Basic Concepts

Question 1

Of or pertaining to space on or near Earth’s surface. Often a synonym for geographical and used as an adjective to describe specific geographic concepts or processes.

Answer 1

Spatial

Question 2

The exact position of an object or place stated in spatial coordinates or a grid system designed for locational purposes, e.g., latitude and longitude.

Answer 2

Absolute Location

Question 3

The position of a place or activity in relation to other places or activities; implies spatial relationships and usually suggests the relative advantages or disadvantages of a location with respect to all competing locations.

Answer 3

Relative Location

Question 4

The physical character of a place

Answer 4

Site

Question 5

The relative location of a place or activity in relation to the physical and cultural characteristics of the larger regional or spatial system of which it is a part; the location of a place relative to other places.

Answer 5

Situation

Question 6

The name given to a portion of Earth’s surface.

Answer 6

Place Name (Toponym)

Question 7

(absolute, relative)

Answer 7

Distance, Direction, or Size

Question 8

The size of an area student, from local to global.

Answer 8

Scale (implied degree of generalization)

Question 9

Natural landscape

Answer 9

Physical attributes

Question 10

Cultural landscape

Answer 10

Cultural attribute

Question 11

The part of the physical landscape that represents material culture; the buildings, roads, bridges, and similar structures large and small of the cultural landscape.

Answer 11

Built landscape

Question 12

Successive habitation of same area over time; builds layer after layer in the region.

Answer 12

Sequent occupance

Question 13

A nineteenth and early twentieth century approach to the study of geography that argued that the general laws sought by human geographers could be found in the physical sciences; physical environment caused human activities.

Answer 13

Environmental determinism

Question 14

The theory that the physical environment may set limits on human actions, but people have the ability to adjust to the physical environment and choose a course of action form many alternatives.

Answer 14

Possibilism

Question 15

The movement and flows involving human activity.

Answer 15

Spatial interaction

Question 16

The opportunity for contact or interaction from a given point or location, in relation to other locations.

Answer 16

Accessibility

Question 17

The directness of routes linking pairs of places; an indication of the degree of internal connection in a transport network; all of the tangible and intangible means of connection and communication between places.

Answer 17

Connectivity

Question 18

The areal pattern of sets of places and the routes (links) connecting them along which movement can take place.

Answer 18

Network

Question 19

The diminishing in importance and eventual disappearance of a phenomenon with increasing distance from its origin.

Answer 19

Distance decay

Question 20

A measure of the retarding or restricting effect of distance on spatial interaction; the greater the distance, the greater the “friction” and the less the interaction or exchange, or the greater the cost of achieving the exchange.

Answer 20

Friction of distance

Question 21

An influence on the rate of expansion diffusion of an idea, observing that the spread or acceptance of an idea is usually delayed as distance from the source of the innovation increases.

Answer 21

Time-spaced compression

Question 22

The process of spread of a feature or trend from one place to another over time.

Answer 22

Diffusion

Question 23

The region from which innovative ideas originate.

Answer 23

Hearth

Question 24

The spread of a feature or trend through bodily movement of people from one place to another.

Answer 24

Relocation

Question 25

The spread of a feature or trend among people from one area to another in a snowballing process.

Answer 25

Expansion

Question 26

The spread of a feature or trend from one key person or node of authority or power to other persons or places; spread of culture from one important / large area to another important / large area.

Answer 26

Hierarchical

Question 27

The rapid, widespread diffusion of a feature or trend though out a population; person to person spread of culture.

Answer 27

Contagious

Question 28

The spread of a n underlying principle, even though a specific characteristic is rejected.

Answer 28

Stimulus

Question 29

The arrangement of something across Earth’s surface.

Answer 29

Distribution

Question 30

The total number of people divided by the total land area.

Answer 30

Density Arithmetic

Question 31

The number of people per unit of area of arable land, which is land suitable for agriculture.

