Unit 1 Essentials of Geography

Spatial thinking

• thinking about the space on Earth's surface including where places are located and why they are there

• one of the large landmasses of the earth

• where a place is located in relation to another place

• showing how much distance on Earth is shown on a map

geographic patterns

• similarities among places

• exact location of a place

• processes by which rock, sand, and soil are broken down and carried away

• the study of the political organization of the world

absolute location

• exact location of a place on earth described by global coordinates

• a way of representing the spherical Earth on a flat surface

• the height of land above sea level

• a two-dimensional or flat representation of Earth's surface or a portion of it

Global Positioning System (GPS)

• satellite-based system for determining the absolute location of places or geographic features

• a way of representing the spherical Earth on a flat surface

• the study of the impact of economic activities on the landscape

• features that make up the Earth's surface

relative location

• where a place is located in relation to another place

• exact location of a place on Earth

• similarities among places

• the difference/change in elevation between one place to another

Human Environment Interaction

• how people affect their environment and how their environment affects them

• beliefs, customs, and traditions of a specific group of people

• any natural resource that can be replenished naturally with he passage of time - it never runs out

• the average weather conditions in an area over a long period of time

region

• an area of Earth that involves a group of places that have common characteristics or traits

• how people affect their environment and how their environment affects them

• one half of the earth

• beliefs, customs, and traditions of a specific group of people

movement

• how people, goods, and ideas get from one place to another

• the shaking that results from the movement of rock beneath Earth's surface

• a mountain that erupts in an explosion of molten rock, gases, and ash

• a large are a of flat land with few trees

continent

• one of the large landmasses of the earth

• a plant or animal's natural environment

• a society with complex/high developed, highly organized culture and social order

• a community of plants and animals and their habitat

latitude

• imaginary lines that run east to west around the earth, parallel to the Equator

• an imaginary circle around the middle of the earth, halfway between the North Pole and the South Pole

• imaginary lines that run north to south from the north pole to the south pole

• one half of the earth