Deck 1: Basic Concepts

Question 1

The International Date Line is measured approximately from

A) 0 degrees latitude.
B) 0 degrees longitude.
C) 90 degrees latitude.
D) 180 degrees longitude.
E) 90 degrees longitude.

Answer 1

D

Question 2

If the scale of a map is 1:100,000, then 1 centimeter on the map represents ________ on Earth's surface.

A) 1 kilometer
B) 10 kilometers
C) 10,000 kilometers
D) 100,000 kilometers
E) 1,000 centimeters

Answer 2

A

Question 3

You are given the coordinates 128 E longitude, 45 N latitude. This is an example of a

A) mathematical location.
B) placename on the grid system.
C) situation on the grid system.
D) mathematical grid interchange.
E) site-situation intersection.

Answer 3

A

Question 4

Which of the following types of maps would have the largest scale?

A) world
B) continent
C) state
D) city
E) country

Question 5

According to the surviving evidence, the first person to write the word geography was

A) Aristotle.
B) Eratosthenes.
C) Strabo.
D) Thales of Miletus.
E) Thucydides.

Question 6

Scale is

A) the system used by geographers to transfer locations from a globe to a map.
B) the spread of a phenomenon over a given area.
C) the difference in elevation between two points in an area.
D) the relationship between the length of an object on a map and that feature on the landscape.
E) the ratio of the largest to smallest areas on a map.

Question 7

A map projection may distort a continent, making it appear stretched in some areas and smashed in others in order to

A) distort the shapes of other continents.
B) distort the distances and relative sizes of countries and continents.
C) depict a map that accurately represents a globe in every detail.
D) depict accurately the physical area of a country or continent.
E) depict accurately the shape of that same continent.

Question 8

1:24,000 is an example of what kind of scale?

A) a bar line
B) a metric scale
C) a graphic scale
D) a written scale
E) a ratio or fraction

Question 9

Without looking at a map, we might deduce that the coordinates 170 W longitude, 11 S latitude are likely

A) just west of the International Date Line and just north of the equator.
B) just south of the equator and just east of the prime meridian.
C) just east of the International Date Line and just south of the equator.
D) just east of the prime meridian and just south of the equator.
E) just south of the International Date Line and just east of the equator.

Question 10

The art and science of making maps is

A) cardemography.
B) cartography.
C) topography.
D) geomorphology.
E) geography.

Question 11

If we did not have a map handy, we would deduce that the coordinates 171 E longitude, 12 S latitude are likely

A) just east of the International Date Line and just north of the equator.
B) just south of the equator and just east of the prime meridian.
C) just west of the International Date Line and just south of the equator.
D) just west of the prime meridian and just south of the equator.
E) just south of the International Date Line and just east of the equator.

Question 12

Greenwich Mean Time is measured from

A) 0 degrees latitude.
B) 0 degrees longitude.
C) 90 degrees latitude.
D) 180 degrees longitude.
E) 90 degrees longitude.

Question 13

The coordinates 150 E longitude, 89 N latitude are

A) near both the International Date Line and the North Pole.
B) near the equator but quite far from the prime meridian.
C) near the International Date Line and the equator.
D) near the North Pole and the prime meridian.
E) near both the Tropic of Cancer and the International Date Line.

Question 14

What elements of study do human and physical geography have in common?

A) They are taught or studied within the same department in major universities, but only rarely.
B) They are concerned with where things occur and why they occur where they do.
C) They are dedicated primarily to managing national park systems.
D) They are focused primarily on managing the world's growing human population.
E) They represent a network of academic professionals dedicated primarily to studying coal mining's effects on physical and human systems.

Question 15

You see the coordinates 5 E longitude, 10 N latitude. You do not need to look at a map in order to deduce that this location is

A) near both the equator and the prime meridian.
B) near the equator but quite far from the prime meridian.
C) near the International Date Line as well as the North Pole.
D) near the International Date Line and the prime meridian.
E) near both the equator and the International Date Line.

