Unit 1 and 2: Thinking Geographically and Spatial Concepts

Vocabulary terms and definitions from Unit 1 and 2 covering maps, geographic data, spatial concepts, and regional analysis.

Physical geography

The study of the spatial characteristics of various elements of the physical environment, such as landforms, bodies of water, climate, ecosystems, and erosion.

Human geography

The study of the spatial characteristics of humans and human activities, including topics such as population, culture, politics, urban areas, and economics.

Four-Level Analysis

A spatial framework including L1 Comprehension, L2 Identification, L3 Explanation, and L4 Prediction used to guide geographic thinking when analyzing sources.

Theory

A system of ideas and concepts that attempt to explain and prove why or how interactions have occurred in the past or will occur in the future.

Concepts

Key vocabulary, ideas, and building blocks that geographers use to describe the world.

Processes

A series of steps or actions that explain why or how geographic patterns occur.

Models

Representations of reality or theories about reality used to see general spatial patterns, focus on specific factors, and understand variations.

Spatial models

Models that look like stylized maps and illustrate theories about spatial distributions, such as urban land use or the distribution of cities.

Nonspatial models

Models that illustrate theories and concepts using words, graphs, or tables, often depicting changes over time rather than across space.

Time-distance decay

The idea that things near each other are more closely connected or related than things that are far apart.

Reference maps

Maps designed for people to refer to for general information about places, such as political, physical, road, and plat maps.

Political maps

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

Physical maps

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

Plat maps

Reference 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, shades, or patterns to show the location and distribution of quantitative spatial data in defined areas.

Dot distribution maps

Maps used to show the specific location and distribution of something, where each dot or symbol represents a specified quantity.

Graduated symbol maps

Also called proportional symbol maps, these use symbols of different sizes to indicate different amounts of something.

Isoline maps

Also called isometric maps, they use lines to connect points of equal value to depict variations in data across space.

Topographic maps

A common type of isoline map where points of equal elevation are connected to create contours depicting surface features.

Cartogram

A map where the sizes of countries or other areal units are shown according to a specific statistic rather than land area.

Scale

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

Cartographic scale

The way a map communicates the ratio of its size to what it represents through words, a ratio (e.g., $1:200,000$), or a linear graphic.

Small-scale maps

Maps that show a larger amount of area with less detail, such as a global scale map.

Large-scale maps

Maps that show a smaller amount of area with a greater amount of detail, such as a map of North America.

Absolute location

The precise spot where something is according to a system, typically using latitude and longitude.

Latitude

The distance north or south of the equator, designated from $0\,degrees$ at the equator to $90\,degrees$ at the poles.

Longitude

The distance east or west of the prime meridian ($0\,degrees$), which runs through Greenwich, England.

Relative location

A description of where something is in relation to other things, often described in terms of connectivity and accessibility.

Absolute distance

A measurement of how far apart things are, usually in units such as $feet$, $miles$, $meters$, or $kilometers$.

Relative distance

The degree of nearness based on time or money, often dependent on the mode of travel.

Elevation

The distance of features above sea level, usually measured in $feet$ or $meters$.

Clustered distribution

Also called agglomerated, a pattern where phenomena are arranged in a group or concentrated area.

Map projection

The process of showing the curved surface of the earth on a flat surface, which inevitably causes distortion of area, shape, distance, or direction.

Mercator projection

A projection designed for navigation where directions are accurate, but land masses near the poles appear larger than reality.

Peters projection

A projection where sizes of land masses are accurate, but shapes are distorted, especially near the poles.

Landscape analysis

The task of defining and describing landscapes through careful observation and interpretation.

Field observation

The act of physically visiting a location and recording firsthand information, such as notes, photos, and interviews.

Remote sensing

The use of cameras or sensors mounted on aircraft or satellites to collect digital images or video of the earth's surface.

Quantitative data

Any information that can be measured and recorded using numbers, such as population statistics or life expectancy.

Qualitative sources

Geographic information not usually represented by numbers, such as interviews, photograph descriptions, or cartoons.

Global Positioning System (GPS)

A system of receivers on Earth that use locations of multiple satellites to determine and record a receiver's exact location.

Geographic Information System (GIS)

A computer system that can store, analyze, and display information from multiple digital maps or geospatial data sets.

Space

The area between two or more phenomena or things.

Place

The specific human and physical characteristics of a location.

Site

The characteristics at the immediate location, such as soil type, climate, labor force, and human structures.

Situation

The location of a place relative to its surroundings and its connectivity to other places.

Placelessness

A condition where a place inspires no strong emotional ties in people or lacks uniqueness.

Toponyms

Place names that can provide insights into physical geography, history, or culture.

Time-space compression

The shrinking relative distance between locations because of improved methods of transportation and communication.

Spatial interaction

The contact, movement, and flow of things between locations.

Friction of distance

The concept that when things are farther apart, they tend to be less connected.

Distance decay

The inverse relationship between distance and connection where interaction weakens as distance increases.

Spatial association

When the distribution of two or more phenomena match each other, indicating they may be related.

Natural resource

Items that occur in the natural environment that people can use, classified as renewable (theoretically unlimited) or non-renewable (limited).

Sustainability

Using resources now in ways that allow their use in the future while minimizing negative impacts on the environment.

Built environment

The physical artifacts that humans have created, such as buildings, roads, and fences, which form part of the landscape.

Cultural landscape

The realm of land use containing anything built by humans, reflecting their cultural beliefs and physical environment.

Environmental determinism

The belief that landforms and climate are the most powerful forces shaping human behavior and societal development.

Possibilism

The view that acknowledges limits set by the environment but focuses on how human culture and technology can overcome those limits.

Aggregation

When geographers organize data into different scales, such as census tract, city, county, or country.

Formal region

Also called a uniform or homogeneous region, it is united by one or more traits such as political boundaries, physical features, or culture.

Functional region

Also called a nodal region, it is organized around a focal point and defined by an activity that occurs across the region.

Perceptual region

Also called a vernacular region, it is defined by the informal sense of place that people ascribe to them rather than formal boundaries.

Subregion

A smaller area that shares characteristics with a larger region but is distinctive in some ways, such as Brazil in Latin America.