Human Geography: Thinking Geographically Vocab

I'm gonna implode if I don't get a 100

Physical geography:

The Study of natural processes and the distribution of features in the environment

Human geography:

The study of the events and processes that have shaped how humans understand, use, and alter Earth.

Spatial perspective:

Refers to where something occurs. Includes studying how people live on Earth, how they organize themselves and why the events of human societies occur where they do

Ecological perspective:

Refers to the relationships between living things and their environments.

Location:

The position that a point or object occupies on Earth.

Absolute Location:

The exact location of an object

Relative Location:

A description of where a place is in relation to other places or features

Place:

A location on Earth that is distinguished by its physical and human characteristics

Mental maps:

Internalized representations of Earth's surface

Site:

Refers to a place's absolute location, as well as its physical characteristics, such as landforms, climate, and resources. (Ex. Landforms, Climate, and Resources)

Situation:

Refers to a place's location in relation to other places or features (Ex. Transport routes, political associations, and economic and cultural ties)

Space:

An area between two or more things on Earth's surface

Distribution:

How things are arranged within a given space

Density:

the number of things in a specific area

Pattern:

How things are /specifically/ arranged within a given space

Flow:

the movement of people, goods, and information and the economical, social, political, and cultural effects of these movements

Environmental determinism:

Human behavior is largely controlled by the physical environment

Environmental possibilism:

Humans have more agency and individuals are active agents. The environment in which they live offers them challenges and opportunities.

Sustainability:

The use of Earth's land and natural resources that ensure they will continue to be available in the future.

Distance decay:

The farther away one thing is from another, the less interaction the two things will have

Time-space compression:

The increasing sense of accessibility and connectivity which seems to bring humans in distance places closer

Scale:

The area of the world being studied.

Scale of Analysis:

The level at which the data is displayed on a map.

Global Scale of Analysis:

showed the world at one level of data

Regional Scale of Analysis:

data by continents or world regions

National Scale of Analysis

Data for 1 or more countries

Local Scale of Analysis:

Shows data at subnational level

Large-Scale Map:

Zoomed in; shows more detail less space

Medium-Scale Map:

Middle ground between Large and Small scale. Moderate detail over moderate space

Small-Scale Map:

Zoomed out; shows less detail more space

Region:

An area on Earth's surface with certain characteristics that make it distinct from other areas.

Formal region:

united by one or more specific traits. (Environmental, Political, Social, Economics)

Functional region:

An area organized by its function around a node (Typically travel, economics, communication)

Node:

The focus of a region

Suburbs:

The residential areas surrounding a city

Vernacular region:

A type region based on a person’s perspective or perception of a certain location.

Globalization:

The expansion of economic, cultural, and political processes at a worldwide scale.

World Systems Theory:

Describes the spatial and functional relations between countries in the world economy

Core:

Highly interconnected, with good transportation and communication networks and infrastructure that supports economic activity. Stable gov't and strong political alliances.

Periphery:

Less stable gov't and poorer services. Less connected, inferior transportation networks, and inadequate infrastructure for supporting activity.

Semi-periphery:

In the process of industrializing and often active in manufacturing and exporting goods. Better connections with better transportation and communication networks. Potential to grow to Core.

Sustainable development:

Development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.

Qualitative:

Measured by numbers

Quantitative:

Interpretations of data sources such as field observations, media reports, travel narratives, policy documents, personal interviews, landscape analysis, and visuals.

Census:

An official count of people in a defined area.

Geographic Information Systems (GIS):

Captures, stores, organizes, and displays geographic data that can be used to configure both simple and complex maps.

Topography:

The shape and features of land surfaces.

Remote sensing:

Information and Data gathered by satellites orbiting the Earth.

Global Positioning System (GPS):

utilizes a worldwide network of satellites that transmit location data to handheld receivers.

Cartographers:

Created maps to help explorers follow routes of those who came before them and estimate how long it might take to travel uncharted lands.

Absolute distance:

Distance that can be measured using a standard unit of length.

Relative distance:

Measured in terms of other criteria like time or money.

Map scale:

The mathematical relationship between the size of a map and the part of the real world it shows

Robinson Projection:

The shapes of the continents become more distorted farther away from the equator of the map's central meridian. Distorts size and shape just slightly but has imprecise measurements and extreme distortion at poles. "Globe Like"

Mercator Projection:

The continents shapes are maintained and direction is displayed accurately. Distorts area and shape increasingly near poles. True Direction and good for navigation

Gall-Peters Projection:

Relative size of continents is more easily displayed than others, but shape is distorted and elongated. Shows True Direction.

Azimuthal Projection:

A flattened disk-shape portion of Earth is shown from a specific point. Preserves direction but distorts shape and area, and only shows 1/2.

Reference maps:

Generalized sources of geographic data and focus on location.

Thematic maps:

Have a theme or specific purpose and focus on the relationship among geographic data.

Isoline map:

Maps connect areas of equal value with lines.

Graduated symbols map:

Feature symbols proportional in size to actual value of data

Cartogram:

distort the appearances of places on a map to represent value

Dot density map:

Use dots to express the volume and density in its approximate location

Choropleth map:

Use color or shading to represent quantifiable data.