Unit 1 Geography Basics Vocabulary

Themes of Geography
Location: position on the Earths surface (Applebees is across the street from
chipotle)
Place: Human and physical features (Antarctica)
Region: an area that has similar, unifying characteristics (Middle East)
Movement: movement of people, goods, ideas (Movement of money and trade)
Human/Environment Interaction: interaction between people and their
environment (Pollution)
What is Geography?
Geography: the study of people, their environments, and their resources.
Geography is the scientific and systematic study of both the physical and cultural
features of the earths surface. It is a spatial perspective looking at patterns and
distributions on the earths surface.
People: a group of persons united by a common culture, tradition, and
usually language
Environment: the social and cultural forces that shape the life of a person or
a population; the air, water, minerals, organisms, and other external factors
surrounding a given organism at any time
Resources: a source of support that can be readily drawn when needed; the
natural wealth of a country, consisting of land, forests, mineral water, etc.
Geographic Method (use this to study and make investigations about
geographical features, events)
1. Ask appropriate questions about the feature or activity being studied
2. Collect and acquire geographic information that will help answer these
questions
3. Organize, summarize, and display the geographic information gathered
4. Analyze and interpret the data you have collected and summarized
5. Formulate a reasonable answer to your geographical questions based on your
analysis and interpretation of the information gathered
Perspective (ways to analyze the geography)
Distribution, place, processes, location, relationships, movement, clusters,
accessibility, patterns, connections, change
Geographic Questions:
Where are things located?
Why are they important?
How are places related?
How are places are connected?
How are humans affected by locations?
Physical Geography: the study of the four spheres - Lithosphere, Atmosphere,
Hydrosphere, and Biosphere. (Climatology, Hydrography, Biogeography, Pedology,
Ecology, Geology)
Human Geography: study of the spatial differentiation and organization of
human activity on the earths surface. (Historical, Political, Medical, Economic,
Social, Environmental, Agricultural Geography)

Unit 1 Geography Basics Vocabulary

GPS (Global Positioning System): a series of satellites that provide precise
information on location, altitude, and time. (Many people use GPS in their cars for
travel and directions)
GIS (Geographic Information System): a computer technology that
manages georeferenced information. Allows the analysis of mass amounts of date in
two or three dimensional imaging systems. Used to map out different kinds of data
in one single map. (Single map of streets, buildings, and vegetation in 3D)
Remote Sensing: examination or the gathering of information about a place
from a distance. (able to take aerial photos of places or the world)
Cartography: the art and science of creating, using and study of mapping.
Maps provide a wealth of factual information such as visual comparisons between
areas and geographical features. (Creating a map to compare the differences in
population in the world or geographical features)
Types of Maps
Political: purpose is to show territorial borders. (Map of Europe and borders
between countries)
Physical: in addition to country borders, major cities and significant bodies
of water, physical maps indicate the location of landforms like deserts,
mountains and plains. (Map of western part of the United States may include
the desert and mountains)
Thematic: intended for one specific purpose and to communicate a
particular topic or theme. Depict characteristics of places. (Choropleth,
isoline, dot distribution)
Choropleth: thematic map that uses differences in shading, coloring, or
placing of symbols within predefined areas to indicate the average values or
quantity in those areas. Usually uses shades of similar colors to show
different values. (Percentage of vehicle accidents per year)
Dot distribution: Map that uses a dot symbol to show the presence of a
feature or phenomenon. (Map of light pollution or number of cases for an
illness)
Isoline: thematic map that uses line symbols to portray a continuous
distribution. Isolines are lines that connect points of equal numeric value.
(Map that shows temperature, or elevation above sea level)
Statistical: variation in quantity of a factor in a geographic area is indicated.
(Rainfall, population, or number of crops)
Cartogram: map in which some thematic mapping variable is substituted for
land area or distance. The geometry or space of the map is distorted in order
to convey information of the alternate variable. (map of GDP in countries,
population, travel time)
Proportional Arrow: map used to show movement or flow of some variable.
(map showing trade or migration)
Map Projections: When transferring a spherical surface to a flat map, some
type of distortion much occur such as distortion in shape, distance, relative size, or
direction. Causes not as accurate depictions but necessary for mapping purposes.
(Mercator, Robinson and Polar are 3 types of views of the world on a flat surface)
Map Scale: the ratio of map distance to earth distance, measured in small
units. Smaller scales More land in less detail (Shows global patterns); Larger scales

