World Regional Geography - Intro Ch 1
About this set
Created by:
thumpaholden Plus on January 16, 2012
Subjects:
World Regional Geography, Bruce Mitchell
Description:
Source in whole or in part from
Fundamentals of World Regional Geography, 2nd edition, by J. J. Hobbs;
and some of my own notes
Order by
79 terms
Terms | Definitions |
|---|---|
 Determined by the intersection of lines, such as latitude and longitude, providing an exact point expressed in degrees, minutes, and seconds. | absolute (mathematical) location |
| The domestication of plants and animals that began about 10,000 years ago. | agricultural revolution (neolithic or new stone age or food-producing revolution) |
| A special map in which an area's shape and size are defined by explicit characteristics of population, economy, or distribution of any stated product. | cartogram |
| The craft of designing and making maps, the basic language of geography. In recent years, this traditional manual art has been changed profoundly through the use of computers and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and through major improvements in machine capacity to produce detailed, colored, map products. | cartography |
| Maps that are drawn to show the differing distribution of goods or geographic characteristics (including population) across a broad area. Such maps are good for generalizations but often mask significant local variations in the presence of the item being mapped. | choropleth maps |
| The scientific study of patterns and dynamics of climate. | climatology |
| A means of determining exact or absolute location. Latitude and longitude are most often used. | coordinate systems |
| The study of the ways in which humankind has adopted, adapted to, and modified the face of the earth, with particular attention given to cultural patterns and their associated landscapes. It also includes a culture's influence on environmental perception and assessment. | cultural geography |
| The landscape modified by human transformation, thereby reflecting the cultural patterns of the resident culture. | cultural landscape |
| The belief systems and customs of a culture group. | cultural mores |
| The values, beliefs, aspirations, modes of behavior, social institutions, knowledge, and skills that are transmitted and learned within a group of people. | culture |
| Area that has a unitary quality that derives from a homogeneous characteristic (e.g. political boundary, e.g. Florida). Also called a uniform region | formal region |
| Other name for a formal region | uniform region |
| Area where there is a coherent structure of areal units organized into a functioning system by lines of movement or influence that converge on a central node or trunk (e.g. USF's service area). | functional region |
| Other name for a functional region | nodal region |
| By giving attention to the spatial aspects of a distribution, geographic analysis helps to explain distribution, density, and flow of a given phenomenon. | geographic analysis |
| The growing field of computer-assisted geographic analysis and graphic representation of spatial data. It is based on superimposing various data layers that may include everything from soils to hydrology to transportation networks to elevation. Computer software and hardware are steadily improving, enabling GIS to produce ever more detailed and exact output. | geographic information systems (gis) |
| The study of the spatial order and associations of things. Also defined as the study of places, the study of relationships between people and environment, and the study of spatial organization. | geography |
| The scientific analysis of the landforms of the earth; sometimes called physiography. | geomorphology |
| The study of geographic factors in political matters, including borders, political unity, and warfare. | geopolitics |
| A concern with the historical patterns of human settlement, migration, town building, and the human use of the earth. Often, this subdiscipline best blends geography and history as a perspective on human activity. | historical geography |
| A portion of the earth's land surface. Geographers are interested in the transformation of natural landscapes into cultural landscapes. | landscape |
| A map constructed to show considerable detail in a small area. | large-scale map |
| A measurement that denotes position with respect to the equator and the poles. It is measured in degrees, minutes, and seconds, which are described as parallels. | latitude |
| Central to all geographic analysis is the concept of location. Where something is relates to all manner of influences, from climate to migration routes. It is a crucial component in trying to understand patterns of historic and economic development. | location |
| A measurement that denotes a position east or west of the prime meridian (Greenwich, England). It is measured in degrees, minutes, and seconds, and meridians of longitude extend from pole to pole and intersect parallels of latitude. | longitude |
| A way to minimize distortion in one or more properties of a map (direction, distance, shape, or area). | map projection |
| The study of patterns of disease diffusion, environmental impact on public health, and the interplay of geographic factors, migration, and population. With the increasing ease of international movement, medical geography is becoming more important as the potential for disease diffusion increases. | medical geography |
| Every individual's mind has a series of locations, access routes, physical and cultural characteristics of places, and often a general sense of the good or bad of locales. The term mental map is used to define such geographies. | mental maps |
| Lines of longitude that extend from pole to pole and intersect parallels of latitude. | meridian |
| Commonly, a nation is a term describing the citizens of a state—or that state—but it also refers to an ethnic group existing with or without a separate political entity. Nation State. | nation |
