1. Hearth The region from which innovative ideas originate
Example: Early cultural hearths
Nile River
Indus River
Wei-Huang Valley
Ganges River Valley
Mesopotamia
Mesoamerica
West Africa

3. Types of Diffusion Relocation Diffusion Expansion Diffusion
Hierarchical Diffusion
Contagious Diffusion
Stimulus Diffusion

4. Relocation Diffusion
“The spread of a feature or trend through bodily movement of people from one place to another”
People move, they bring things with them (culture, language, religion, etc.)
Examples:
Euro coins
Religion with migrating settlers
Columbian Exchange

5. Expansion Diffusion
“The spread of a feature or trend among people from one area to another in a snowballing process”
Types
Hierarchical
Contagious
Stimulus (least common)

6. Hierarchical Diffusion
“The spread of a feature or trend from one key person or node of authority or power to other persons or places”
Large cities  small cities  small towns
Important people down the social hierarchy
Examples:
Hip-hop/rap music
Fashion trends

7. Contagious Diffusion
“The rapid, widespread diffusion of a feature or trend throughout a population”
No hierarchy, spreads by contact
Examples:
Disease
Information on the internet
Hinduism in India

8. Stimulus Diffusion
“The spread of an underlying principle, even though a specific characteristic is rejected”
Spread of a concept, with a twist
Examples:
Early computers
Surfers  skateboarders

9. Space-Time Compression
The reduction in the time it takes to diffuse something to a distant place as a result of improved communications and transportation systems
Example: The Arab Spring

10. Friction of Distance
“Based on the notion that distance usually requires some amount of effort, money, and/or energy to overcome.”
Shorter distance = more interaction
Larger distance = less interaction

11. Distance Decay
“The diminishing in importance and eventual disappearance of a phenomenon with increasing distance from its origin”

12. Human-Environment Interaction
Cultural Ecology: geographic approach that emphasizes human-environment relationships
Two schools of thought:
Environmental Determinism
Possibilism

13. Environmental Determinism
Theories
Environmental Determinism
Possibilism
“A nineteenth- & early twentieth-century approach to the study of geography which argued that the general laws sought by human geographers could be found in the physical sciences. Geography was therefore a study of how the physical environment caused human activities.”
“The theory that the physical environment may set limits on human actions, but people have the ability to adjust to the physical environment and choose a course of action from many alternatives.”

14. Site “The unique physical characteristics of a place” Examples:
Climate
Water sources
Topography
Soil
Vegetation
Latitude
Elevation

15. Situation “The location of a place relative to other places”
Directions
Ex: “Go over the railroad tracks, turn right at the McDonalds, it’s the third house on the right”
Helps us to understand importance
Singapore is important due to the fact it is situated in a major shipping passage in Southeast Asia

16. Mathematical Location
Meridian: arc from North pole to South pole
Longitude
Parallel: circle drawn around the globe parallel to the equator
Latitude
Las Vegas: 36˚ 10’ 30” N/
115˚ 8’ 11” W

17. Lines of Latitude/Longitude
Equator: circle around the world at 0˚ latitude
Prime Meridian: arc around the world at 0˚ longitude
International Date Line: arc around the world at 180˚ longitude (generally)

18. Projections Types Robinson Mercator Goode’s homolosine General classes
Conic
Cylindrical
Planar (azimuthal)

19. Robinson

20. Mercator

21. Goode’s Homolosine

22. Interrupted vs. Uninterrupted

26. Scale
Small scale map (greater area)
Large scale map (greater detail)

27. CityCountyStateRegionCountryContinentWorld
Local Global
CityCountyStateRegionCountryContinentWorld

28. GIS Geographic Information System
“A computer system that stores, organizes, analyzes, & displays geographic data”
Different layers can be compared to show relationships among different information

29. GPS Global Positioning System
“A system that determines the precise position of something on Earth through a series of satellites, tracking stations & receivers.”
Receiver uses at least 4 satellites to determine the exact location of an individual

30. Remote Sensing
“The acquisition of data about Earth’s surface from a satellite orbiting the planet or from other long-distance methods”
Remote sensing images are created by combining picture elements or pixels

31. Other
Polls & Surveys
Field Observations
Census

32. Regions Larger than a point & smaller than the planet Types
Formal region
Functional region
Vernacular region

33. Formal Region a.k.a. uniform region or homogenous region
“An area in which everyone shares in one or more distinctive characteristics”
Examples:
Montana
American wheat belt
Areas characterized as a predominantly “Republican” or “Democratic” state

34. Functional Region a.k.a. nodal region
“An area organized around a node or focal point”
Examples:
Range of TV station
Circulation of newspaper
Central Place Theory

35. Vernacular Region a.k.a. perceptual region
“An area that people believe exists as part of their cultural identity”
Examples:
American “South”

36. Time Zones
360˚ / 24 hours per day= each time zone represents 1 hour and 15˚
Non-standard time zones:
Iran GMT+3:30
Afghanistan GMT+4:30
India GMT+5:30
Nepal GMT+5:45
Myanmar (Burma) GMT+6:30
Central Australia GMT+9:30
Venezuela GMT-2:30
Newfoundland GMT-3:30