World Geography Unit 1

Absolute Location

Exact place

Example: An address (number, street, city, state, zip code) or a latitude and longitude

Cartography

The science of mapmaking

Example: Detailed map (like a Mercator)

Concentration

Spread of something over a given area

Example: Heavily concentrated area

Conservation

Sustainable management of a natural resource

Example: Limiting number of trees cut down

Contagious Diffusion

Rapid, widespread diffusion of characteristics throughout the population

Example: Ice bucket challenge

Culture

Body of customary beliefs, social forms, and material traits that together constitute a group's distinct tradition

Example: Language

Cultural Ecology

Geographic approach that emphasizes human-environment relationships

Example: How humans treat environment

Cultural Landscape

The fashioning of a natural landscape by a cultural group

Example: Industry or vegetation

Density

Frequency of which something exists within a given unit of area

Example: Population

Diffusion

Process of spread of a feature or trend from one place to another over time

Example: Seeds spread from trees

Distance Decay

Contact diminishes with increasing distance and eventually disappears

Example: Friend moves away, you don't talk as much, and soon don't talk at all

Distribution

Arrangement of something across Earth's surface

Example: Houses distributed evenly on a city block

Environmental Determinism

Study of how environment determines human activity

Example: Live close to coast, you go fishing more often & eat fish

Expansion Diffusion

Spread of a feature/trend among people from one area to another in an additive process

Example: Someone shares idea w/ another and they share it w/ somebody

Formal Region (Uniform Region)

Area where everyone has one or more distinctive characteristics in common

Example: Wisconsin follows the same set of laws

Friction of Distance

Cause of distance decay

Example: Someone or something that moves away

Functional Region (Nodal Region)

An area organized around a node or focal point

Example: TV or radio range

GIS (Geographic Information System)

Computer system that captures, stores, queries, analyzes, and displays geographic data (layers map)

Example: Predict disaster damage or track deforestation

Globalization

Actions or processes that involve the entire world and result in making something worldwide in scope

Example: Changing/forgetting culture

GPS (Global Positioning System)

Satellites places in orbit of Earth, tracking stations to monitor and control, receiver to collect info

Example: GPS on a smartphone

Greenwich Mean Time

Prime meridian (0 degrees longitude) - master time reference for all points on Earth

Example: Prime meridian

Hearth

Region where innovative ideas originate

Example: Someone in Australia comes up w/ a completely new idea

Hierarchical Diffusion

Spread of a feature or trend from one key person (authority) to other people people/places

Example: British forced India to speak English

Housing Bubble

Rapid increase in value of houses followed by a sharp decline in value

Example: House is at $200K then drops to $100K

Human Geography

Where people and activities are found on Earth and why are they in these places

Example: Population, culture, agriculture, urbanization

International Date Line

Follows 180 degrees longitude, 24 hr line

Example: East to west turn clock ahead 24 hrs

- West to east, turn clock back 24 hrs

Latitude

Numbering system for parallels

Example: Equator is 0 degrees latitude

Less Developed Countries

Poor Countries

Example: India and most African countries

Local Diversity

Allows people to express unique cultural traditions

Example: Christmas or Thanksgiving

Location

Where something is

Example: Addresses

Longitude

Numbering system for meridians

Example: Something is located at 90 degrees longitude

Map

2D/flat-scale model of the Earth's surface, or portion of it

Example: World map

Mental Map

Representation of portion of Earth's surface based on what an individual knows about a place

Example: Detailed visual of where someone lives

Meridian

An arc drawn between the north and south poles on the globe

Example: Prime meridian which is 0 degrees longitude

More Developed Countries

Wealthier countries

Example: USA and UK

Nonrenewable Resource

Something produced in nature more slowly than consumed by humans

Example: Gasoline and coal

Parallel

Circle drawn around the globe parallel to the equator

Example: Equator

Pattern

Geometric arrangement of something in a study area

Example: Pattern of city blocks or roads

Physical Geography

Where things are and why they're there

Example: Soil, climate, oceans, rivers

Place

Specific point on Earth distinguished by a particular characteristic

Example: Waukesha's distinguishing characteristic is the Fox River

Polder

Land created by Dutch by draining water from an area

Example: When in need of more land they drained water from a place

Possibilism

Theory that people have the ability to change physical environment

Example: In New York, they added land in the water

Prime Meridian

0 degrees longitude

Projection

Scientific method of transferring locations on Earth's surface to a flat map

Example: Lines from globe put on flat piece of paper

Qualitative

Measure quality of something

Example: The flowers looked better than the trees

Quantitative

Data written in numbers

Example: 5 fish and 10 plants

Region

Area distinguished by a unique combinations of trends or features

Example: USA follows same set of laws

Regional Studies

Approach to geography that emphasizes relationships among social and physical phenomena in particular study area

Example: People in study group become friends

Relative Location

Location in relation to something else

Example: By the park, near the school

Relocation Diffusion

Spread of a feature/trend through movement of people from one place to another

Example: English speaking people moved to USA, most people in USA now speak English

Remote Sensing

Data about Earth's surface from a satellite orbiting the Earth or from other long-distance methods

Example: Used to forecast weather

Renewable Resource

Something produced in nature more rapidly than consumed by humans

Example: Plants

Resource

Substance in environment that is useful to people

Example: Food, water, trees

Scale

Relationship between the portion of Earth being studied and Earth as a whole

Example: 1 inch = 5 miles on a map

Sense of Place

Strong identity and character that's felt by locals and visitors

Example: When people go to Seattle, WA, they get a gloomy feeling because of clouds and rain

Site

Physical character of a place

Example: Water sources or vegetation

Situation

Location of a place relative to another place

Example: Waukesha is close to Milwaukee

Space

Physical gap/interval between two things

Example: Space between your house and a friend's house

Space-Time Compression

Used to describe reduction in the time it takes for something to reach another place

Example: Time it takes to communicate w/ somebody compared to 20 years ago

Stimulus Diffusion

Spread of understanding a principle even though a characteristic itself fails to diffuse

Example: McDonalds in different countries

Toponym

The name given to a portion of the Earth's surface

Example: Florida or Europe

Transnational (Multinational) Corporation

Conducts research, operates factories, and sells products in many countries

Example: McDonalds or Dairy Queen

Uneven Development

Increasing gap in economic conditions between regions in core and periphery

Example: USA develops faster than India

Vernacular Region (Perceptual Region)

An area that people believe exists as part of their cultural identity (opinionated)

Example: Seafood stereotype on the coasts of countries