Unit 1 Notes
Uploaded by
lunathelittle1Unit 1 Notes
Uploaded by
lunathelittle1Vocabulary
Physical geography: the branch of geography that studies the Earth’s natural features and
processes.
Human geography: the branch of geography that studies how human societies and activities are
organized and distributed across the earth.
Spatial perspective: geography's unique way of examining the world.
Absolute location: the exact fixed location and position of a place on earth.
Relative location: the description of a places position relative to other known places.
Absolute distance: the exact distance between one place and another.
Relative distance: the perceived distance between one place and another.
time/space compression: the set of processes that cause the relative distances between places
to shrink, making places feel closer and more connected.
Friction of distance: a principal in geography that describes how movement and interaction are
affected by costs associated with distance.
Clustered distribution: a spatial pattern in which objects, people, or other things are grouped
closely together in certain areas.
Dispersed distribution: a spatial pattern in which objects, people, or other things are spread out
over a wide area.
Reference map: a map that provides a general overview of a location by displaying the location
of geographic features and political data.
Political map: a map that shows the human created boundaries of countries, states, and cities.
Physical map: a map that shows the natural features of the earths surface.
Thematic map: a map that shows the spatial patterns of a single attribute or theme.
Cloropleth map: a map that uses color (usually one color in different shades) to show statistical
data over a predefined geographic area.
Dot density map: a map that uses dots to show the presence of a feature or phenomenon within
the given area.
Proportional symbol map: a map that uses symbols of varying sizes to represent a quantity or
value at a specific location.
Isoline map: a map that uses lines to connect points of equal value.
Topographic map: a detailed, two dimensional representation of the earths three dimensional
surface.
Flow line map: a map that visualizes the movement of phenomena between geographical
locations.
Cartogram map: a map that deliberately distorts the size or distance of a geographic area to be
proportional to a specific variable.