Location
A location on Earth that is distinguished by its physical and human characteristics.
The idea that human behavior is strongly affected, controlled, or DETERMINED by the physical environment.
Environmental Determinism
An area that has one or more shared traits; also called a uniform region.
Formal Region
Classification of a country or region that has less wealth, lower education levels, and less sophisticated technologies and also tends to have an UNSTABLE government and poor health systems.
Periphery
The representation of earth's surface to show natural and man-made features, especially their relative positions and elevations.
Topography
The EXACT location of an object, usually expressed in coordinates of longitude and latitude.
Absolute Location
The number of things—people, animals, or objects—in a specific area.
Density
An area organized by its FUNCTION around a focal point, or the center of an interest or activity.
Functional Region
Classification of a country or region that has WEALTH, higher education levels, more advanced technologies, many resources, strong militaries, and powerful allies.
Core
A person who creates maps
Cartographer
A description of where a place is in RELATION to other places or features.
Relative Location
Theory of human-environment interaction that states that humans have the ability to adapt the physical environment to their needs.
Possibilism
A type of region that reflects people’s feelings and attitudes about a place; also called a vernacular region.
Perceptual Region
Classification of a country or region that has qualities of both core and peripheral areas and is often in the process of industrializing.
Semi-Periphery
A network of satellites that orbit Earth and transmit location data to receivers, enabling users to pinpoint their exact location.
Global Positioning System (GPS)
Internalized representations of portions of Earth's surface.
Mental Maps
The way in which things are arranged in a particular space.
Pattern
The focal point of a functional region.
Node
Development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.
Sustainable Development
A method of collecting or analyzing data from a location without making physical contact.
Remote Sensing
Geographic perspective that focuses on how people live on Earth, how they organize themselves, and why the events of human societies occur where they do.
Spatial Perspective
Movement of people, goods, or information that has economic, social, political, or cultural effects on societies.
Flow
An area of Earth’s surface with certain characteristics that make it distinct yet cohesive from other areas.
Region
Theory describing the spatial and functional relationships between countries in the world economy; categorizes countries as part of a hierarchy consisting of the core, periphery, and semi-periphery.
World System Theory
A computer system that allows for the collection, organization, and display of geographic data for analysis.
Geographic Information Systems (GIS)