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GGH1501 SUMMARY NOTES LU1
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- University Of South Africa (Unisa)
GGH1501 SUMMARY NOTES LEARNING UNIT 1
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GGH1501 - Learning Unit 1,Learning Unit 1 (The nature of geography and
geographical thinking)
Notes regarding LU 1:
Key terms:
Introduction to Geography: (Sec A, 33-75)
Atmosphere: Thin layer of gases around Earth.
Azimuthal project: A type of projection that’s well-suited for larger areas
and are used for most of the world maps.
Biosphere: All living organisms on Earth.
Cartography: The science of making maps.
Concentration: The spread of something over an area.
Conformal map: Preserving the correct angles between directions within
small areas (though distorting distances).
Contiguous/contagious Rapid, widespread diffusion of a characteristic
diffusion: throughout the population.
Cultural landscape: Cultural landscape – a combination of cultural features
such as, language and religion, economic features
such as agriculture and industry, and physical features
such as climate and vegetation.
Culture: It refers to the specific ideas, customs, and social
behaviour of a particular people or society on Earth.
Density: The frequency with which something occurs in space.
Diffusion: Process where a feature or trend from one place gets
spread to another over time.
Distance: Refers to the length between two points.
Distance decay: The decrease in importance and eventual
disappearance of a phenomena with increasing
distance from its origin.
Distribution: The arrangement of a feature in space.
Ecology: The study of ecosystems.
Ecosystem: A group of living organisms and the abiotic spheres
they interact with.
Equal-area map: On a map projection, it’s accurately representing the
relative sizes of regions that are of equal area,
although distorting shape and direction.
Equator: A line drawn on the Earth equidistant from the poles,
dividing the Earth into northern and southern
hemispheres and constituting the parallel of latitude 0°.
Formal region/ uniform An area which everyone shares and have in common
/ homogeneous region: one or more distinctive characteristics.
Friction of distance: Based on the notion that distance usually requires
some amount of effort (energy) and/or money to
overcome.
,Functional region: Area organized around a node or focal point.
Geocoding: To provide a set of coordinates to a location.
Geographic A computer system that stores, organizes, analyses
Information System and displays geographic data.
(GIS):
Geography: The study of the interaction of all human and physical
phenomena at individual places and how interactions
among places form patterns and organize larger
spaces.
Global Positioning System providing the exact position of something on
System (GPS): Earth, through satellites, tracking stations and
receivers.
Globalization: Actions or processes that involve the entire world and
result in making something worldwide a scope.
Greenwich Mean Time The mean solar time at the Greenwich meridian,
(GMT): adopted as the standard time in a zone that includes
the British Isles.
Hearth: The place from which an innovation originates.
Hierarchical diffusion: The spread of an idea from persons or nodes of
authority or power to other persons or places.
Human geography: Studies human groups and their activities, cultural
features – Social Science.
Hydrosphere: The water realm of the earth and includes the oceans
surface water (in lakes, rivers and streams),
groundwater (in soil and rocks), water vapour (in the
atmosphere) and ice.
International Date Line: An internationally agreed imaginary line running
roughly along the 180º meridian of longitude, to the
east of which the date is one day earlier than to the
west.
Large-scale map: A map made to a scale large enough to show certain
features in detail. (shows a small territory).
Latitude: The angular distance of a place north or south of the
earth's equator, or of the equator of a celestial object,
usually expressed in degrees and minutes.
Lithosphere: The rigid outer part of the earth, consisting of the crust
and upper mantle.
Longitude: The angular distance of a place east or west of the
Greenwich meridian, or west of the standard meridian
of a celestial object, usually expressed in degrees and
minutes.
Map: A 2D or flat, representation of Earth’s surface or a
portion of it.
Mercator projection: A projection of a map of the world on to a cylinder in
such a way that all the parallels of latitude have the
, same length as the equator, used especially for marine
charts and certain climatological maps.
Meridian: An arch drawn between the North and South poles.
Model: A 3D representation of a person or thing or of a
proposed structure, typically on a smaller scale than
the original.
Natural landscape: The original landscape that exists before it is acted
upon by human culture.
Parallel: A circle drawn around the globe parallel to the equator
and at right angles to the meridians.
Pattern: The regular arrangement of something in a study area.
Physical geography: Studies the characteristics of the physical environment
and concentrate on the distribution of natural features –
Natural Science.
Prime meridian: The meridian, designated as 0° longitude, passing the
Royal Observatory at Greenwich, England.
Projection: The system used to transfer locations from Earth’s
surface to a flat map.
Region: An area of Earth distinguished by a distinctive
combination of cultural and physical features.
Regional geography: The part of geography that studies the world's regions.
Relative location: The acquisition of data from Earth’s surface from a
satellite orbiting the planet or other long-distance
methods.
Relocation diffusion: The spread of a feature through bodily movement of
people from places.
Remote sensing: The scanning of the earth by satellite or high-flying
aircraft in order to obtain information about it.
Scale: The relationship between the portion of Earth being
studied and Earth as a whole.
Site: The physical character of a place.
Situation: The location of a place relative to other places.
Small-scale map: A map depicting a large area, such as an entire
country, is considered a small scale map. In order to
show the entire country, the map must be scaled down
until it is much smaller. A small scale map shows more
territory, but it is less detailed.
Spatial analysis: Includes any of the formal techniques which study
entities using their topological, geometric, or
geographic properties.
System: A set of principles or procedures according to which
something is done; an organized scheme or method.
Systematic geography: The study of geographical phenomena organized by
class or type rather than by region.
Thematic map: A map created showing a specific theme.
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