WORLD REGIONAL GEOGRAPHY EXAM 1
FINAL PAPER TESTED QUESTIONS WITH
COMPLETE ANSWER KEY
●● What are the 2 main branches of geography?
Answer: Human and Physical
●● Which category of geography does our class fall under?
Answer: It's a world regional geography class
- learn about both human and physical geog.
●● Thematic/Systematic Geography
Answer: topic/themes
- setting is a specific place but the PROCESSES are what we are
interested in
●● Regional Geography
Answer: places and/or regions
- extremely rare today
- what people still think we do
●● Latitude
,Answer: how far north or south of the equator you are
- lines are called parallels
●● Longitude
Answer: how far east or west you are from the Prime Meridian in
Greenwich, England
- lines are called meridians
●● Graticule
Answer: longitude and latitude together make up an imaginary grid
covering the Earth
●● What is scale? Do large-scale maps show large geographical areas?
Why/why not?
Answer: Scale is the ratio between the map and the are being mapped.
No, Large-scale maps shows smaller geographical areas bc they show so
much detail
●● Large-scale maps show _________ geographical areas while small-
scale maps show __________ areas
Answer: smaller, larger
●● Why do we say that "all maps lie"?
Answer: Distortion and Projections
,●● Why does distortion occur? What are the 4 characteristics that can be
distorted?
Answer: to represent a 3D surface in 2D, at least one of the following
has to get distorted
1. distance
2. direction
3. shape
4. area
●● What are projections?
Answer: different ways of flattening the Earth's surface to make a map
●● What is the difference between space and place?
Answer: space: is absolute and mathematical
(square feet of childhood bedroom)
place: is space with meaning
(what does your childhood bedroom mean to you)
●● What is the difference between absolute and relative location?
Answer: absolute: fixed, does not change
(coordinates)
, relative: defined in relation to something else (50 miles east of ATL)
●● What are the 3 types of regions we discussed in class?
Answer: Formal, Functional, and Vernacular
●● Formal Regions
Answer: have clear-cut administrative boundaries (counties, states)
●● Functional Regions
Answer: based around a central point or node (service area of a TV
station)
●● Vernacular regions
Answer: no fixed boundaries (the South, "downtown")
●● Spatial Diffusion
Answer: how things spread over space
●● Contagious Diffusion
Answer: spread by proximity (what's closest)
FINAL PAPER TESTED QUESTIONS WITH
COMPLETE ANSWER KEY
●● What are the 2 main branches of geography?
Answer: Human and Physical
●● Which category of geography does our class fall under?
Answer: It's a world regional geography class
- learn about both human and physical geog.
●● Thematic/Systematic Geography
Answer: topic/themes
- setting is a specific place but the PROCESSES are what we are
interested in
●● Regional Geography
Answer: places and/or regions
- extremely rare today
- what people still think we do
●● Latitude
,Answer: how far north or south of the equator you are
- lines are called parallels
●● Longitude
Answer: how far east or west you are from the Prime Meridian in
Greenwich, England
- lines are called meridians
●● Graticule
Answer: longitude and latitude together make up an imaginary grid
covering the Earth
●● What is scale? Do large-scale maps show large geographical areas?
Why/why not?
Answer: Scale is the ratio between the map and the are being mapped.
No, Large-scale maps shows smaller geographical areas bc they show so
much detail
●● Large-scale maps show _________ geographical areas while small-
scale maps show __________ areas
Answer: smaller, larger
●● Why do we say that "all maps lie"?
Answer: Distortion and Projections
,●● Why does distortion occur? What are the 4 characteristics that can be
distorted?
Answer: to represent a 3D surface in 2D, at least one of the following
has to get distorted
1. distance
2. direction
3. shape
4. area
●● What are projections?
Answer: different ways of flattening the Earth's surface to make a map
●● What is the difference between space and place?
Answer: space: is absolute and mathematical
(square feet of childhood bedroom)
place: is space with meaning
(what does your childhood bedroom mean to you)
●● What is the difference between absolute and relative location?
Answer: absolute: fixed, does not change
(coordinates)
, relative: defined in relation to something else (50 miles east of ATL)
●● What are the 3 types of regions we discussed in class?
Answer: Formal, Functional, and Vernacular
●● Formal Regions
Answer: have clear-cut administrative boundaries (counties, states)
●● Functional Regions
Answer: based around a central point or node (service area of a TV
station)
●● Vernacular regions
Answer: no fixed boundaries (the South, "downtown")
●● Spatial Diffusion
Answer: how things spread over space
●● Contagious Diffusion
Answer: spread by proximity (what's closest)
