Unit 1 Essential Knowledge

Types of maps

Reference maps and thematic maps.

Spatial patterns

Absolute and relative distance and direction, clustering, dispersal, and elevation.

Map projections

Inevitably distort spatial relationships in shape, area, distance, and direction.

Geospatial technologies

Include geographic information systems (GIS), satellite navigation systems, remote sensing, and online mapping and visualization.

Sources of spatial information

Field observations, media reports, travel narratives, policy documents, personal interviews, landscape analysis, and photographic interpretation.

Use of geospatial data

Used for personal, business, organizational, and governmental decision making.

Spatial concepts

Absolute and relative location, space, place, flows, distance decay, time-space compression, and pattern.

Concepts of nature and society

Sustainability, natural resources, and land use.

Evolution of theories regarding human-environment interaction

From environmental determinism to possibilism.

Scales of analysis

Global, regional, national, and local.

Regional definitions

On the basis of one or more unifying characteristics or patterns of activity.

Types of regions

Formal, functional, and perceptual/vernacular.

Nature of regional boundaries

Transitional and often contested and overlapping.

Application of regional analysis

At local, national, and global scales.