Human Geography Unit 1 test

Mercator Navigator

Preserves direction so that compass bearings, which represent degrees of latitude and longitude are straight lines.

distortion

Problem cartographers encounter because the size of the continents are disproportion to their actual size.

spatial analysis

Process of examining the locations, attributes and relationships of features in spatial data through overlay and other analytical techniques in order to address a question or gain useful knowledge.

Absolute location

Provides a definite reference to locate a place. The reference can be latitude and longitude, a street address, or even the Township and Range system. For example, you might be located at 183 Main Street in Anytown, USA, or you might be positioned at 42.2542° N, 77.7906° W.

GPS uses satellite technology is most commonly used to identify?

Absolute location

Robinson projection

Accurate when it comes to fixing pole distortion, and other general use.

Remote sensing

Acquisition of data about Earth's surface from a satellite orbiting Earth or from other long distance methods.

Hearth

Area at which innovation originates. These are where the phenomenas first began.

Nodal regions

Area organized around a (node)focal point. The characteristic chosen to define a functional region dominates at a central focus or (node) and diminishes in importance outward. Vernacular region. (perceptual region) is a place that people believe exists as part of a cultural identity.

Distribution

Arrangement of features in space; three main properties: density, concentration, pattern

Second purpose of a map

Communications tool to convey the distribution of human activities or physical features. (generally, thematic)

Raster data

Consists of areas, such as particular landforms.

Vector data

Consists of points (such as forcities) and lines (such as for highways).

Spatial pattern can be observed by

(absolute and relative location, distance, and direction) , clustering, dispersal, and elevation

GIS (geographic information system)

A computer system that captures, stores, analyzes, and displays geographic data and can produce maps and information that can be stored in layers.

Distance Decay

A geographical term which describes the effect of distance on cultural or spatial interactions. This effect states that the interaction between two locales declines as the distance between them increases.

Which of the following best describes the site of New York City.

A natural harbor with easy water access to many parts of the city.

Relative location

Describes a place with respect to its environment and its connection to other places. As an example, a home might be located 1.3 miles from the Atlantic Ocean, .4 miles from the town's elementary school, and 32 miles from the nearest international airport.

Cartogram

Distorts size in order to depict some numerical amount.

Space

Distribution of Features

GPS (global positioning system)

A satellite-based system used for determining the absolute location of places or geographic features. It is used primarily for navigation. It consists of 24 satellites operating in the sky.

Choropleth Map

A thematic map that uses tones or colors to represent spatial data as average values per unit area.

Isoline

A thematic map with lines that connect points of equal value.

Formal region

Have one or more common characteristics. Can be political entities, climate regions or landform regions

First purpose of a map

Reference tool identify an object's absolute and relative location.

Perceptual regions

Regions defined by how people perceive a area.

Functional regions

Regions that are defined by their connections. For example, the circulation area for a major city area is the functional region of that paper.

Formal regions

Regions that are designated by official boundaries, such as cities, states, counties, and countries. For the most part, they are clearly indicated and publicly known.

Vernacular regions

Regions that are perceived regions, such as "The South," "The Midwest," or the "Middle East"; they have no formal boundaries but are understood in our mental maps of the world.

The location of a place on Earth in relationship to other places or features on Earth

Relative location

Collecting Data

Remote Sensing

Goode Homolosine Projection

Shapes and sizes of the land masses are well maintained trouble is the interruption.

Largest scale

Showing a map with the most detail orientation.

Census data

Shows population, average annual income, and race and gender percentage for the area.

Time and space compression

The decreasing space between people and ideas. The concept is important when considering changes in culture and structure, especially transit and value production.

Spatial association

The degree to which things are similarly arranged in space. Analysis of the distribution patterns of two phenomena is done by map overlay (GIS layers). If the distributions are similar, then the spatial association is strong, and vice versa.

GIScience

The development and analysis of data about the Earth through satellites and it helps geographers measure change.

Spatial Patterns

The distribution/ arrangement of individual entities in space and the geographic relationships between them.

Concentration

The extent of a feature's spread over space

Pattern

The geometric or regular arrangement of something in a sturdy area.

Distance decay

The interactions two places have on one another. If the places are closer to one another they are more likely to interact. And if they are farther apart they are less likely to interact.

space compression

The opposite of distance decay. As people move further and further from the city they are less likely to interact with the city. For example someone who lives in Long Island is less likely to interact with NYC than someone who lives in the Queens bureau.

Site

The physical and environmental characteristics of a place

Mashup

The practice of mixing data (overlaying data from one source on top of the mapping service to another) together on a mapping server. This does use GIS but it goes one step further by allowing the user to insert their own layer such as busineses to the mapped area.

Remote sensing

The process of taking pictures of the Earth's surface from satellites (or, earlier, airplanes) to provide a greater understanding of the Earth's geography over large distances.

The image above is a cartogram map of Europe showing flows of capital between member countries? Which of the following best describes an accurate way to interpret the map?

The size of countries has been distorted by the data, with net contributors of the capitals shrinking in size, and net recipients of capitals expanding in size.

Convergence

The tendency of cultures to become more and more similar as a result of more advanced technology, communications, and transportation.

Are world regions perfectly defined boundaries? Why or why not?

They are not perfectly defined because they are perceptual and people may characterize regions differently. Also they all don't have the same characteristics.

Geocaching

a type of global treasure hunt of people looking for caches, or hidden stashes of objects. Has to deal with the geography, geographic Information Systems (GIS)

remote sensing

acquisition of data about Earth's surface through satellite or other long distance methods.

