Unit 1 - Thinking Geographically

Geographers analyze relationships among and between places to reveal important spatial patterns

Vocabulary

Cartography - science of making maps

Scale - size (ex. one inch on the map means 200 miles)

Absolute Location - the exact location of a location (ex. 12-503 Wanke Complex)

Relative Location - location in relation to things around it (ex. I live by the McDonalds)

Place - a location that has unique characteristics that give it meaning (ex. downtown is a place that is more urban and busy)

Distance decay - the farther away two places are from each other, the less interaction and communication they have

Qualitative Data - describes qualities and characteristics; can be gathered from survey or reports

Quantitative Data - objective, number based; ex. census

Landscape Analysis - process of studying and describing a landscape to understand the impact of humans on that space. Can do it through field observations, written accounts, media reports, travel narratives, interviews, photographic interpretation, etc.

Cultural Ecology - interaction of people and the earth

Sustainability - practices that help humanity in the present without harming our future and responsible use of limited resources

Renewable Resources - anything we can make more of after we use it (ex. plants, wind)

Non-Renewable Resources - anything we can't make more of in our lifetime (ex. fossil fuels)

Regions - area with 1 or more unifying characteristic or pattern activity

Flows - ways different planes interact (ex. people, info, goods)

Space - physical gaps between two things

Toponym - name given to a place on Earth

Site - physical character of a place

Reference Map

Map that shows landforms, location, topography. Used to get from one place to another.

Thematic Maps

Cartogram

distorts shapes and sizes for frequency/intensity of something

Chloropleth

Uses tones and colors to represent spatial data

Dot Distribution

uses dots to show frequency/intensity

Isoline

Uses lines that connect points of equal value

Graduated Symbol

size of symbol varies with frequency of variable

Map Projections - used to represent the 3D globe of the earth into a 2D flat surface. Map projections aren’t perfect, and also distort sizes or shapes

Mercator

accurate shape and direction, map is rectangular, poles are distorted

Gall Peter

accurate size of landmasses but distorts shapes

Robinson

used to focus on oceans, land masses are smaller

Geospatial Technologies

Geographic Information System

way of collecting, recording, storing, retrieving, analyzing, displaying geographic data through maps using layers

Global Positioning System

determines the precise position of something on Earth

Remote Sensing

acquisition of data about Earth's surface from a satellite orbiting Earth

How do we use geospatial data?

Finding locations (transportation), advertising, for businesses to find locations, buidling new parks/roads and taxes.

Different Ways of Land Use

Residential
Transportation
Recreational
Industrial/Commercial
Agriculture

Citations for Photo Gallery:

Environmental Determinism

older theory from Age of Colonialism; environment 100% determines cultural factors

Environmental Possibilism

the environment affects people who live there, but will not determine how the people act. People can make tools and technology to change nature instead of nature changing them

Scales of Analysis - "size" of the map, how zoomed in we are in a map

Main Scale - Global, regional, national, local

Different Types of Regions

Formal (Uniform)

area within which everyone shares in common one or more distinctive characteristics (ex. production of a particular crop)

Functional (Nodal)

area organized around a node or focal point. Characteristics chosen dominate at a node and diminishes in importance outward. The region is tied into the node by transportation or communcation systems by economic or functional associations

Perceptual (Vernacular)

area that people believe exists as a part of their cultural identity, informal sense of place (ex. The South)