HUMAN GEO UNIT 1

Location

Specific position on the Earths surface. Geographic coordinates.

Human Environment Interaction

Relationship between human societies and the natural world

Region

How regions are similar or different based on physical and cultural characteristics

Place

A locations unique physical and human characteristics

Movement

Mobility of goods, people and ideas

Absolute Location(Location)

Coordinates. Latitude and Longitude

Relative Location(Location)

Approximate location. “Next to” “near”.

Site(Location)

Location of a settlement on the Earth “Site Factors”

Situation(Location)

Surrounding features of a city. Both manmade and natural.

Formal/Uniform Region(Region)

Regions defined by physical, cultural or economic traits(ex. Sahara desert)

Functional/Nodal Region(Region)

Regions defined by interactions/activities, united by networks of communication (ex. broadcast area for a radio tower)

Perceptual/Vernacular Region(Region)

Intellectual designs people give to places(ex. “The South”)

Sense of Place(Place)

How we think of a place/what it means to us based on things we’ve experienced with our senses

Perception of Place(Place)

How we perceive a place based on what we have heard or been told

Intervening Opportunity(Movement)

Something diminishing the attractiveness of sites father away (ex. Why go to China when you can go to Chinatown in NYC?)

Sequent Occupance(Movement)

Successive societies leave their imprints on a place (ex. Latin Americans speak Spanish and also follow some aspects of Native American culture).

Cylindrical Map

Used for navigation

Peters Map

Spatial distribution related to area. Presents countries in their true proportion to one another.

Conic Map

Projections of the Earth onto a cone surface. Best suited to mid latitude regions(distortion increases towards the poles).

Robinson Map

Designed to minimize distortion in all properties. Most common/general type of map.

Relocation/Migration(Diffusion)

Ideas and practices carried with people are they immigrate from place to place. Diffuse into society in the new place they go to. (ex. Religious statute carried with an immigrant as they move to another country)

Hierarchical(Diffusion)

Diffusion as a result of a societal hierarchy. The more power a culture has over other cultures, the faster and wider it spreads. (ex. Roman Empire resulted in the spread of Roman culture in everything they conquered)

Contagious(Diffusion)

Spread of a cultural trait through direct contact. Usually rapid spread and requires close proximity. (ex. disease transmission, social media trends)

Stimulus(Diffusion)

Spread of an underlying principal, but traits are altered. Adapting a foreign culture to a local cultures norms. Diverse manifestations of an original idea. (ex. Indian McDonald's serving veggie burgers due to a high vegetarian population)

Reference Maps

Maps that show absolute locations of places

Thematic Maps

Maps that tell stories by showing some attribute or movement.

Time Zones

Every 15 degrees of longitude traveled east and west accounts for 1 hour difference

GPS

satellite technology used to get you from point a to point b.

GIS

uses computer technology to create maps with “patterns” and other relationships.

Determinism

Belief that physical environment determines human actions and culture

Possibilism

Belief that the physical environment may impact human actions and culture but does not decide it, in the end people choose what to do

Cartograms

chart and assign data by size so they distort places on a map

Cloropleth maps

Uses patterns or colors

Dot Maps

Dots represent a certain number of phenomena

Flow-Line Maps

Show data based on thickness and can be drawn from one base to another.

Isoline Maps

Uses continuous lines to join points of the same value. Such as a topographic map.

Graduated Symbol Map

Uses symbols of different sizes to indicate amounts.