Unit 1: Nature and Perspectives of Geography

Cartography: The art and science of making maps, including data compilation, layout, and design. Also concerned with the interpretation of mapped patterns Connections: Relationships among people and objects across the barrier of space Contagious diffusion: A type of expansion diffusion in which cultural innovation spreads by person-to person contact, moving wavelike through an area and population without regard to social status Cultural ecology: Broadly defined, the study of the relationships between the physical environment and culture; narrowly (and more commonly) defined, the study of culture as an adaptive system that facilitates human adaptation to nature and environmental change Culture: The sum total of the knowledge, attitudes, and habitual behavior patterns shared and transmitted by the members of a society Density: The quantity of anything (people, buildings, animals, traffic, etc.) per unit area Diffusion: The process of spread of a feature or trend from one place to another over time Distance-Decay: The effects of distance on interaction, generally the greater the distance the less interaction Distribution: The arrangement of something across Earths surface Environmental determinism: The belief that cultures are directly or indirectly shaped by the physical environment Environmental possiblism: the idea that although the environment may be limiting in some aspects, humans have the ultimate power to adjust to their environment Equator: An imaginary east-west line that encircles the globe halfway between the North and South Poles Expansion diffusion: The spread of a feature or trend among people from one area to another in a snowballing process. Formal region: An area in which everyone shares in one or more distinctive characteristics Function region: A region defined by the particular set of activities or interactions that occur within it GIS: Integrated computer programs for handling, processing, and analyzing data specifically referenced to the surface of the earth

GPS: A system that determines the precise position of something on Earth through a series of satellites, tracking stations, and receivers Hierarchical diffusion: A type of expansion diffusion in which innovations spread from one important person to another or from one urban center to another, temporarily bypassing other persons or rural areas Hearth: The region from which innovative ideas originate International Date Line: An arc that for the most part follows 180 longitude, although it deviates in several places to avoid dividing land areas. When you cross the International Date Line heading east (toward America), the clock moves back 24 hours, or one entire day. When you go west (toward Asia), the calendar moves ahead one day. Latitude: An imaginary line running parallel to the equator that is used to measure distance in degrees north or south from the equator. Longitude: An imaginary line circling the Earth and running through the poles. Used to determine the location of things by measurement of the angular distance, in degrees east or west, from the Prime Meridian Mercator projection: A true conformal cylindrical projection first published in I569, useful for navigation Prime Meridian: An imaginary north-south line of longitude on the Earth grid, passing through the Royal Observatory at Greenwich in London, defined as having a longitude of 0 Projection: The system used to transfer locations from Earths 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 Earths surface from a satellite orbiting the planet or other long-distance methods. Robinson projection: a compromise map projection showing the poles as lines rather than points and more accurately portraying high latitude lands and water to land ratio 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 Earths surface Site: The internal physical attributes of a place, including its absolute location, its spatial character and physical setting Situation: The location of a place relative to other places 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

Spatial perspective: Observing variations in geographic phenomena across space Stimulus diffusion: A type of expansion diffusion in which a specific trait fails to spread but the underlying idea or concept is accepted Time zones: regions on Earth that have uniform, legally mandated standard times Toponym: The name given to a portion of Earths surface Uneven development: The increasing gap in economic conditions between core and peripheral regions as a result of the globalization of the economy Vernacular region: An area that people believe exists as part of their cultural identity