Question 16

We can judge from the various kinds of maps shown in this chapter that

A) fairly accurate navigational maps could only be produced after the start of the Industrial Revolution.
B) the first "true" maps appeared because of modern printing presses in the 20th century.
C) sailors during the European Renaissance had paper maps that were far more useful to them than were the "stick charts" possessed by Polynesian sailors and fishers.
D) maps have appeared in many forms in different societies and times, including modern paper maps, GPS in cars, the "stick charts" of Polynesia, and the carved maps of ancient Turkey.
E) maps that distort the sizes of Greenland and Antarctica are generally the best, although they make Africa and South America appear to small while simultaneously expanding the size of Europe.

Question 17

Which statement is more accurate?

A) Every meridian is actually a circle rather than a curved line.
B) Every meridian is the same length and has the same beginning and end.
C) Every parallel begins and ends at the poles.
D) Every parallel is the same length.
E) Every meridian is distorted by magnetic declination.

Question 18

A mathematical process for transferring locations from a globe to a flat map is a(n)

A) distribution.
B) interruption.
C) rendition
D) scale.
E) projection.

Question 19

Distortion is especially severe and apparent on

A) globes.
B) small-scale maps.
C) large-scale maps.
D) topographic maps.
E) all maps.

Question 20

Which of the following statements is most correct regarding the origins of geography?

A) Geography was invented as a science in the late 18th century.
B) Physical geography has been studied since ancient times, but human geography was first studied in the 20th century.
C) Geography owes its existence to the Renaissance period in Western Europe.
D) Humans have practiced geography at least since the time of ancient Greek civilization.
E) Human geography was not practiced until powerful computers capable of mapping detailed information were invented.

Question 21

Site identifies a place by its

A) location relative to other objects and places.
B) mathematical location on Earth's surface.
C) nominal location.
D) unique physical characteristics.
E) primary dimensions.

Question 22

If NASA sends a space probe into orbit around Mars, and that probe transmits images of the Martian surface back to Earth, we could say that

A) the space probe is gathering surface data, but it cannot be described as engaging in remote sensing because this is an operation that, by definition, can only be accomplished from Earth orbit.
B) the space probe is generating data for GPS.
C) the space probe is engaging in remote sensing, although it is gathering data from a planet other than Earth.
D) the probe is engaging in aerial photography, although it is taking its "pictures" from outer space.
E) the USGS has programmed the space probe to mimic the work of Earth satellites.

Question 23

Culture means to

A) care about and nurture something.
B) nurture the growth of a plant but not ideas, customs, or beliefs.
C) develop new variations.
D) discard effective practices.
E) teach art, music, and literature.

Question 24

The nine regions that the Census Bureau has established within the United States are examples of

A) governmental regions.
B) functional regions.
C) nodal regions.
D) formal regions.
E) vernacular regions.

Question 25

The name of a location on Earth's surface is a

A) scale name.
B) site.
C) situation.
D) toponym.
E) geonym.

Question 26

A geographer would be primarily interested in determining or locating a suitable ________ if he were wishing to study a remote, rural valley in western Africa where diamonds are mined.

A) geocache
B) situation
C) site
D) toponym
E) jurisdiction

Question 27

An area distinguished by one or more unique characteristics is a(n)

A) biome.
B) landscape.
C) region.
D) uniform unit.
E) ecosystem.

Question 28

If a geographer uses some of the components and applications of a computer system to organize and display maps, but she doesn't use it for other functions,

A) she is still using a GIS, although she may not be using all of its potential to store, organize, retrieve, and analyze data.
B) she is still utilizing a GPS, although she may not be using all of its potential to store, organize, retrieve, and analyze data.
C) she is using only the components of a remote sensing system, because she is not storing, organizing, retrieving, or analyzing data.
D) she is not using a GIS, because she is not using all of the system's potential to store, organize, retrieve, and analyze data.
E) she is using only the topographic analysis functions, because she is not using all of its potential to store, organize, retrieve, and analyze data.

