Unit 1 Geo

• Space

  The geometric surface of the Earth
• Objects on the Earth's spatial surface

  Defined by their location and separated by some degree of distance from other things
• Activity space

  The area wherein activity occurs on a daily basis
• Place

  An area of bounded space of some human importance
• Toponym

  A place-name assigned to a location when human importance is recognized
• Regions

  A type of place, and there are other categories of places, such as urban places, places of work, resource locations, and transportation nodes
• Attributes of a place change over time
• Sequent occupancy

  The succession of groups and cultural influences throughout a place's history
• There are several different historical layers that contribute to a place-specific culture, society, local politics, and economy
• Scale

  The relationship of an object or place to the Earth as a whole
• Map scale

  Describes the ratio of distance on a map to distance in the real world in absolute terms
• Relative scale

  The level of aggregation, or the level at which you group things together for examination
• Types of regions


  • Formal
  • Functional
  • Vernacular
• Formal regions

  Areas of bounded space that possess some homogeneous characteristic or uniformity
• Functional regions

  Areas that have a central place, or node, that is a focus or point of origin that expresses some practical purpose
• Vernacular regions

  Based upon the perception or collective mental map of the region's residents
• Absolute location

  Defines a point or place on the map using coordinates such as latitude and longitude
• Relative location

  The location of a place compared to a known place or geographic feature
• Site

  The physical characteristics of a place
• Situation

  The place's interrelatedness with other places
• Linear absolute distance

  The distance between two places as measured in linear units such as miles or kilometers
• Distance decay

  The farther away different places are from a place of origin, the less likely interaction will be with the original place
• Tobler's law

  All places are interrelated, but closer places are more related than farther ones
• Friction of distance

  The length of distance that becomes a factor that inhibits the interaction between two points
• Space-Time Compression

  Decreased time and relative distance between places
• Human-Environmental Transportation

  The effect that humans have on their environment, and vice versa
• Central Places


  Any node of human activity and are most often the centers of economic exchange
• Central place theory


  Developed in the 1930s by the German geographer Walter Christaller to analyze city location and the level of urban economic exchange using central places within hexagonal market areas, which overlapped at different scales
• Core and Periphery relationships


  Displayed by different regional, cultural, economic, political, and environmental phenomena and human activities
• CBD (central business district)


  The core of the urban landscape, a country's capital is the core of its political landscape
• Spatial patterns


  • Cluster
  • Agglomeration
  • Random
  • Scattered
  • Linear
  • Sinuous
• Land survey patterns


  Have an effect on the property lines and political boundaries of states and provinces
• Rectilinear township and range survey system


  Based upon lines of latitude and longitude
• Long-lot patterns


  Narrow frontage along a road or waterway with a very long lot shape behind
• Arithmetic density


  Most often calculated as the number of things per square unit of distance
• Physiologic density


  Measures the number of people per square unit of arable land
• Agricultural density


  Refers only to the number of farmers per square unit of arable land
• Hearth


  The point of origin or place of innovation
• Diffusion patterns


  • Expansion
  • Hierarchical
  • Contagious
  • Stimulus
  • Relocation
• Spatial analysis


  The mathematical analysis of one or more quantitative geographic patterns