AMSCO Unit 1 Vocab

Physical Geography

the study of the spatial characteristics of various elements of the physical environment. Physical geographers study topics such as landforms, bodies of water, climate, ecosystems, and erosion.

Human Geography

is the study of the spatial characteristics of humans and human activities. Human geographers study topics such as population, culture, politics, urban areas, and economics.

Four-Level Analysis

Comprehension, Identification, Explanation, Prediction

Theory

system of ideas and concepts that attempt to explain and prove why or how interactions have occurred in the past or will occur in the future.

Concepts

key vocabulary, ideas, and building blocks that geographers use to describe our world.

Processes

involve a series of steps or actions that explain why or how geographic patterns occur.

Models

representations of reality or theories about reality,

Spatial Models

look like stylized maps, and they illustrate theories about spatial distributions.

Nonspatial Models

lustrate theories and concepts using words, graphs, or tables.

Time-distance Decay

The idea is that things, such as cities, near each other are more closely connected or related
than things that are far apart,

Spatial Patterns

refer to the general arrangement of things being studied.

Networks

are a set of interconnected entities, sometimes called nodes.

Quantitative Data

any information that can be measured and recorded using numbers such as total number of immigrants to a city.

Geospatial Data

is quantitative and spatial. It has a geographic location component to it such as a country, city, zip code, latitude, longitude, or address

Qualitative Sources

are not usually represented by numbers. "This data is collected as interviews, photographs, remote satellite images, descriptions, or cartoons. For example, asking people if they feel an intersection is dangerous is qualitative as is reviewing a photograph ofa city's landscape.

Scales of Analysis

looking at topics at the local, regional, country, or global scale.

Reference Maps

Are aptly named because they are designed for people to refer to for general information about places.

Political Maps

show and label human-created boundaries and designations, such as countries, states, cities, and capitals.

Physical Maps

show and label natural features, such as mountains, rivers, and deserts.

Road Maps

show and label highways, streets, and alleys.

Plat Maps

show and label property lines and details of land ownership.

Thematic Maps

show spatial aspects of information or of a phenomenon

Choropleth Maps

use various colors, shades of one color, or patterns to show the location and distribution of spatial data.

Dot Distribution Maps

are used to show the specific location and distribution of something across a map. Each dot represents a specified quantity.

Graduated Symbol Maps

use symbols ofdifferent sizes to indicate different amounts of something. Larger sizes indicate more of something, and smaller sizes indicate less.

Isoline Maps

also called isometric maps, use lines that connect points of equal value to depict variations in the data across space. Where lines are close together, the map depicts rapid change, and where the lines are farther apart, the phenomenon is relatively the same. (topographic maps)

Topographic Maps

Points of equal elevation are connected on these maps, creating contours that depict surface features.

Cartogram

the sizes of countries (or states, counties, or other areal units) are shown according to some specific statistic

Scale

is the ratio between the size of things in the real world and the size of those same things on the map.

Small-scale Maps

show a larger amount of area with less detail

Large-scale Maps

show a smaller amount of area with a greater amount of detai

Absolute Location

is the precise spot where something is according to a system.

Relative Location

a description of where something is in relation to
other things.

Connectivity

how well two locations are tied together by roads or other links,

Accessibility

how quickly and easily people in one location can interact with people in another location.

Direction

to describe where things are in relation to each
other

Patterns

general arrangement of things, in the distribution of phenomena across space that give clues about causes or effects of the distribution

Absolute Distance

is usually measured in terms of feet, miles, meters or
kilometers.

Relative Distance

indicates the degree of nearness based on time
or money and is often dependent on the mode of travel. For example, traveling
from home to your school takes 10 minutes by car or 25 minutes walking.

Distribution

the way a phenomenon is spread out or arranged over an area to describe patterns.

Clustered (Agglomerated)

phenomena are arranged in a group or concentrated area such as restaurants in a food court at a mall or the clustering of cities along the border of the United States and Mexico.

Linear Distribution

phenomena are arranged in a straight line, such as the distribution of towns along a railroad line.

Dispersed Distribution

phenomena are spread out over a large area, such as the distribution of large malls in a city.

Circular Distribution

phenomena are equally spaced from a central point, forming a circle, such as the distribution of the homes of people who shop at a particular store.

Geometric Distribution

phenomena are in a regular arrangement, such as the squares or blocks formed by roads in the Midwest.

Random Distribution

phenomena appear to have no order to their position, such as the distribution of pet owners in a city.

Landscape Analysis

The task of defining and describing landscapes

Field Observations

is used to refer to the act of physically visiting a location, place, or region and recording, firsthand, information there.

Spatial Data

All of the information that can be tied to specific locations is called

Aerial Photography

professional images captured from planes within the atmosphere,

Fieldwork

or observing and recording information on location, or in the field

Geovisualization

That allow people to zoom in or out to see the data in ways that were previously impossible. When skillfully used, tools such as Google Earth, ESRI 3D GIS, OpenStreetMap, or the COVID-19 map

Global Positioning System (GPS)

___ receivers on the earth's surface use the locations of multiple satellites to determine and record a receiver's exact location

Geographic Information System (GIS)

Computer system that can store, analyze, and display information from multiple digital maps or geospatial data sets

Remote Sensing

The use of cameras or other sensors mounted on aircraft or satellites to collect digital images or video of the earth's surface