Question 29

Situation identifies a place by its

A) location relative to other objects or places.
B) mathematical location on Earth's surface.
C) nominal location.
D) unique, internal physical and cultural characteristics.
E) primary dimensions.

Question 30

A ship's position is given as 0 degrees latitude and 27 degrees west longitude. We can conclude from this information that the ship is located

A) on the equator and in the Atlantic Ocean.
B) at the North or South Pole and in the Arctic Ocean.
C) on the Prime Meridian and in the Atlantic Ocean.
D) astride the International Date Line in the Pacific Ocean.
E) equidistant between the Prime Meridian and the International Date Line.

Question 31

The concept that the distribution of one phenomenon is related to the location of other phenomena is

A) geographic analysis.
B) spatial analysis.
C) spatial association.
D) spatial distribution.
E) regional association.

Question 32

Global Positioning Systems reference ________ location.

A) relative
B) situational
C) mathematical
D) toponymic
E) exact

Question 33

The state of Texas is best considered a formal region because

A) only one language is spoken in most of the cities of the region.
B) the same state laws apply everywhere in the region.
C) the climate is the same everywhere in the region.
D) transportation systems converge in the major highways of the region.
E) it is a part of the United States.

Question 34

A computer system that stores, organizes, retrieves, analyzes, and displays geographic data is

A) GIS.
B) GPS.
C) remote sensing.
D) USGS.
E) topographic analysis.

Question 35

Which of the following are fundamental elements of culture?

A) customary beliefs, volcanic mountain ranges, and river settlements
B) material beliefs, customary forms, physical norms, and material social traits
C) social forms, material traits, customary beliefs, and physical environments
D) customary beliefs, material traits, and social forms
E) physical environments and material traits

Question 36

The acquisition of data about Earth's surface from a satellite, spacecraft, or specially equipped high-altitude balloon is

A) GIS.
B) GPS.
C) remote sensing.
D) aerial photography.
E) USGS.

Question 37

Without glancing at a map, we can guess that the coordinates 178 E longitude, 20 S latitude are likely

A) just east of the International Date Line in the Pacific Ocean.
B) in the Pacific Ocean just north of the equator.
C) in the Pacific Ocean just west of the International Date Line.
D) just west of the prime meridian in the Atlantic Ocean.
E) just south of the equator in the Atlantic Ocean.

Question 38

New York City's ________ is approximately 100 miles northeast of Philadelphia and 100 miles southwest of Boston.

A) location
B) site
C) situation
D) toponym
E) jurisdiction

Question 39

Driving around to gather information for street navigation devices is called

A) ground truthing.
B) remote sensing.
C) GIS programming.
D) GPS grounding.
E) GPS.

Question 40

A geographer might use a GPS to

A) log the locations where photographs were taken, but not to find the best route to a store.
B) make a map but not to drive a car.
C) find the best route to a store or log the locations where photographs were taken.
D) record toponyms and terracentric calculations.
E) make a map or find a route to a favorite store, but not to log the locations where photographs were taken over the course of a research project.

Question 41

-In this figure, which two of the four boxes have the highest density of dots?

A) A, B
B) B, C
C) C, D
D) A, D
E) all of these boxes have equivalent density

Question 42

In this figure, which two boxes have the highest concentration of dots?

A) A, C
B) B, D
C) A, B
D) C, D
E) All of these boxes have the same concentration of dots.

Question 43

Which of the following best describes the idea of a cultural landscape?

A) A landscape that has been completely modified, like a city center.
B) A landscape set aside for historical preservation, like a Civil War battlefield.
C) Land that has been developed with museums, concert halls, and schools.
D) A landscape where human activity has modified the natural environment in some way.
E) A landscape untouched by human activity, featuring mountains, rivers, and plants.

Question 44

Moving toward the southwestern border of the United States, Spanish is increasingly spoken in addition to English. What type of region does this gradual change of language reflect?

