Unit 1 Vocab

Question 1

Absolute Location

Answer 1

The precise, fixed position of a place on Earth’s surface, typically described using latitude and longitude coordinates.

Question 2

Administrative Region

Answer 2

A geographically defined area established for the purposes of administration and governance, often by a political body like a government.

Question 3

Cartography

Answer 3

the science and art of making maps

Question 4

Choropleth

Answer 4

a type of thematic map that uses shading or color variations to represent statistical data across geographical areas

Question 5

Concentration

Answer 5

the extent to which a feature’s distribution is clustered together or dispersed across space

Question 6

Cultural Autonomy

Answer 6

a distinct cultural group’s ability to govern and manage its own cultural practices, beliefs, and identity without external interference

Question 7

Cultural Ecology

Answer 7

the study of how human cultures adapt to and interact with their physical environment.

Question 8

Culture

Answer 8

the sum total of knowledge, attitudes, and habitual behavior patterns shared and transmitted by the members of a society.

Question 9

Density

Answer 9

the frequency of something in a given space.

Question 10

Diffusion

Answer 10

the spread of cultural elements, ideas, or other phenomena from one place to another

Question 11

Distance Decay

Answer 11

the concept that the intensity of interactions between two places generally decreases as the distance between them increases

Question 12

Distribution

Answer 12

the arrangement or spread of a feature, like people or houses, across a geographic space

Question 13

Dot-Distribution

Answer 13

a type of thematic map that uses points to visualize the distribution of a phenomenon

Question 14

Environmental Determinism

Answer 14

the theory that the physical environment primarily shapes human societies and cultures, influencing their development and behaviors. It suggests that certain environments predispose societies to specific

Question 15

Equator

Answer 15

the largest circle of latitude on Earth, located at 0 degrees latitude

Question 16

Formal Region

Answer 16

Definition of regions based on common themes such as similarities in lan- guage, climate, land use, etc.

Question 17

Functional Region

Answer 17

Definition of regions based on common interaction (or function), for example, a boundary line drawn around the circulation of a particular newspaper.

Question 18

Gall-Peters Projection

Answer 18

An equal-area projection purposely centered on Africa in an attempt to treat all regions of Earth equally.

Question 19

Geographic Information Systems (GIS)

Answer 19

A set of computer tools used to capture, store, transform, analyze, and display geographic data.

Question 20

Global Positioning System (GPS)

Answer 20

A set of satellites used to help determine location anywhere on Earth’s surface with a portable electronic device.

Question 21

Gravity Model

Answer 21

A mathematical formula that describes the level of interaction between two places, based on the size of their populations and their distance from each other.

Question 22

Human Geography

Answer 22

The study of the spatial variation in the patterns and processes related to human activity.

Question 23

International Date Line

Answer 23

The line of longitude that marks where each new day begins, centered on the 180th meridian.

Question 24

Latitude

Answer 24

The angular distance north or south of the equator, defined by lines of ­latitude or parallels.

Question 25

Location

Question 26

Longitude

Answer 26

The angular distance east or west of the Prime Meridian, defined by lines of longitude, or meridians.

Question 27

Map

Question 28

Mental Map

Question 29

Mercator Projection

Answer 29

A true conformal cylindrical map projection, the Mercator projection is particularly useful for navigation since it maintains accurate direction. Mercator projections are famous for their distortion in area that makes landmasses at the poles appear oversized.

Question 30

Meridian

Answer 30

A line of longitude that runs north-south. All lines of longitude are equal in length and intersect at the poles.

Question 31

Parallel

Answer 31

An east-west line of latitude that runs parallel to the equator and that marks distance north or south of the equator.

Question 32

Pattern

Answer 32

the geometric arrangement of objects or phenomena on Earth's surface

Question 33

Perceptual Region

Answer 33

Highly individualized definition of regions based on perceived com- monalities in culture and landscape.

Question 34

Possibilism

Answer 34

the idea that the environment sets limitations, but humans are the primary architects of their cultures and societies, adapting and modifying their surroundings to create their own paths

Question 35

Prime Meridian

Answer 35

An imaginary line passing through the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, England, that marks the 0° line of longitude.

Question 36

Projection

Answer 36

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

Question 37

Proportional Symbol

Answer 37

A thematic map in which the size of a chosen symbol—such as a circle or triangle—indicates the relative magnitude of some statistical value for a given geographic region.

Question 38

Qualititative

Answer 38

Data associated with a more humanistic approach to geography, often collected through interviews, empirical observations, or the interpretation of texts, artwork, old maps, and other archives.

Question 39

Quantitative

Answer 39

Data associated with mathematical models and statistical techniques used to analyze spatial location and association.

Question 40

Reference Map

Answer 40

A map type that shows reference information for a particular place, making it useful for finding landmarks and for navigation.

Question 41

Region

Answer 41

A territory that encompasses many places that share similar physical and/or cultural attributes.

Question 42

Relative Location

Answer 42

The position of a place relative to the places around it.

Question 43

Robinson Projection

Answer 43

A projection that attempts to balance several possible projection errors. It does not maintain area, shape, distance, or direction completely accurately, but it minimizes errors in each.

Question 44

Scale

Answer 44

cartographic scale, which refers to the ratio of distance on a map to distance on Earth, and geographic scale, which refers to the level of analysis of a geographic phenomenon (local, national, regional, global)

Question 45

Site

Answer 45

The absolute location of a place, described by local relief, landforms, and other cultural or physical characteristics.

Question 46

Situation

Answer 46

The relative location of a place in relation to the physical and cultural characteris- tics of the surrounding area and the connections and interdependencies within that system; a place’s spatial context.

Question 47

Space-Time Compression

Answer 47

The idea that distance between some places is actually shrinking as technology enables more rapid communication and increased interaction among those places.

Question 48

Spatial Analysis

Answer 48

the examination of the arrangement, distribution, and relationships of phenomena across space

Question 49

Thematic Map

Answer 49

A type of map that displays one or more variables—such as population or income level—within a specific area.

Question 50

Time Zones

Answer 50

an area that observes a uniform standard time for legal, commercial, and social purposes

Question 51

Toponym

Answer 51

the name given to a specific location or geographic feature, like a city, river, or mountain

Question 52

Topography

Answer 52

the physical features of the Earth's surface, including landforms like mountains, valleys, and plains, as well as man-made features like roads and buildings

Question 53

Vernacular Region

Answer 53

an area defined by people's subjective perception and feelings about a place, often based on their cultural identity, rather than by objective, measurable characteristics

Question 54

Absolute distance

Answer 54

A distance that can be measured with a standard unit of length, such as a mile or kilometer.

Question 55

Topographic maps

Answer 55

Maps that use isolines to represent constant elevations. If you took a topographic map out into the field and walked exactly along the path of an isoline on your map, you would always stay at the same elevation.

Question 56

Carl Sauer:

Answer 56

Geographer from the University of California at Berkeley who defined the concept of cultural landscape as the fundamental unit of geographical analysis. This landscape results from the interaction between humans and the physical environment. Sauer argued that virtually no landscape has escaped alteration by human activities.

Question 57

Isoline:

Answer 57

A map line that connects points of equal or very similar values.