Human Geography: Test 1, Ch. 1

Ch. 1 Flashcards for Test 1 of Human Geography. Spring 2015.

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Accessibility
The opportunity for contact or interaction from a given point or location, in relation to other locations; often affected by distance or travel time. Example: A good mall is inaccessible in Chatsworth, Georgia because the nearest 'good' mall is in Chattanooga, TN.
Capitalism
A form of economic and social organization characterized by the profit motive and the control of the means of production, distribution and the exchange of goods by private ownership. Example: We have a capitalist economy in the U.S.
Cognitive Distance
The distance that people perceive to exist in a given situation. Example: It always feels like it takes longer to come home after a vacation than it did to arrive to your vacation locale - your perspective changed and made it seem like a longer trip. OR Bridges seem to decrease t…
Cognitive Image
Also known as mental maps; psychological representations of locations that are made up from people's individual ideas and impressions of these locations. Example: Your home has memories for you, hopefully positive ones & has sentimental value -- to someone else, your home is just a ho…
Cognitive Space
Space defined and measured in terms of the nature and degree of people's values, feelings, beliefs and perceptions about locations, districts and regions; Behavioral Space. Example: The way that landmarks or familiar paths alert you to where you are.
Distance-decay function
The rate at which a particular activity or process diminishes with increasing distance. Example: The farther people have to travel, the less likely they are to do so.
Economies of Scale
Cost advantages to manufacturers that accrue from high-volume production, since the average cost of production falls with increasing output. Example: Supermarkets can benefit from economies of scale because they can buy food in bulk and get lower average costs. If you had a delivery o…
Formal Region
Groups of areal units that have a high degree of homogeneity in terms of particular distinguishing features. Example: If there was an area where people all practiced the same religion and followed all the economic/social/political rules, that would be a formal region -- In Chatsworth …
Friction of Distance
Inhibiting effect of distance on human activity. Example: If a person has to travel 30 miles to see a dentist, they won't go visit the dentist.
Functional or Nodal Region
Regions with some variability in certain attributes (religion or income, for example) but with an overall coherence to the structure and dynamics of economic, political and social organizations. Example: Places may have variability in religious practices, but they all adhere to school…
Geodemographic Research
Study of census data and commercial data (such as sales data and property records) about the populations of small districts to create profiles of those populations for market research. NOTE: Census data can be biased in the cases of minorities, children and individuals with two home l…
Geographical Imagination
Allows us to understand changing patterns, changing processes and changing relationships among people, places and regions.
Geographic Information Systems (GIS)
Organized collection of computer hardware, software and geographic data that is designed to capture, store, update, manipulate & display geographically referenced information.
Globalization
Increasing interconnectedness of different parts of the world through common processes of economic, environmental, political and cultural change. Example: Industrial Revolution
Human Geography
Study of the spatial organization of human activity and of people's relationships with their environments.
Intersubjectivity
Shared meanings among people, derived from their lived experiences of everyday practice.
Irredentism
Assertion by the government of a country that a minority living outside its formal borders belongs to it historically and culturally. Example: The French and Haitians.
Lifeworld
Taken for-granted pattern & context for everyday living through which people live their lives.
Neoliberal Policies
Economic policies that are predicated on a minimalist role for the state, assuming the desirability of free markets as the ideal condition not only for economic organization but also for political and social life.
Ordinary landscapes
Also known as vernacular landscapes; everyday landscapes that people create in the course of their lives. Example: Home, Dr.'s Office, School, Etc.
Physical Geography
Subarea of the discipline that studies Earth's natural processes an their outcomes.
Place
Specific geographic setting w/ distinctive physical, social & cultural attributes. -Are socially constructed -Have meaning based on your experiences there -Provide an area to socialize children/families/groups
Region
Larger sized territory that encompasses many places, all or most of which share similar attributes in comparison w/ the attributes of other places. Example: Southeastern United States
Regionalism
Feeling of collective identity based on a population's politico-territorial identification within a state or across state boundaries. Example: In Georgia, many people are fans of the Georgia Bulldawgs. This is regionalism as it creates a collective identity. The Bible Belt is regional…
Remote sensing
Collection of information about parts of Earth's surface by means of aerial photography or satellite imagery designed to record data on visible, infrared & microwave sensor systems.
Risk Society
Contemporary societies in which politics are increasingly about avoiding hazards. Example: In the U.S. we ask that children be vaccinated because of a fear that epidemic diseases will be spread otherwise.
Sectionalism
Extreme devotion to local interests and customs. Example: Athens townies love the GA Bulldawgs - go dawgs.
Sense of Place
Feelings evoked among people as a result of the experiences and memories that they associate with a place and the symbolism that they attach to it. Example: How I feel about my Granny's house - I feel that way because of the memories I have there.
Site
Physical attributes of a location. Example: Terrain, soil, vegetation, infrastructure, etc.
Spatial Analysis
Study of geographic phenomena in terms of their arrangement as points, lines, areas or surfaces on a map.
Spatial Diffusion
Way that things spread through space over time.
Spatial interaction
Movement and flows involving human activity.
Supranational Organization
Collections of individual states w/ a common goal that may be economic and/or political in nature. Example: NAFTA
Time-Space Convergence
Rate at which places move closer together in travel or communication time or costs; results from a decrease in the friction of distance as new technologies & infrastructure improvements successively reduce travel and communications time between places. Example: Travel between NY & Atl…
Topological Space
Connections between, or connectivity of, particular points in space. Measured by the nature and degree of connectivity between locations.
Utility
Usefulness of a specific place or location to a particular person/group. NOTE: How can I use this? Do the costs outweigh the benefits? Etc.
World Region
Large-scale geographic divisions based on continental and physiographic settings that contain major groupings of peoples w/ broadly similar cultural attributes. Example: Latin America
Situation
What a place is because of how it relates to other places. Example: Atlanta has a large airport so it’s a good place for business because it has easier access to global markets by airplane than other places.
Projection
When cartographers take the 3D sphere of Earth and place it on a 2D map; Always has distortions (often politically motivated); a type of cartography. Example: Mercator Projection Example of Projection Bias: Africa always looks MUCH smaller than what it is on maps, but Europe looks …
Cartography
The body of practical and theoretical knowledge about making distinctive visual representations of Earth's surface in the form of maps.

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