Thinking Geographically (unit 1)

Question 1

What is location?

Answer 1

Location is the position that something, such as a human settlement occupies on Earth surface

Question 2

What are the elements of location?

Answer 2

• Toponym (place name)
• Site (physical location)
• Situation (relative location)
• Mathematical location (latitude, longitude)

Question 3

What is place?

Answer 3

Place is the characteristics of a location, physical and cultural. Place is more subjective than location

Question 4

Parallels

Answer 4

horizontal lines that determine latitude (north-south orientation)

Question 5

Meridians

Answer 5

Vertical lines that determine longitude (east-west orientation)

Question 6

What are regions?

Answer 6

Regions are large areas that are connected by common characteristics or patterns of activity.

Question 7

What are some ways regions may be defined?

Answer 7

For a particular purpose (conquest, assistance) or by a characteristic (religion, climate, political affiliation)

Question 8

Formal (uniform) regions

Answer 8

• clearly defined boundaries
• share a commonly understood characteristic
  (NY State, Great Lakes Basin)

Question 9

Functional (nodal) region

Answer 9

• somewhat defined
• organized around a certain point
• based on availability to a service or connection to a central place
  (Weather Forecasts)

Question 10

Vernacular (perceptual) region

Answer 10

• least clearly defined
• based on perceptions
• borders may be different depending on the source
  (Maps based on data, ex. religion maps)

Question 11

What is a map?

Answer 11

A two-dimensional model of an area

Question 12

What is cartography?

Answer 12

The map making process

Question 13

Reference maps

Answer 13

Show standard geographic features used for location and orientation

Question 14

Physical Reference maps

Answer 14

show natural geographic features such as waterways and mountain ranges

Question 15

Political reference maps

Answer 15

show borders of cities, states, and countries

Question 16

Thematic Maps

Answer 16

show data on special topics like rainfall, vegetation, or major languages. They often exclude data shown on reference maps.

Question 17

What is a Choropleth?

Answer 17

Maps using color to identify characteristics

Question 18

What are cartograms?

Answer 18

A map that shows statistical information in diagrammatic form

Question 19

Topographic maps

Answer 19

shows elevation or relief, usually using contour lines

Question 20

Nautical Charts

Answer 20

used in marine navigation. Shows water depth, seabed features, tides and currents, local details of the earth’s magnetic field

Question 21

Why are all maps “wrong”?

Answer 21

It is impossible to represent the features of a sphere exactly in a two-dimensional model. The globe is the most accurate representation of earth

Question 22

Map properties

Answer 22

Shape (angle), size (area), distance, and direction ( a map can preserve 3 of these at once)

Question 23

Conformal projections

Answer 23

• Accurately represents shape

- Size is distorted

Question 24

Equal area projection

Answer 24

• Preserves size

- Shape is distorted

Question 25

Equidistant projection

Answer 25

Distance and direction are accurate from the center point only (ex. azimuthal projection)

Question 26

Compromise map projections

Answer 26

• doesn’t preserve any particular property

- balance the distortions of each property to have a balanced image

Question 27

Map scale

Answer 27

Scale is the relationship between the map size and the actual size. It’s expressed as a ratio

Question 28

What is GIS?

Answer 28

A computer system that can capture. analyze, and display geographic data

Question 29

Thematic layer

Answer 29

each slice of features in a GIS-produced map

Question 30

What is GPS?

Answer 30

(Global Positioning System) System used to determine location.

Question 31

What GPS include?

Answer 31

• 24 satellites placed in orbit by the US government

- Tracking stations on the

Question 32

Spatial Interaction

Answer 32

the ways that places interact with each other

Question 33

Friction of Distance

Answer 33

the degree to which distance interferes or reduces the amount of interaction between places

Question 34

Distance Decay

Answer 34

the intensity of some phenomenon decreases as distance from it increases

Question 35

What is Space-Time Compression?

Answer 35

the sense that the world is “becoming smaller”. Humans have increased communication with far away places

Question 36

What is culture?

Answer 36

The beliefs, traits, and social forms that are common to a people

Question 37

What is the cultural landscape?

Answer 37

combination of cultural, economic, and physical features of a region

Question 38

Anthropogenic features

Answer 38

human created features

Question 39

Environmental Determinism

Answer 39

the theory that cultures are largely shapes by their environments

Question 40

Environmental possibilism

Answer 40

the theory that cultures are often shaped by their environments, but humans often overcome these limitations by altering their environments or relocating