Geographic Concepts, Diffusion, and Map Types

Vocabulary flashcards covering core human geography concepts including spatial relationships, types of diffusion, cultural dynamics, and map projections.

Absolute location

Identifies a place using a precise coordinate system such as latitude and longitude.

Relative location

Describes where a place is in relation to other places or features.

Distance decay

The principle that interaction between places generally decreases as the distance between them increases.

Time-space compression

Occurs when improved transportation and communication make distant places seem closer together.

Spatial distribution

Describes how a phenomenon is arranged across geographic space.

Clustered pattern

Occurs when objects or activities are concentrated in particular areas.

Dispersed pattern

Occurs when objects or activities are spread relatively evenly across an area.

Diffusion

The process through which ideas, cultural traits, technologies, or diseases spread from one location to another.

Relocation diffusion

Happens when people physically move and bring cultural traits with them.

Contagious diffusion

Spreads rapidly through direct contact between people or nearby places.

Hierarchical diffusion

Spreads from influential people or places to others through established social or economic hierarchies.

Stimulus diffusion

Occurs when an idea spreads but is modified to fit the culture of the receiving population.

Popular culture

Culture that often spreads through hierarchical and contagious diffusion as influential people introduce trends that are adopted by large numbers of people.

Folk culture

Culture that tends to remain concentrated in relatively isolated areas because limited interaction reduces the speed of cultural diffusion.

Barriers to diffusion

Factors that hinder diffusion, which can include physical geography, political borders, language differences, cultural resistance, and limited transportation.

Cultural enclaves

Settlements produced when migrants with similar cultural backgrounds settle near one another through relocation diffusion.

Mercator projection

A map projection that preserves direction and shape fairly well, but greatly exaggerates the size of areas near the poles.

Peters projection

A map projection that preserves relative area more accurately, but significantly distorts the shapes of landmasses.

Choropleth map

A map that uses different colors or shading to represent data values across geographic areas, useful for comparing regional patterns.

Dot-density map

A map that uses dots to represent the frequency or distribution of a phenomenon, helping show concentration.

Proportional-symbol map

A map that changes the size of symbols to represent different quantities, allowing places with larger values to stand out.

Cartogram

A map that changes the size or shape of geographic areas according to a particular variable, rather than preserving actual geographic appearance.

Thematic maps

Maps that emphasize a particular geographic characteristic, such as population density, income, climate, or voting patterns.