GISP Study Guide
1. Use a transverse-case cylindrical projection (Extent): Broad north-south(e.g., Africa)
2. Equal area projection (Thematic): Use for an analysis that compares valuesin different
locations
3. Contour line: (aka isoline, isopleth, or isarithm) a function of two variables is acurve
along which the function has a constant value.
4. Contour line (cartography): joins points of equal elevation above a given level,such as
mean sea level
5. Contour interval: difference in elevation between successive contour lines
6. isoequal: equal distances between lines
7. isoline and isarithm: covers all types of contour lines
8. isogon: contour line for a variable which measures direction
9. isocline: a line joining points with equal slope
10. Equidistants-isodistances: equal distance from a given point, line, polyline
11. Physical geography: branch of natural science which deals with the study ofprocesses and
patterns in the natural environment like the atmosphere, hydros- phere, biosphere, and
geosphere
12. Divergent plate boundaries: boundaries where plates move away from eachother
13. Transform boundaries: one plate slides horizontally past another plate
14. Convergent boundaries: two plates move toward each other
15. Landform: a natural feature of the Earth's feature surface (hills, mountains,plateaus,
canyons, valleys, bays, peninsulas, and seas).
16. Topography: a field of geoscience and planetary science comprising the studyof surface
shape and features of the Earth and other observable astronomical objects including planets,
moons, and asteroids.
17. Primary data: collected specifically for the purpose of a researcher's particularstudy
18. Secondary data: collected for another purpose by someone other than theresearcher.
19. Five types of measurement: physical measurement, observation of behavior,archives,
explicit reports, computational modeling.
20. Physical measurement: recording physical properties of the Earth or its inhab-itants - size,
number, temperature, chemical makeup, moisture, etc. Use of aerial and satellite remote
sensing as ways to efficiently record large amounts of physicalmeasurement data.
21. Observation of behavior: Is the overt and potentially observable actions oractivities of
individuals or groups of people. Observable actions or activities of individuals or groups - not
, thoughts, feelings or motivations.
22. Archives: records that have been collected primarily for non-research purposes(secondary)
23. Explicit reports: beliefs people express about things -surveys
24. Computational modeling: defined models as simplified representations of por- tions of
reality- noted that models can be realized in conceptual, physical, graphical or computational
form.
25. Quantitative data: numerical values, measured on at least an ordinal level but could not be
on a metric level
26. Qualitative data: non-numerical or numerical (nominal) values that have noquantitative
meaning
27. Deceptive meaning: maps can be distorted for propaganda, military protection,ignorance
28. Thematic map: type of map especially designed to show a particular themeconnected with
a specific geographic area
29. Choropleth: areas are shaded according to prearranged key, each shading orcolor type
represents a range of values
30. Proportional symbol: symbol drawn proportional in size to the size of thevariable being
represented
31. Isarithmic or Isopleth: lines of equal value are drawn (contour lines) or rangesof similar
values are filled with similar colors or patterns
32. Dot: shows distribution of phenomena where values and locations are know -place a dot
where the location of variable is
33. Dasymetric: alternative to choropleth - ancillary information is used to modelinternal
distribution of the phenomenon
34. Multivariate displays: putting more than two sets of data on one map (i.e. singlemaps shows
population density and annual rainfall and cancer rates)
35. Web mapping: process of using maps delivered by GIS - web maps are bothserved and
consumed
36. Map layout elements: title, map, legend, map scale, supporting media, north arrow,
metadata (sources, currency of information, projection, copyright, authorship)
37. Symbols: represent things on a map
38. Map scale: 1 : 100 - one inch represents 100 inches in the real world
39. Large scale map: more zoomed in (shows more detail) 1:100
40. Small scale map: more zoomed out (shows less detail) 1:500,000
41. Symbolization variables: size, shape, orientation, pattern, hue, value
1. Use a transverse-case cylindrical projection (Extent): Broad north-south(e.g., Africa)
2. Equal area projection (Thematic): Use for an analysis that compares valuesin different
locations
3. Contour line: (aka isoline, isopleth, or isarithm) a function of two variables is acurve
along which the function has a constant value.
4. Contour line (cartography): joins points of equal elevation above a given level,such as
mean sea level
5. Contour interval: difference in elevation between successive contour lines
6. isoequal: equal distances between lines
7. isoline and isarithm: covers all types of contour lines
8. isogon: contour line for a variable which measures direction
9. isocline: a line joining points with equal slope
10. Equidistants-isodistances: equal distance from a given point, line, polyline
11. Physical geography: branch of natural science which deals with the study ofprocesses and
patterns in the natural environment like the atmosphere, hydros- phere, biosphere, and
geosphere
12. Divergent plate boundaries: boundaries where plates move away from eachother
13. Transform boundaries: one plate slides horizontally past another plate
14. Convergent boundaries: two plates move toward each other
15. Landform: a natural feature of the Earth's feature surface (hills, mountains,plateaus,
canyons, valleys, bays, peninsulas, and seas).
16. Topography: a field of geoscience and planetary science comprising the studyof surface
shape and features of the Earth and other observable astronomical objects including planets,
moons, and asteroids.
17. Primary data: collected specifically for the purpose of a researcher's particularstudy
18. Secondary data: collected for another purpose by someone other than theresearcher.
19. Five types of measurement: physical measurement, observation of behavior,archives,
explicit reports, computational modeling.
20. Physical measurement: recording physical properties of the Earth or its inhab-itants - size,
number, temperature, chemical makeup, moisture, etc. Use of aerial and satellite remote
sensing as ways to efficiently record large amounts of physicalmeasurement data.
21. Observation of behavior: Is the overt and potentially observable actions oractivities of
individuals or groups of people. Observable actions or activities of individuals or groups - not
, thoughts, feelings or motivations.
22. Archives: records that have been collected primarily for non-research purposes(secondary)
23. Explicit reports: beliefs people express about things -surveys
24. Computational modeling: defined models as simplified representations of por- tions of
reality- noted that models can be realized in conceptual, physical, graphical or computational
form.
25. Quantitative data: numerical values, measured on at least an ordinal level but could not be
on a metric level
26. Qualitative data: non-numerical or numerical (nominal) values that have noquantitative
meaning
27. Deceptive meaning: maps can be distorted for propaganda, military protection,ignorance
28. Thematic map: type of map especially designed to show a particular themeconnected with
a specific geographic area
29. Choropleth: areas are shaded according to prearranged key, each shading orcolor type
represents a range of values
30. Proportional symbol: symbol drawn proportional in size to the size of thevariable being
represented
31. Isarithmic or Isopleth: lines of equal value are drawn (contour lines) or rangesof similar
values are filled with similar colors or patterns
32. Dot: shows distribution of phenomena where values and locations are know -place a dot
where the location of variable is
33. Dasymetric: alternative to choropleth - ancillary information is used to modelinternal
distribution of the phenomenon
34. Multivariate displays: putting more than two sets of data on one map (i.e. singlemaps shows
population density and annual rainfall and cancer rates)
35. Web mapping: process of using maps delivered by GIS - web maps are bothserved and
consumed
36. Map layout elements: title, map, legend, map scale, supporting media, north arrow,
metadata (sources, currency of information, projection, copyright, authorship)
37. Symbols: represent things on a map
38. Map scale: 1 : 100 - one inch represents 100 inches in the real world
39. Large scale map: more zoomed in (shows more detail) 1:100
40. Small scale map: more zoomed out (shows less detail) 1:500,000
41. Symbolization variables: size, shape, orientation, pattern, hue, value