| A latitude line running parallel to the equator. | parallel |
| The subdiscipline of geography most concerned with the climate, landforms, soils, and physiography of the earth's surface. | physical geography |
| In geographic analysis of a given locale, the nature of place identity becomes a means of understanding people's response to that particular place. Determination of the environmental and cultural characteristics that are most frequently associated with a certain place helps to establish that sense of place for a given location. | place identity |
| The average number of people living in a square mile or square kilometer. It is a very handy statistic for generalized comparisons but often fails to provide a detailed sense of the real distribution of people. | population density |
| See Latitude. | prime meridian |
| The distortion caused by the transfer of three-dimensional space on Earth's surface to the two dimensions of a flat map. | projection |
| A human construct that is often of considerable size, that has substantial internal unity or homogeneity, and that differs in significant respects from adjoining areas. | region |
| Through the use of aerial and satellite imagery, geographers and other scientists have been able to get vast amounts of data describing places all over the face of the earth. Remote sensing is the science of acquiring and analyzing data without being in contact with the subject. It is used in the study of patterns of land use, seasonal change, agricultural activity, and even human movement along transport lines. This process relates closely to GIS. See also Geographic Information Systems (GIS). | remote sensing |
| The size ratio represented by a map; for example, a map with a scale of 1:12,500 is portrayed as 1/12,500 of the actual size. | scale |
| A map constructed to give a highly generalized view of a large area. | small-scale map |
| The earth mantle made of decomposed rock and decayed organic material. | soil |
| Geographers recognize spatial distributions and patterns in Earth's physical and human characteristics. The term spatial comes from the noun space, and it relates to the distribution of various phenomena on Earth's surface. Geographers portray spatial data cartographically—that is, with maps. | spatial |
| A political unit over which an established government maintains sovereign control. | state |
| The representation of distinct aspects of information shown on a map, such as stars for capital cities. | symbolization |
| Area that possesses regional identity, such as the Sun Belt or Deep South, but share less objective criteria in the use of this regional name. It exists in the mind of a large number of people but has no official borders. | vernacular region |
| The shorthand term for the countries of the world that have been most influenced by Western civilization and that link most closely with the United States and Western Europe. | The West |
| Places near the equator are said to be in _____ latitudes; | low |
| Places near the poles are said to be in _____ latitudes. | high |
| The Tropic of Cancer is at _____° __ | 23.5, N |
| The Tropic of Capricorn is at ____° __ | 23.5, S |
| The Arctic Circle is at ____° __ | 66.5, N |
| The Antarctic Circle is at ____° __ | 66.5, S |
| What is the classical definition of Geography? | The study of the spatial order and associations of things. Also defined as the study of places, the study of relationships between people and environment, and the study of spatial organization. |
| What makes Geography different from the other sciences? | Includes both physical and human sciences |
| The study of Geography is divided into what two main sub-fields? | Human, physical |
| How are Regions defined? | Human constructs |
| What are the sub-types of regions? | Formal, uniform, functional (modal) |
| What are the 8 regions that we are studying in the text? | USA and Canada, Latin America, Monsoonal Asia, Oceana, Russia and near abroad, Europe, North Africa and Middle East, Sub-Saharan Africa |
| What are the four principal elements of a map? | Scale, coordinate system, projection, symbolization |
| What are the two ways scale is represented on a map? | Fraction, bar |
| What are the two "levels" of scale, (and how does the representative fraction change for each? ) | Large, small |
| What is the principal way of showing the "address" of a place on the earth which shows its absolute location? | Coordinate system of latitude and longitude |
| Lines of Latitude are also known as .......? | Parallels |
| Lines of Longitude are also known as .......? | Meridians |
| How are lines of latitude and longitude measured? | Degrees, minutes, seconds (or decimal degrees) |
| What are the principal reference lines for lines of latitude? | Equator, tropic of cancer, tropic of Capricorn, arctic circle, Antarctic circle |
| What are the principal reference lines for lines of longitude? | Prime meridian, international date line |
| What is the essential problem of creating a map projection? | Distortion of shape, area, direction (representing 3D globe in 2D) |
| What are three principal types of map projections? | Conical, thematic, azimuthal |
| What are the geometric qualities that projections distort? | area, shape, distance, direction |
| That type of projection is a Mercator projection? | Cylindrical |
| What geometric quality is distorted by cylindrical maps? | Area |
| What geometric quality is preserved by cylindrical maps? | Direction |
| What geometric quality is distorted by conical maps? | Direction |
| What geometric quality is preserved by conical maps? | Area |
| What geometric quality is distorted by azimuthal maps? | Direction |
| What geometric quality is preserved by azimuthal maps? | Distance from pole |
| Why is GIS useful? | Facilitates geographical analysis |
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