Geography definition Chapter 1 & 2

Globe

A Spherical or rounded object

Cartographer

A cartographer is a person who creates maps, whether they're of the world, the local bus routes, or buried pirate treasure. It comes to us from the Latin word charta-, which means "tablet or leaf of paper," and the Greek word graphein, meaning to write or draw.

Geographical Information system

A geographic information system (GIS) is a system designed to capture, store, manipulate, analyze, manage, and present all types of spatial or geographical data.

Absolute location

Absolute Location describes an object's location, relative to Earth. For instance, latitude and longitude coordinates are an example of Absolute Location. Relative location is more general and can be used relative to the surroundings of the object.

Relative location

Absolute location, however, is a term with little real meaning, since any location must be expressed relative to something else. For example, longitude is the number of degrees east or west of the Prime Meridian, a line arbitrarily chosen to pass through Greenwich, London.

Landsat

Any of various satellites used to gather data for images of the Earth's land surface and coastal regions. These satellites are equipped with sensors that respond to Earth-reflected sunlight and infrared radiation. The first Landsat satellite was launched in 1972.

Topographical map

In modern mapping, a topographic map is a type of map characterized by large-scale detail and quantitative representation of relief, usually now using contour lines, but historically using a variety of methods. Traditional definitions require a topographic map to show both natural and man-made features.

Map

a diagrammatic representation of an area of land or sea

Hemisphere

a half of a sphere. a half of the earth, usually as divided into northern and southern halves by the equator, or into western and eastern halves by an imaginary line passing through the poles. a half of the celestial sphere.

Prime meridian

a planet's meridian adopted as the zero of longitude.

Equator

an imaginary line drawn around the earth equally distant from both poles, dividing the earth into northern and southern hemispheres and constituting the parallel of latitude 0°. a corresponding line on a planet or other body.

Longitude

the angular distance of a place east or west of the meridian at Greenwich, England, or west of the standard meridian of a celestial object, usually expressed in degrees and minutes.

Latitude

the angular distance of a place north or south of the earth's equator, or of a celestial object north or south of the celestial equator, usually expressed in degrees and minutes.

Map projection

the representation on a plane surface of any part of the surface of the earth or a celestial sphere.

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.