Geographical concepts and models

Graphics from the text
Figure 1-4 Pg 9 GIS
Data interpreting program, Stores data on different levels to analyze areas of the world
Figure 1-7 Pg 14 Latitude and Longitude
Lines used to map the earths surface.
Figure 1-9 Pg 17 Functional region.
Area focused around a focal point, or node.
Figure 1-13 Pg 23 Map scale
Maps come in different sizes, make sure you understand these.
Figure 1-14 Pg 24 Spatial association.
Also shows map scale.
Figure 1-15 Pg 25 Distribution of global economy
Familiarize yourself with this; the economy of the world may come up often.
Figure 1-16 Pg 27 Space-time compression.
The world is getting smaller, and technology helps this.
Figure 2-1 Pg 40 Population Cartogram
The way the world would look if each country were as big as it’s population.
Figure 2-6 Pg 47 World population growths
The shape in which the worlds population has grown
Figure 2-13 Pg 52 Demographic transition model.
The way that countries develop over time.
Figure 2-20 Pg 63 Malthus’s theory
Food production may not be able to hold the population.
Figure 3-12 Pg 93 Changing population center of U.S.
The population center moves over time.
Figure 6-4 Pg 185 Diffusion from religious hearths.
Religion started in four areas, diffused from there.
Figure 10-11 Pg 329 Von Thunen’s model.
Model for the set up of agriculture
Figure 12-4 Pg 385 Rural Settlement patterns.
The way the areas of the U.S. were settled.
Figure 12-7 Pg 395 Central Place theory.
Small towns dependent upon other larger cites.
Figure 12-15 Pg 403 Business city centers.
Major cities of commerce in the U.S.
Figure 13-5 Pg 423 Concentric one model.
Rich away from CBD, city center.
Figure 13-6 Pg 424 Sector model.
Advancement of concentric, installment of transportation corridor.
Figure 13-7 Pg 425. Multiple Nuclei Model.
The formation of other business district away from CBD
Figure 13-19 Pg 438. Peripheral Model.
Belt loop, things form outside that area, easy access.

Section C - Definitions

Location:
The position at something occupies on the earth’s surface.
Site:
Physical character of a place.
Situation:
Location of a place relative to other places.
Globalization:
A force or process that involves the entire world and results in making something worldwide in scope.
Scale:
The relationship between the size of an object on a map and the size of the actual feature on the Earth’s surface.
Space-Time Compression:
The reduction in the time it takes for something to reach another place.
Diffusion:
The process by which a characteristic spreads across space from one place to another over time.
Hierarchical Diffusion:
The spread of an idea from persons or nodes of authority or power to other persons or places.
Contagious Diffusion:
The rapid widespread diffusion of a characteristic throughout the population.
Stimulus Diffusion:
The spread of an underlying principle, even though a characteristic itself apparently fails to diffuse.

Section D - Skills

  1. How to use and think about maps and spatial data.
    1. A map is a two-dimensional or flat-scale model of Earth’s surface, or a portion of it. A map serves two purposes: a tool for storing reference material and a tool for communicating geographic information. Maps can also show social, cultural, behavioral, and environmental characteristics of an area. There are many useful tools to help in reading maps, but a geographic information system (GIS) can allow geographers to combine many different maps to analyze both environmental and social phenomena.
    2. When using maps it is important to consider that transferring a spherical model onto a flat piece of paper may cause distortion. This is called projection. Four main problems can occur: shape distortion, distance change, relative size alteration, and direction irregularities.
  2. How to understand and interpret the implications of associations among phenomena in different places.
    1. Important things to consider when analyzing maps are: site, situation, and location. The site is the physical location of a place. The situation of a place is its location relative to other places. Location is a place’s precise position on the Earth’s surface.
  3. How to recognize and interpret at different scales the relationships among patterns and processes.
    1. Scale is also important when viewing a map. Scale is the size and scope of the area being viewed on a map. This concept is especially important in our world today as a result of globalization, which is making the world a much smaller place in many ways.
    2. Spatial association is the use of scale to determine a region’s specific characteristics. Scale is important because it allows particular regions to be studied and analyzed one piece at a time.
  4. How to define regions and evaluate the regionalization processes.
    1. An important function of maps is to show climatic, cultural, and sociological regions. Analyzing these regions can often give clues as to the location of certain cultures, ethnicities, and other groups.
    2. Maps also show the relationship between humans and their environment, this is known as cultural ecology.
    3. There are many different ways to categorize regions. Formal regions are uniform regions in which everyone shares in common one or more of the same characteristics. Functional regions are areas that are organized around a focal point or node. Vernacular regions are regions that people believe exists as part of their cultural identity.
  5. How to characterize and analyze changing interconnections among places.
    1. An important element of this concept is that of spatial interactions and connections.
      1. . Geographers often apply the term space-time compression to describe the reduction in the time it takes to travel from place to another.
    2. Spatial interaction in our world today has changed greatly from what it used to be. Travel, communication, and relations between places are exponentially quicker today then they have been at any time in the world’s history.
      1. This quick interaction is only possible through networks. However contact diminishes with increased distance and eventually disappears. This is known as distance decay.
    3. Connections between places are also influenced by diffusion, which is the process by which a characteristic spreads across space from one place to another over time.
1