Answer 31

Physiological density

Question 32

A rural settlement pattern characterized by isolated farms rather than clustered villages.

Answer 32

Dispersed / Scattered

Question 33

A rural settlement in which the houses and farm buildings of each family are situated close to each other and fields surround the settlement.

Answer 33

Clustered/agglomerated

Question 34

(linear, centralized, random)

Answer 34

Pattern

Question 35

An area distinguished by a unique combination of trends or features.

Answer 35

Region (formal/uniform, functional / nodal, perceptual / vernacular)

Question 36

An area in which everyone shares in one or more distinctive characteristics.

Answer 36

Formal Region

Question 37

An area organized around a node or focal point.

Answer 37

Functional Region (Nodal)

Question 38

An area that people believe to exist as part of their cultural identity.

Answer 38

Perceptual/Vernacular

Question 39

A two-dimensional, or flat, representation of Earth’s surface or a portion of it.

Answer 39

Map

Question 40

Distance on a map relative to the distance on Earth.

Answer 40

Map Scale

Question 41

Area, distance, direction, shape

Answer 41

Distortion

Question 42

The system used to transfer locations from Earth’s surface to a flat map.

Answer 42

Projection

Question 43

(North and South Poles, latitude, parallel, Equator, longitude, meridian, prime meridian, International Date Line)

Answer 43

Grid

Question 44

The numbering system used to indicate the location of parallels drawn on a globe and measuring distance north and south of the Equator.

Answer 44

Latitude

Question 45

The numbering system used to indicate the location of meridians drawn on a globe and measuring distance east and west of the Prime Meridian.

Answer 45

Longitude

Question 46

An imaginary east-west line that encircles the globe halfway between the North and South Poles.

Answer 46

Equator

Question 47

Line of longitude

Answer 47

Meridian

Question 48

An imaginary line passing through the Royal Observatory at Greenwich, England, serving by agreement as the 0º line of longitude.

Answer 48

Prime Meridian

Question 49

An arc that fro the most part follows 180º longitude, although it deviates in several place to avoid dividing land areas. When you cross it heading east, the clock moves back 24 hours, and when you cross it going west the calendar moves ahead one day.

Answer 49

International Date Line

Question 50

(thematic, statistical, cartogram, dot, choropleth, isoline, graduated circle)

Answer 50

Map Types

Question 51

A map that demonstrates a particular feature or a single variable. Four types: dot, isoline, choropleth, and proportional symbol.

Answer 51

Thematic

Question 52

A thematic map in which a dot represents some frequency of the mapped variable.

Answer 52

Dot

Question 53

A thematic map in which ranked classes of some variable are depicted with shading patterns or colors for predefined zones.

Answer 53

Chloropleth

Question 54

A thematic map with lines that connect points of equal value.

Answer 54

Isoline

Question 55

A map that has been simplified to present a single idea ina diagrammatic way: the base is not normally true to scale.

Answer 55

Cartogram

Question 56

A thematic map in which the size of a symbol varies in proportion to the frequency or intensity of the mapped variable.

Answer 56

Proportional Symbol

Question 57

(cognitive map) the map like image of the world, country, region, city, or neighborhood a person carries in mind.

Answer 57

Mental Map

Question 58

A geographic region within which the same standard time is used.

Answer 58

Time zone

Question 59

A computer hardware and software system that handles geographically referenced data; it uses and produces maps and has the ability to perform many types of spatial analysis.

Answer 59

Geographic Information System (GIS)

Question 60

A system that determines the precise position of something on Earth through a series of satellites, tracking stations, and receivers.

Answer 60

Global Positioning System (GPS)

Question 61

The acquisition of data about Earth’s surface from a satellite orbiting the planet or other long-distance methods.

Answer 61

Remote sensing

Question 62

A simplified abstraction of reality, structured to clarify causal relationships: e.g., Demographic Transition, Gravity Model, etc.

Answer 62

Model