APHUG Study Guide Unit 1 PDF

# Key Concepts - **Space** is the geometric surface of the Earth. - Objects on the Earth's spatial surface are defined by their location and are separated by some degree of distance from other things. - **Activity space** is referred to as the area wherein activity occurs on a daily basis. - *...

# Key Concepts - **Space** is the geometric surface of the Earth. - Objects on the Earth's spatial surface are defined by their location and are separated by some degree of distance from other things. - **Activity space** is referred to as the area wherein activity occurs on a daily basis. - **Place** is an area of bounded space of some human importance. - A place-name, or more technically a toponym is assigned to a location when human importance is recognized. - **Regions** are 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. - The concept of sequent occupancy is considered over a long term: in other words, 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** is 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, or scale of analysis refers to the level of aggregation, or in other words, the level at which you group things together for examination. Scales can range from local to city and state, from regional to national to continental, or to the international and global scales. - **Regions** are categorized into three groups: formal, functional, and vernacular. - **Formal regions** are areas of bounded space that possess some homogeneous characteristic or uniformity. - A homogeneous characteristic can be a common language. - Regional boundaries differ based on the type of region. - Culture regions tend to have fuzzy borders. - Political regions boundaries are finite and well-defined. - Environmental region boundaries are transitional and measurable. - The environmental transition zone between two bioregions is known as an ecotone. - **Functional regions or nodal regions**, are areas that have a central place, or node, that is a focus or point of origin that expresses some practical purpose. - Market areas are a type of functional region. - Since outlet malls are often placed far apart, there will also be a larger area of influence for the mall that will have shoppers traveling from longer distances. - An intervening opportunity is an attraction at a shorter distance that takes precedence over an attraction that is farther away. - **Vernacular regions** are based upon the perception or collective mental map of the region's residents. - The overall concept can vary within the region due to personal or group variations. - **Location** is considered in both absolute and relative terms. - **Absolute location** defines a point or place on the map using coordinates such as latitude and longitude. - The Prime Meridian is 0° longitude and runs through Great Britain because the means to accurately calculate longitude at sea was developed by the British Royal Navy. - The equator is 0° latitude. The North and South Poles are 90° latitude. - **Time Zones** are divided up into 15-degree-wide longitudinal zones around the world with some exceptions. This is because 360° divided by 24 hours a day equals 15°. - **Relative location**, by contrast, refers to the location of a place compared to a known place or geographic feature. - **Site and Situation** are locational concepts that work together. - **Site** refers to the physical characteristics of a place. - **Situation** refers to the place's interrelatedness with other places. - **Distance** is considered in absolute and relative terms. - **Linear absolute distance** is the distance between two places as measured in linear units such as miles or kilometers. - The concept of distance decay and Tobler's Law is used to explain relative distance. - **Distance decay (gravity)** means that the farther away different places are from a place of origin, the less likely interaction will be with the original place. - **Tobler's law** states that all places are interrelated, but closer places are more related than farther ones. - **Friction of distance** is the length of distance that becomes a factor that inhibits the interaction between two points. - **Space-Time Compression** is decreased time and relative distance between places. - Technology like modes of transportation or the Internet can reduce the relative distance between places. - **Human-Environmental Transportation** is the effect that humans have on their environment, and vice versa. # Spatial Interactions - **Central Places** are any node of human activity and are most often the centers of economic exchange. - **Central place theory was developed in the 1930s by the German geographer Walter Christaller.** - City location and the level of urban economic exchange could be analyzed using central places within hexagonal market areas, which overlapped at different scales. - **Core and Periphery** relationships are displayed by different regional, cultural, economic, political, and environmental phenomena and human activities. - **CBD** (central business district) is the core of the urban landscape, a country's capital is the core of its political landscape. - The core does not have to be exactly in the center of the peripheral region. # Pattern - **A cluster** is when things are grouped together on the Earth's surface. - **Agglomeration** is when clustering occurs purposefully around a central point or a economic growth pole. - **A random pattern** is when there is no rhyme or reason to the distribution of a spatial phenomenon. - **Objects** that are normally ordered but appear dispersed are scattered. - **If it is a straight line, the pattern is linear**. - **If it is a wavy line, the pattern is sinous.