A) formal
B) functional
C) vernacular
D) geo-linguistic
E) bilingual

Question 45

To geographers, the spread of McDonald's around the world represents

A) economic proliferation.
B) a unique taste in nearly every location.
C) the relocation diffusion of restaurants.
D) economic globalization but not cultural globalization.
E) economic and cultural globalization.

Question 46

Globalization of the economy has

A) leveled economic differences between places.
B) heightened economic differences among places.
C) decreased investment in less developed countries.
D) drained resources from more developed countries.
E) decreased regional specialization of production.

Question 47

Among the elements of globalization of culture are tendencies toward

A) uniform consumption preferences, enhanced communications, unequal access to resources, and uniformity in cultural forms.
B) enhanced communications, heterogeneity, and equal access to resources.
C) uniform consumption preferences, slower communications, unequal access to resources, greater access to entertainment, and a mixture of uniformity and variety in cultural forms.
D) maintaining local traditions.
E) maintaining local traditions along with uniformity of cultural beliefs and forms.

Question 48

When geographers say that the South is partly defined as a region by the Baptist Church, they understand that

A) low educational attainment and economic factors are not as important as religion in determining the boundaries and characteristics of this region.
B) the Presbyterian, Roman Catholic, Methodist, and other churches also attract adherents in the South, but to a lesser extent than do Baptist churches.
C) the Presbyterian, Roman Catholic, Methodist, and other churches attract almost no adherents because the Baptist Church has obtained such a high amount of power and state support there.
D) the Presbyterian, Baptist, Roman Catholic, Methodist, and other churches are supported by the state governments of the South.
E) Christian legislators in state governments do not let religious convictions and related biases interfere with their work.

Question 49

In recent years, the global movement of money has been enhanced primarily by

A) establishment of new stock exchanges in London, New York, and Tokyo.
B) improvements in electronic communications.
C) relocation of production from core to peripheral regions.
D) uneven development of national banking sectors.
E) safeguards to ensure that economic recessions do not result from bank policies.

Question 50

A ________ is the spread of something over a given study area.

A) concentration
B) density
C) distribution
D) pattern
E) diffusion

Question 51

The U.S. Land Ordinance of 1785 divided much of the country into a system of

A) townships, towns, cities, municipalities, and major urban centers.
B) ranges, distances, scales, projections, and map symbols.
C) town-county boundaries.
D) quarter sections, range sections, town land sections, and county sections.
E) townships, ranges, sections, and quarter sections.

Question 52

The South is established as a vernacular region of the United States by

A) climate, low educational attainment, cotton production, and the prevalence of talk radio stations.
B) climate, low high-school graduation rates, and the Roman Catholic and Baptist churches.
C) low high school graduation rates, climate, cotton and corn (maize) production, and abuses of the rights of voters and minorities.
D) high cotton production, high church attendance, the prevalence of right-wing talk radio stations, and limits placed on the civil rights of ethnic and racial minorities.
E) climate, low educational attainment, cotton production, and the prevalence of Baptist churches.

Question 53

Examining maps of cancer death rates drawn at different scales reveals that

A) most cancer deaths are still caused by smoking.
B) a region with an overall low cancer death rate may have some areas with high cancer death rates.
C) corporations will strongly oppose civil suits that attempt to hold them liable for cancer.
D) the use of different scales only confuses such a study, and it is best to use only one map at a small scale.
E) if a state has a high cancer death rate, every county in that state has a high cancer death rate.

Question 54

A hearth is

A) a region from which a phenomenon originates.
B) the process by which a feature or trend spreads.
C) an area defined by one or more distinctive features or trends.
D) the modification of a culture as a result of contact with a more powerful one.
E) the perimeter or boundary marked by a regional feature.

Question 55

Common practices of ________ include exploiting the distinctive economic assets of different countries and regions, organizing production according to a spatial division of labor, placing earnings in offshore bank accounts to avoid paying taxes, and moving factories from high wage regions to low wage regions.

