must travel to reach the service.

Hinterland (Market Area)

The area surrounding a central place, from which people are attracted to use the place's goods and services.

megacity

City with more than 10 million people

primate city

The largest settlement in a country, if it has more than twice as many people as the second-ranking settlement.

public service

a service offered by the government to provide security and protection for citizens and businesses

range

The maximum distance people are willing to travel to use a service.

rank-size rule

A pattern of settlements in a country, such that the nth largest settlement is 1/n the population of the largest settlement.

settlement

A permanent collection of buildings and inhabitants.

threshold

The minimum number of people needed to support the service

urbanization

An increase in the percentage and in the number of people living in urban settlements.

Agribusiness

Commercial agriculture characterized by integration of different steps in the food-processing industry, usually through ownership by large corporations.

agricultural revolution

The time when human beings first domesticated plants and animals and no longer relied entirely on hunting and gathering

aquaculture

Raising marine and freshwater fish in ponds and underwater cages

cash crop

a crop produced for its commercial value rather than for use by the grower.

cereal grain

A grass yielding grain for food.

Columbian Exchange

The exchange of plants, animals, diseases, and technologies between the Americas and the rest of the world following Columbus's voyages.

commercial agriculture

Agriculture undertaken primarily to generate products for sale off the farm.

market gardening

The small scale production of fruits, vegetables, and flowers as cash crops sold directly to local consumers. Distinguishable by the large diversity of crops grown on a small area of land, during a single growing season. Labor is done manually.

crop rotation

The practice of rotating use of different fields from crop to crop each year, to avoid exhausting the soil.

dairy farming

a farm that produces milk or milk products, and are usually around big urban areas

desertification

Degradation of land, especially in semiarid areas, primarily because of human actions like excessive crop planting, animal grazing, and tree cutting.

dietary energy consumption

The amount of food that an individual consumes, measured in kilocalories

double cropping

Harvesting twice a year from the same field.

food security

Physical, social, and economic access at all times to safe and nutritious food sufficient to meet dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life.

genetically modified organism (GMO)

an organism produced by copying genes from a species with a desirable trait and inserting them into another species

green revolution

Rapid diffusion of new agricultural technology, especially new high-yield seeds and fertilizers.

Horticulture

The growing of fruits, vegetables, and flowers.

intensive subsistence agriculture

A form of subsistence agriculture in which farmers must expend a relatively large amount of effort to produce the maximum feasible yield from a parcel of land.

milkshed

The area surrounding a city from which milk is supplied.

mixed crop and livestock farming

Commercial farming characterized by integration of crops and livestock; most of the crops are fed to animals rather than consumed directly by humans.

Monocropping

An agricultural method that utilizes large plantings of a single species or variety

organic agriculture

Approach to farming and ranching that avoids the use of herbicides, pesticides, growth hormones, and other similar synthetic inputs.

overfishing

capturing fish faster than they can reproduce

Pastoral Nomadism

A form of subsistence agriculture based on herding domesticated animals.

plantation

A large farm in tropical and subtropical climates that specializes in the production of one or two crops for sale, usually to a more developed country.

ranching

A form of commercial agriculture in which livestock graze over an extensive area.

Second Agricultural Revolution

tools and equipment were modified, methods of soil preparation, fertilization, crop care, and harvesting improved the general organization of agriculture made more efficient

shifting cultivation

A form of subsistence agriculture in which people shift activity from one field to another; each field is used for crops for relatively few years and left fallow for a relatively long period.

subsistence farming

farming in which only enough food to feed one's family is produced

Transhumance

The seasonal migration of livestock between mountains and lowland pastures.

truck farming

Commercial gardening and fruit farming, so named because truck was a Middle English word meaning bartering or the exchange of commodities.