** - **Land survey patterns** have an effect on the property lines and political boundaries of states and provinces. - Until the 1830s, land surveys used natural landscape features to divide land on a system of metes and bounds. - A rectilinear township and range survey system based upon lines of latitude and longitude. - Long-lot patterns have a narrow frontage along a road or waterway with a very long lot shape behind. # Density - **Arithmetic density** is 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, meaning land that either is actively farmed or has the potential to be. - **Agricultural density** refers only to the number of farmers per square unit of arable land. # Diffusion Patterns - There are a number of different ways and patterns in which human phenomena diffuse spatially, or spread across the Earth's surface. - A **hearth** is the point of origin or place of innovation. - **Expansion diffusion pattern** originates in a central place and then expands outward in all directions to other locations. - **Hierarchical diffusion** originates in a first-order location and then moves down to second-order locations and from each of these to subordinate locations at increasingly local scales. - **Contagious diffusion** begins at a point of origin and then moves outward to nearby locations, especially those on adjoining transportation lines. - **A stimulus diffusion pattern** is a general or underlying principle that diffuses and then stimulates the creation of new products or ideas. - **Relocation diffusion pattern** begins at a point of origin and then crosses a significant physical barrier, such as an ocean, a mountain range, or a desert, and then relocates on the other side. # Geographic Tools - Scientific maps are the results of spatial analysis-the mathematical analysis of one or more quantitative geographic patterns # Types of Maps - **Topographic maps** show the contour lines of elevation, as well as the urban and vegetation surface with road, building, river, and other natural landscape features. - **Thematic maps** express a particular subject and does not show land forms for other features. - **Choropleth maps** is a thematic map that expresses the geographic variability of a particular theme using color variations. - **Isoline maps** calculate data values between points across a variable surface. - **Dot density maps** use dots to express the volume and density of a particular geographic feature. - **Flow-line maps** use lines of varying thickness to show the direction and volume of a particular geographic movement pattern. - **Cartograms** use simplified geometries to represent real-world places. - **Mental map:** the cognitive image of landscape in the human mind. - **Map scale** is the "absolute" form of the scale concept. - **Linear map scale** expresses distance on the map surface. - **The ratio scale of the map** shows the mathematical relationship between the distance on the map compared to the real distance on the Earth's surface. - A large-scale map is one with a ratio that is a comparatively large real number - A small-scale map is one with a ratio that is a comparatively very small real number # Map Scale | Ratio | Scale Type | | --------- | ----------- | | 1:50,000 | Large Scale | | 1:1,000,000 | Small Scale | # Area Covered, Level of Detail, and Purpose | Area Covered | Level of Detail | Purpose | | ------------ | ----------- | -------- | | Small Area | High Detail | City | | Large Area | Low Detail | State or Province | # Projections - Each given projection creates different levels of accuracy in terms of size and shape distortion for different parts of the Earth. - Accuracy is based upon two concepts: area preservation and shape preservation. - **Equal-area projections** attempt to maintain the relative spatial science and the areas on the map. - Distortion of the actual shape of polygons. - **Conformal projections** attempt to maintain the shape of polygons on the map. - Distortion of the relative area from one part of the map to the other. - The **Robinson projection and the Goode's homolosine projection** balance area and form, sacrificing a bit of both to create a more visually practical representation of the Earth's surface. # Models - A model is an abstract generalization of real-world geographies that share a common pattern. - **Spatial models** attempt to show the commonalities in pattern among similar landscapes. - **Urban models** try to show how different cities have similar spatial relationships and economic or social structures**. - **Demographic transition models** are non-spatial models that use population data to construct a general model of the dynamic growth in national scale populations without reference to space. - **A gravity model** is a mathematical model that is used in a number of different types of spatial analysis: - Used to calculate transportation flow between two points, determine the area of influence of a city's businesses, and estimate the flow of migrants to a particular place - Location1 Population x Location2