Spatial analysis

allows us to see patterns and analyze quantitative and geospatial data.

Distortion

areas that are not shown in full accuracy due to the shape of the map.

Geospatial data

data that describe both the locations and characteristics of geographic features on the Earth's surface.

Qualitative data

descriptive information, It tells you about features. Ex. Santiago, Chile is surrounded by tall mountains often covered in snow. The view is breathtaking.

Radar images

display atmospheric conditions by measuring the amount of radiation backscattered from liquid and solid particles in the atmosphere, mainly clouds

The process of map making leads to the phenomenon known as

distortion

Human Enviornment theme

how humans adapt to and modify the environment. Humans shape the landscape through their interaction with the land; this has both positive and negative effects on the environment.

Spatial pattern

how resources, activities, and human demographic features of landscapes are arranged across the earth.

Infrared images

imaging technology that is used to measure the temperature of an object.

Quantitative data

information that can be expressed by numbers or that can be placed into specific categories. Ex. Mount Everest is over 29,000 feet high and the summit temperature usually ranges from minus 4 to minus 31 degrees Fahrenheit.

Geographic Information Science (GIScience)

involves the development and analysis of data about Earth acquired through satellite and other electronic information technologies.This store's information about a location in layers. Each layer represents a different piece of human or environmental information. Involves two types of data: vector and raster.

Cartography

is the science of mapmaking.

Cartographer

map maker

Reference map

map type that shows reference information for a particular place, making it useful for finding landmarks and for navigating. emphasis on location

toponym

name given to a place on Earth

Infrared images

obtained by detecting the radiation emitted by objects

Spatial

pertaining to space on the Earth's surface; sometimes used as a synonym for geographic.

Site

physical character of a place. Characteristics include climate, water sources, topography, soil, vegetation, latitude, and elevation.

Thematic maps

represented by one or two variables (population, ethnicity, income, language, religion, etc.) in map form. Have varied amounts of color, shape, pattern, light and dark, etc... Have two purposes the first is to analysis data and the second is to present data.

Culture

the behaviors and belied characteristics of a particular group.

Culture

the body of customary beliefs, material traits, and social forms that together constitute the distinct tradition of a group of people.

Divergence

the contact and interaction of one culture with another. Cultural division occurs. The restrictions of a culture from outside cultural influences.

Density

the frequency with which something occurs in space (can be measures of people, houses, cars, volcanoes, or anything with any method of measurement)

Scale

the relationship between a map's distances and the actual distances on Earth

Diffusion

the spread of people, things, ideas, cultural practices, disease, technology, weather, and other factors from place to place.

map

two-dimensional or flat-scale model of Earth's surface, or a portion of it.

Distortion

unavoidable error resulting from trying to represent the round, nearly spherical earth on a flat plane, or map

When studying each of the following maps in a regular sized textbook, which of the following examples would be shown at the largest scale?

A map showing the metropolitan statistical area of Denver, Colorado

Dot Distribution Map

A map where dots are used to demonstrate the frequency or intensity of a particular phenomenon ( various values).

graduated symbol map

A map with symbols that change in size according to the value of the attribute they represent.

mental mapping

A mental image of the way space is organized as determined by an indiviual's perception, impression, and knowledge of the space not an aerial photograph.

Seismic testing

A method of searching for valuable natural resources using sounds. Seismic testing is more likely to be used by a geologist than a geographer.

Functional regions

Have a focal point with surrounding areas linked by transportation and communication systems.

Physical characteristic

Includes a description of such things as the mountains, rivers, beaches, topography, climate, and animal and plant life of a place. If a place is described as hot, sandy, fertile, or forested, these terms all paint a picture of the physical characteristics of the location. A topographical map is one tool used to illustrate the physical characteristics of a location.

Human characteristic

Includes the human-designed cultural features of a place. These features include land use, architectural styles, forms of livelihood, religious practices, political systems, common foods, local folklore, means of transportation, and methods of communication. For example, a location could be described as a technologically advanced French-speaking democracy with a Catholic majority

What do world regions, as the College Board defines them, have in common?

Part geographic language, part human characteristics, and part geographic location.

Geospatial data

Information about physical objects that can be represented by numerical values in geographical coordinates system. Ex. the U.S. Census, or satellite imaging information

Remote sensing

The acquisition of data about Earth's surface from a satellite orbiting the planet or other long-distance methods.

Proportional symbol

Symbols are placed on the map to indicate the location of specific data. The advantage of this is that this is a location specific map, and the disadvantage is that the symbols on this map can be misleading.

Census

The United States Census is taken every ten years. It attempts to count every person residing in the U.S. The Census helps determine the number of seats a state occupies in the U.S. House of Representatives, numbers of electors in the Electoral College, voting district boundaries, as well as how federal funding is spread across the country. As one of the nation's key statistical agencies, the Census Bureau collects data on many topics vital to people and businesses.

Map scale

The level of detail and the amount of area covered on the map depend on its map scale.

Situation (AKA Relative Location)

The location of a place relative to other places.

The graph above shows various degrees of distance decay. The concept of distance decay can be applied to a number of topics in human geography. Which of the following would be a suitable application of the concept.

The number of commercial buildings decreases from the center of a city to the edge.

Azimuth (Polar)

Used for mapping hemispheres instead of the whole Earth. This shows accurate distance and direction, but the shape and size is disorted at the edges. The polar view of this is called the azimuth.

Spatial Patterns

Way's we perceive structures, placement, or arrangement of objects/phenomena on Earth. It also includes the space in between those objects, and the clustering of points.