APHUG VOCAB 1

Absolute Location

The exact, fixed position of a place on Earth's surface

Cultural

The shared practices, technologies, attitudes, and behaviors that a society transmits over time.

Cartography

The science and art of map making

Choropleth Map

A thematic map that uses different shades, tones, or colors to show data values for a predefined unit. (i.e. countries, states, counties, etc)

Clustered

A spatial pattern or concentration where objects, buildings, or people are grouped closely together in a specific area

Concentration

The extent of a feature's spread over a specific space

Contagious Diffusion

A cultural trait, idea, or innovation spreads rapidly and continuously from person to person in a wave like pattern outward from its hearth

Geographic Information System (GIS)

A computer system that stores, organizes, analyzes, and displays geographic data using layered maps

Global Positioning System (GPS)

A satellite based system that determines the precise absolute location of something on Earth

Globalization

The expansion and integration of economic, political, and cultural processes on a global scale

Hearth

The geographic point of origin where a cultural trait, innovation, or practice first develops before spreading outward

Hierarchial Diffusion

A type of expansion diffusion where an idea, trend, or cultural trait spreads from a place/person of power & influence down to smaller, less influential places or people

Distribution

The arrangement of a feature or group of people across Earth's surface

Environmental Determinism

The theory that the physical environment shapes and limits what humans can do. (i.e. climate, terrain, soil, resources, etc)

Density

the frequency with which something occurs within a specific unit of land

Diffusion

The process by which ideas, innovations, cultural traits, and other phenomena spread from a hearth

Toponym

The name given to a place on Earth (i.e. city, mountain, or river)

Sequent Occupance

The concept/idea that successive societies leave their cultural imprints on a single place, building cumulative layers on the cultural landscape over time