Unit 1 Geography Basics Vocabulary

Less land in more detail (Used for local maps). (Use a smaller scale when showing
the whole world vs when depicting a county use a larger scale)
Toponyms: a place name (Plymouth, any name for a place)
Site vs. Situation: Site Conditions of what is at the place; Situation
connections between this place and other places.
Geographic Coordinate Systems
Grid System: latitude and longitude coordinates
Latitude: parallel lines that never intersect wrapping around the earth
helping map locations
Longitude: lines stretching north to south on earth meeting at the poles
intersecting latitude lines helping map locations
Meridians & Parallels: Meridians are longitude lines while parallels are
latitude lines.
Prime Meridian: planets meridian adopted as the zero of longitude passing
thrown Greenwhich, England
International Date Line: imaginary line on the surface of the Earth that
runs from the north to south and demarcates the change of one calendar day to the
next.
GMT Greenwich Mean Time: Greenwich used historically as the prime
basis of standard time throughout the world. Universal time.
Regions
Formal: regional delineated on the basis of one or more identifiable trait
which sets it apart from other regions. (countries, states, cities)
Functional: has a defined core that retains a specific characteristic that
diminishes outwards. At least one form of spatial interaction must occur
between the center and all other parts of the region. (Twin cities)
Vernacular: area defined by local, ordinary folks subjective perceptions
reflecting their feelings and images about key place characteristics. (areas
that speak certain languages, have similar beliefs)
Cultural landscape: a geographic area associated with a historic event,
activity, or person or exhibiting cultural or aesthetic values. (New York city and the
culture of living there)
Spatial interaction: shaped by the ways that people understand, know, and
relate to different places. Interaction between where things are located and the
space between certain things and the connections you can make between features
and observations. (The space between the popularity of certain music throughout
the United States)
Diffusion: the process of spread of a feature or trend from one place to another.
Relocation: the spread of a feature of trend through bodily movements of
people from one place to another. (spread of culture by migration and
expansion)
Expansion: the spread of a feature or trend among people from one area to
another in a snowballing process. (introducing a new product in states
individually and it becoming popular)

Unit 1 Geography Basics Vocabulary

Contagious: The rapid, widespread diffusion of a feature or trend throughout

a population. (illness)
Hierarchical: the spread of a feature or trend from one key person of
authority or power to other persons or places. (kings, queens, presidents)
Stimulus: the spread of an underlying principle, even though a specific
characteristic is rejected

Hearth: the region from which innovative ideas originate (many

technological advancements have come from the United States and China)
Space-time compression: refers to any phenomenon that alters the
qualities of and the relationship between space and time. (results of technological
advancements such as telephones, internet, travel)
Distance decay: geographical term which describes the effect of distance
on cultural or spatial interactions. Interaction between two locales declines as the
distance increases. (the cultures between Washington and New York must be
different due to distance)
Spatial Distribution
Concentration: Amount of a certain thing in an area. (Population in the Twin
Cities concentration of people)
Density: how compact or far away certain elements on a map are. (There is
a higher density of people in New York than in North Dakota)
Pattern: patterns and arrangements that occur on a map that you can draw
conclusions from or explain phenomena.
Environmental determinism vs possibilism: Environmental determinism
is the view that the physical environment rather than social conditions, determines
cultures. Those who believe this say that humans are strictly defined by stimulusresponse. (Weather causing behavior) Possibilism in cultural geography is the theory
that the environment sets certain constraints or limitation, but culture is otherwise
determined by social conditions. (People living in MN needed a home because
snowy, cold conditions but variety of ways to adapt to the house)
Earths Physical Systems
Atmosphere: the envelope of gases surrounding the earth or another planet
(Earths atmosphere)
Hydrosphere: all the waters on the earths surface (lakes, seas, clouds)
Lithosphere: the rigid outer part of the earth, consisting of the crust and
upper mantle (under the surface of the earth but the top layer)
Biosphere: the regions of the surface, atmosphere, and hydrosphere of the
earth occupied by living organisms.
Ecosystem: living communities of plants and animals that share common
characteristics primarily related to climate, soil, and vegetation. Includes abiotic
and biotic elements, and food chains. (The ocean ecosystem consists of the fish,
coral, seaweed, sharks, sand, anemones, etc.)
Globalization: expansion of economic and political activities aided by
information technology and transportation. (The internet is a huge contributor to

Unit 1 Geography Basics Vocabulary

globalization and sharing of information; cultures migrate and spread throughout
the world)
Transnational Corporations: any corporation that is registered and
operates in more than one country at a time. Aka multinational corporations. (Many
United States Corporations are transnational and have a dominant role in the world
economy)
Unit 1 Topics
The Next Generation of Google Mapping
ISIS & ISIL President Obama, STRATFOR
9/11 & Manhattan
Ebola Outbreak
What You Need to Know About the Ebola Outbreak
Modern Technologies and the Ebola Fight
Sierra Leone plans nationwide lockdown to stop spread of Ebola

How many Countries are there?

Jared Diamonds Guns, Germs & Steel Episode 1
Global Priorities