Human Geo vocab

Ecological Perspective

The relationships between living things and their environments

Distance Decay

A principle stating that the farther away one thing is from another, the less interaction the two things will have

Density

A number of things- people, animals, or objects, in a specific area(number divided by land area)

Relative location

A place’s location described in a relation to other places, often based on connection to other places

Time-space Compression

How modern transportation and communication technology have allowed humans to travel and communicate over long distances more quickly and easily

Physical Geography

The study of natural processes and the distribution of features in the environment, such as landforms, plants, animals, soil, and climate

Mental Map

Your own internalized representation of an area of Earth’s surface

Possibilism

Theory of human-environment interaction that states that humans can adapt the physical environment to their needs

Spatial Perspective

A way of thinking about how and hwy physical features or processes are positioned in geographic space. It is a viewpoint that explains and predicts physical human patterns on the earth’s surface

Absolute location

The exact location of an object, usually expressed as a latitude and longitude coordinates

Space

The area between two or more things

Human Geography

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

Environmental Determinism

The idea that human behavior is strongly affected, controlled, or determined by the physical environment

Place

Location on Earth that is distinguished by its physical and human characteristics- what is it like?

Site

A place’s absolute location, as well as its physical characteristics, such as the landforms, climate, and reasources

Distribution

The way a feature is spread out over and area- more general

Pattern

The way in which things are arranged in a particular space

Situation

Location of a place in relation to other places or its surrounding features