CARTOGRAPHY

The science of making maps.

CONTAGIOUS DIFFUSION

The rapid, widespread diffusion of a feature or trend throughout a population

CULTURAL ECOLOGY

Geographic approach that emphasizes human-environment relationships.

CULTURE

The customs, arts, social institutions, and achievements of a particular nation, people, or other social group.

CULTURAL LANDSCAPE

The fashioning of a natural landscape by a cultural group.

DENSITY (all types)

Frequency that something exists within a certain area.

DIFFUSION

The spreading of a feature or trend from one place to another over time

DISTANCE DECAY

Diminishing in importance and eventual disappearance of a phenomenon with increasing distance (ex: contact with friends after move)

DISTRIBUTION

The arrangement of something across Earth’s surface.

ENVIRONMENTAL

DETERMINISM

A nineteenth- and early twentieth-century approach to the study of geography that argued that the general laws sought by human geographers could be found in the physical sciences.  Geography was therefore the study of how the physical environment caused human activities

EQUATOR

0° latitude line

EXPANSION DIFFUSION

The spread of a feature or trend in a snowballing process.

FORMAL REGION

(uniform/homogeneous region)

An area which everyone shares one or more distinct characteristics. (ex: state lines, school boundaries)

FUNCTIONAL REGION

(nodal region)

An area organized around a node or focal point and has NO BOUNDARY

(ex: newspaper)

GIS

Geographic information system

A computer system that stores organizes analyzes and displays geographic data.

GPS

Global Positioning system

A system that determines the precise position of something on the Earth through a series of satellites, tracking stations and recievers.

HEIRARCHIAL DIFFUSION

Spread of a feature or trend from one key person or node of authority or power to other persons or places.

HEARTH

The region from which innovative ideas originate.

INTERNATIONAL DATELINE

An arc that for the most part follows 180degree longitude, although it deviates in several

LATITUDE

The numbering system used to indicate the location of parallels drawn on a globe and measuring the distance north and south of the equator.

LONGITUDE

The numbering system used to indicate the location of meridians drawn on a globe measuring distance east and west of the prime meridian.

MERCATOR PROJECTION

A projection of the globe where the map is rectangular, direction is consistent and shape is distorted very little. 

The disadvantage is that area is grossly distorted toward the poles.

MENTAL MAP

A representation of a portion of the Earth’s surface based on what an individual knows about a place, containing personal impressions of what is in a place and where places are located.

MDC/LDC

more developed country/less developed country

Possibilism

The theory that the physical environment may set limits on human actions, but people have the ability to adjust to the physical environment and choose a course of action from many alternatives.

POLDER

Land created by the Dutch by draining water from an area

PRIME MERIDIAN

The meridian designated in as 0° longitude that passes through the Royal Observatory at Greenwich, England.

PROJECTION

The system used to transfer locations from Earth’s surface to a flat map.

RELOCATION DIFFUSION

The spread of a feature or trend through bodily movement of people from one place to another

REMOTE SENSING

The acquisition of data about Earth’s surface from a satellite orbiting the planet or from another long-distance method

ROBINSON PROJECTION

A projection useful for displaying information across the oceans.  Its major disadvantage is that by allocating space to oceans, the land areas are

SCALE

Generally, the relationship between the portion of Earth being studied and earth as a whole; specifically the relationship between the size of an object on a map and the size of the actual feature on the Earth’s surface.

SITE

The physical character of a place.

SITUATION

The location of a place relative to another place

SPACE-TIME COMPRESSION

The reduction in the time it takes to diffuse something to a distant place as a result of improved communications and transportation systems.