Unit 1: Thinking Geographically - Maps and Geography Flashcards

Vocabulary flashcards covering the introductory concepts of geography, cartography, and spatial analysis as presented in Chapter 1.

Physical geography

The study of the spatial characteristics of various elements of the physical environment, including landforms, bodies of water, dimate, ecosystems, and erosion.

Human geography

The study of the spatial characteristics of humans and human activities, including population, urban areas, and economies.

Four-Level Analysis

A guide to spatial thinking and an approach to help you think like a Geographer.

Time-distance decay

The icca that things such as cities, are more closely connected or related to each other than things that are far apart.

Spatial patterns

The general arrangements of things being studied and the repeated patterns Slavencer of wents that creak them.

Quantitative

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

Qualitative sources

Data not usually represented by numbers, collected through interviews, photographs, remote Satellite images, description maps, or cartoons.

Scales of analysis

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

Reference maps

Maps designed for people to refer to for general information about places.

Political maps

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

Physical maps

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

Plat maps

Maps that show and label property lines and details of land ownership.

Thematic maps

Maps that show spatial aspects of information or of a phenomenon.

Choropleth maps

Thematic maps that use various colors or patterns to show the location and distribution of data.

Dot distribution maps

Maps used to show the specific location and distribution of something across a map.

Graduated symbol maps

Maps that use symbols of different sizes to indicate different amounts, where larger sizes indicate more and smaller sizes indicate less.

Isoline maps

Maps that use lines connecting points of equal value to depict variations in the data across space, with close lines indicating rapid change and far lines being relatively the same.

Cartogram

A map where the sizes of countries are shown according to some specific statistic.

Scale

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

Cartographic scale

Refers to the way the mas communicates the ratio of its size to the size of what it represents.

Small-scale maps

Maps that show a larger amount of cofen with less detail at a global scale.

Large-scale maps

Maps that show a smaller amount of area with a greater amount of detail.

Absolute location

The precise spot where something is according to a system.

Latitude

The distance north or south of the equator.

Equator

An imaginary line that circles the globe exactly halfway between the North and South poles.

Longitude

The distance east or west of the prime meridian.

Prime meridian

An imaginary line that runs pole to pole through Greenwich, England.

International Date Line

A line that follows the prime meridian line but makes durations to accomodate international bantaries.

Relative location

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

Connectivity

How well the 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.

Patterns

The general arrangement of things.