A) transnational corporations
B) nonessential employees
C) democratic governments
D) nationalized corporations
E) locally owned corporations

Question 56

Which of the following is most likely a functional region?

A) an area where new ideas seem to be circulating the fastest
B) the area of dominance of a particular church or sect
C) the area that a person regards as a hometown
D) the area of dominance of a television station
E) area where people tend to be fans of a particular professional football team

Question 57

The township and range system

A) established a gridlike pattern for much of present-day land use in the United States.
B) is in use nearly everywhere in the world.
C) was used for navigation by early pioneers, traders, and explorers in North America.
D) established a gridlike pattern for much of present-day Europe and the United States.
E) was used throughout Europe until the mid-1800s, after which the United States adopted it.

Question 58

The frequency of something within a given unit of area is

A) concentration.
B) density.
C) distribution.
D) pattern.
E) dispersion.

Question 59

The arrangement of a phenomenon across Earth's surface is

A) dispersal.
B) spatial analysis.
C) spatial association.
D) distribution.
E) regional dissociation.

Question 60

Which of the following could be a vernacular region?

A) a sports "conference" or area within which sports teams compete with one another
B) the area of dominance of a television station
C) the market area of a supermarket
D) the area of dominance of a certain worldview or philosophy
E) the area served by a pizza delivery person

Question 61

Parallels converge at the North and South Poles.

Question 62

Hurricane Katrina's landfall on the United States is an interesting geographic case study because

A) its effects are an intersection of human and physical geography.
B) its winds reached incredible speeds near the eye of the hurricane.
C) the damage was largely a result of flooding from rivers and a storm surge, not the winds.
D) the federal government was poorly prepared for the storm and its aftermath.
E) people of all ethnic and racial groups were equally devastated by the storm.

Question 63

According to environmental determinism,

A) the physical environment causes different types of social and cultural development.
B) the physical environment sets loose limits on cultural and social actions.
C) people cannot adjust to different physical environments because of cultural traditions.
D) people can choose a course of action from many alternatives offered by the physical environment, and they can also engage in cultural behaviors that seem contradictory to the environment.
E) people determine their physical environment.

Question 64

The diffusion of HIV/AIDS prevention methods and treatments in the United States is an example of which type of diffusion?

A) contagious
B) hierarchical
C) relocation
D) stimulus
E) geospatial

Question 65

Which of the following are forms of expansion diffusion?

A) contagious and eponymous
B) hierarchical and formal
C) economic and relocation
D) contagious and hierarchical
E) relocation and stimulus

Question 66

The communication revolution that promotes globalization of culture also permits preservation of cultural diversity.

Question 67

Regions are found only where physical and economic characteristics are strongly related.

Question 68

The study of how humans and the environment interact is called

A) environmental determinism.
B) cultural ecology.
C) cultural diffusion.
D) cultural possibilism.
E) natural science.

Question 69

Formal regions cannot overlap.

Question 70

The concept that the physical environment sets broad limits on human actions, but that people have the ability to adjust to a wide variety of physical environments is

A) climate.
B) environmental determinism.
C) possibilism.
D) spatial association.
E) cultural relativism.

Question 71

Every map projection distorts the surface of Earth in some way.

Question 72

If you flew south along the International Date Line you would reach the South Pole, and if you continued flying straight ahead (with unlimited fuel) you would eventually cross the equator along the prime meridian.

Question 73

A high degree of dispersion within an area indicates high density.

Question 74

The historic diffusion of HIV/AIDS in the United States is an example of which type of diffusion?

A) contagious
B) hierarchical
C) relocation
D) stimulus
E) geospatial

Question 75

Distribution refers to the arrangement of observable phenomena across a surface.

Question 76

Globalization of the economy has led to more specialization at the local level.

Question 77

The numbering system used to indicate the location of meridians is called latitude.

Question 78

A functional region can exhibit the distance-decay phenomenon.

Question 79

For each 15° change in longitude, time changes by one hour.

Question 80

A map displays in full detail what lies on Earth's surface.