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What are the two main branches of geography?

Physical geography (study of natural features like climate, ecosystems, erosion) and Human geography (study of spatial characteristics like culture and economy).

What does a political map show?

Human-created boundaries such as countries, states, and cities.

What does a physical map show?

Labeled features like mountains, rivers, and deserts.

What does a road map show?

Highways, streets, and alleys.

What does a plat map show?

Property lines.

What are thematic maps?

Maps that tell a story, showing information but not directions; always read the title.

What is a choropleth map?

Map that uses shading or coloring to represent density (darker = more), shows density not distribution.

What is a dot map?

Map that uses dots or symbols to represent the presence or frequency of something.

What is a proportional symbol (graduated symbol) map?

Map that uses symbols whose size is proportional to the data they represent.

What is an isoline map?

Map that uses lines to connect places with equal value (like weather maps with contour lines).

What is a cartogram?

Map that distorts the size of areas to show a specific attribute (like population or economy).

What is a contiguous cartogram?

A cartogram where shapes and sizes of land masses are distorted to show data while remaining connected.

What is a non-contiguous cartogram?

A cartogram where shapes are resized or moved apart entirely based on data values.

What is a Dorling cartogram?

A cartogram using circles (or other shapes) sized to represent data values.

What is scale in geography?

The ratio between the size of things in the real world and their representation on a map.

What is a cartographic scale?

Scale written on a map, e.g., 1 inch = 10 miles.

What is a small-scale map?

Map that shows a large area with little detail.

What is a large-scale map?

Map that shows a small area with a lot of detail.

What is absolute distance?

Quantitative measurement of distance (e.g., Nashville to Denver = 1,022 miles).

What is relative distance?

Qualitative measurement of distance, describing proximity (e.g., "my house is near the beach").

What is latitude?

Lines that run 0–90° north and south of the equator.

What is longitude?

Lines that run 0–180° east and west of the Prime Meridian.

What is the equator?

Line of 0° latitude, dividing Earth into north and south hemispheres.

What is the Prime Meridian?

Line of 0° longitude, dividing Earth into east and west hemispheres.

What is the International Date Line?

Line that marks the change of one calendar day to the next; zigzags to keep time zones consistent on islands.

What are clustered patterns?

Patterns where things are grouped together in space.

What are dispersed patterns?

Patterns where things are spread out or scattered.

What is topographical mapping?

Maps that show elevation using contour (isoline) lines.

Why are all maps distorted?

Because Earth is a sphere and cannot be perfectly represented on a flat surface.

What are the four main types of map distortion?

Shape, area, distance, and direction.

What is a conformal projection?

A map that preserves shape but distorts size.

What is an equal-area projection?

A map that distorts oceans to preserve land size.

What is the Mercator projection?

Map that preserves direction but distorts size at the poles (Greenland looks huge).

What is the Gall-Peters projection?

Map that preserves size but distorts shape.

What is the Robinson projection?

Map that balances size and shape but distorts polar areas.

What is the Goode’s projection?

Map that removes oceans to preserve land size and shape, often used for thematic maps.

What is landscape analysis?

Defining and describing a place’s conditions or characteristics.

What is observation in geography?

Collecting data directly.

What is field observation?

Physically visiting a location to collect data.

What are methods of field observation?

Notes, photos, sketches, measurements, and interviews.

What is spatial data?

Information tied to specific locations.

What is remote sensing?

Collecting information about Earth from satellites or aircraft.

What is an aerial photo?

An image captured from a plane.

What is geospatial data?

Data tied to a specific place, can be quantitative or qualitative.

What are ways to obtain geospatial data?

Fieldwork, census data, land surveys, media, and smartphone location data.

Who collects geospatial data in the field?

Governments, organizations, private companies, researchers, colleges, and individuals.

What are methods of field data collection?

Observation, questioning, measuring, photographing, surveying, polling, sketching, and interviewing.

What is GIS?

Computer system that stores, analyzes, and displays geographic data.

What is GPS?

System that uses satellites to provide exact location of places or objects on Earth.

What are some uses of GPS?

Navigation (Google Maps, Waze), locating borders, and mapping.

What is one limitation of data?

Maps are only as reliable as the data used to create them.

Why might interview data be limited?

It may only represent a small portion of the population.

What groups are often excluded from data sets?

Homeless populations and undocumented workers.

What errors can occur with data collection?

Mistyped information or incomplete responses.

Why is geographic data powerful?

It can influence decisions made by individuals, businesses, and governments.

What is remote sensing used for?

Studying land cover, environmental changes, and weather.

What are benefits of geospatial data?

Helps solve problems and aids evidence-based decision-making.

What is spatial thinking?

Thinking that finds meaning in shapes, sizes, and spatial relationships.

What questions do geographers ask?

Why are things where they are, how did they get there, and what is changing their distribution?

What is absolute location?

The exact coordinates of a place.

What is relative location?

Where a place is in relation to other places.

What is site?

The immediate characteristics of a location.

What is situation?

The relative location and connections of a place.

What are toponyms?

Place names that provide insight into geography, history, or culture.

What are flows in geography?

Movement of people, goods, or information between places.

What is distance decay?

The idea that the farther two places are, the less likely they are to interact.

What is time-space compression?

The reduction in time it takes for people, ideas, or goods to travel due to technology and globalization.

What is sustainability?

Actions that provide immediate benefits while preserving resources for the future.

What are natural resources?

Items from nature that humans use, either renewable or nonrenewable.

What are the main types of land use?

Agricultural, industrial/commercial, residential, transportation, and recreational.

What is environmental determinism?

The theory that natural factors alone determine human culture and behavior.

What is possibilism?

The theory that humans can adapt to and modify their environment.

What is scale of analysis?

The level at which data is examined (local, regional, national, global).

Why does scale matter?

Patterns and explanations can look different depending on the scale.

What are examples of global-scale analysis?

United Nations decisions or worldwide patterns.

What are examples of national-scale analysis?

Decisions made by a country’s government, like the U.S. president.

What are examples of regional-scale analysis?

Areas within a country, such as the American South or Northern Italy.

What are examples of local-scale analysis?

States, cities, or neighborhoods.

What is cartographic scale?

The ratio on a map, shown as a fraction, statement, or graphic bar.

What is geographic scale?

The scope of data being studied (small-scale = large area, less detail; large-scale = small area, more detail).

What is regionalization?

Dividing space into smaller units for study, similar to dividing a book into chapters.

What are the four traits of regions?

Boundaries, unifying characteristics, coverage of space, and being human-created.

Why are regions challenging to define?

They constantly change and boundaries may shift depending on definition.

What are political regions?

Areas defined by human-created boundaries, like Brazil in South America.

What are physical regions?

Areas defined by natural features, like the Sahara Desert.

What are cultural regions?

Areas defined by shared cultural traits, like southwestern Nigeria.

What are economic regions?

Areas defined by economic activity, like the Gold Coast known for exports.

What are functional regions?

Regions organized around a focal point, defined by interactions and activities.

What are perceptual regions?

Regions defined by informal sense of place and cultural perception (vernacular regions).

What are examples of perceptual regions?

The American South, the Middle East, and Upstate New York.

What are world regions?

Large divisions of the world for study, often broken down into subregions.

What are subregions?

Smaller regions within world regions, with unique traits but shared characteristics.

What is an example of overlapping regional identity?

Georgia belongs to a cultural region (the South), an economic region (Sun Belt), and a political region (U.S.).

What is the main problem with regions?

They are generalizations and may overlook diversity.

What is a key takeaway about regions?

They simplify the world but can hide complexity and variation.