Intro to Human Geography Flashcards
(25 cards)
What is geography?
The study of the physical features of the earth and its atmosphere, and of human activity as it affects and is affected by these, including the distribution of populations and resources, land use and industries
How is the spherical world represented on a flat piece of paper?
Cartographers use a “projection” to morph the globe into 2D map
What is the most popular type of projectiojn?
Mercator projection
What is another type of projection?
Gall-Peters
What are the pros and cons of the Mercator projection?
Pros: preserves the shape of countries, preserves direction
Cons: representation of size, racist and biased
What are the pros and cons of the Gall-Peters projection?
Pros: sizes are accurate
Cons: shapes aren’t accurate
Political Map
Political maps focus solely on the state and national boundaries of a place, and include locations of cities, both large and small, depending on the detail of the map
A map showing the 50 US states and their borders along with the US north and south international borders
Political map
Physical map
Map that shows the physical landscape features of a place, and shows things like mountains, rivers and lakes and water is always shown with blue. Greens show lower elevations while browns show high elevations
Mountains and elevation changes are usually shown with different colors and shades to show relief
Physical map
Topographic map
Similar to a physical map, shows different physical landscape features. Uses contour lines instead of colors to show changes in the landscape
Contour lines show elevation changes and when lines are close together the terrain is steep
Topographic map
Climate map
Shows information about the climate of an area
Can show things like the specific climatic zones of an area based on the temperature, amount of snow an area receives or average number of cloudy days
Climate map
Economic/Resource map
Shows the specific type of economic activity or natural resources present in an area through the use of different symbols or colors
Road map
shows major/minor highways and roads as well as things like airports, city locations and points of interest like parks, campgrounds and monuments
Major highways are generally red and larger, while minor roads are a lighter color and a narrower line
Road map
Thematic map
A map that focuses on a particular theme or special topic and they do not just show natural features like rivers, cities, political subdivisions, elevation and highways
Remote sensing
the acquisition of data about the earth’s surface from a satellite orbiting the earth
scanners detect radiation being reflected from an area and are able to map changes in landscape quickly
What does GPS mean
Global Positioning System
What 3 elements does GPS in the US use?
- GPS satellites are placed in predetermined orbits by the US military and private companies
- Tracking stations to monitor and control satellites
- If a receiver that can locate at least 4 satellites, can figure out distance to each, and use this information to pinpoint its own location
What does GIS mean?
Geographic Information System
What is GIS?
A computer system that captures, stores, analyzes and displays geographic data
What can be used to produce maps that are more accurate?
GIS - geographic information systems
