A study of and a practice of map-making, including construction of projections, design, compilation, drafting and reproduction, which aims to model reality in ways that communicate spatial information effectively.
Include people, climate, production, landforms, built elements of the environment, soils, vegetation, communities, water resources, cultures, mineral resources and landscape. Some characteristics are tangible, for example, rivers and buildings. Others are intangible, for example, scenic quality and socioeconomic status.
A thematic map in which areas are shaded to show higher and lower values.
A long-term average (minimum 30 years) of weather conditions at a place. For example, some climates are hot and wet all year (Singapore); some have hot, wet summers and warm, dry winters (Darwin); and some have warm, dry summers and cool, wet winters (Adelaide and Perth). Climates can be classified into distinctive types, such as equatorial, tropical, temperate, Mediterranean, semi-arid and arid. These types are found in similar locations around the world.
A graph showing average monthly temperature (by a line) and rainfall (by columns) for a location.
Areas of the earth that have similar climatic conditions. The major zones are hot, temperate and polar and are roughly demarcated by lines of latitude.
A comparison of places. It may be used to identify the effects of factors such as climate, relative location, technology, culture and government on the characteristics of a place.
Conservation is careful management of the environment and natural resources, acknowledging that they may be changed in order to affect a better future for humankind, but not if the impacts on them are too great. Alternatively, preservation is an act of maintaining the existing condition of environmental areas as yet untouched by humans.
Those resources, such as solar or wind energy, whose availability is unaffected by their use by humans. Also see environmental resources.
In the Australian Curriculum, Country in this instance refers to a space mapped out by physical or intangible boundaries that individuals or groups of Aboriginal Peoples occupy and regard as their own. It is a space with varying degrees of spirituality.
Place (as it pertains in Country/Place) is a space mapped out by physical or intangible boundaries that individuals or groups of Torres Strait Islander Peoples occupy and regard as their own. It is a space with varying degrees of spirituality.
A body of beliefs, attitudes, skills and tools by which communities structure their lives and interact with their environments.custodial responsibility
An obligation that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples have to care for the Country/Place on which they live, even if they are not traditional owners of that Country/Place. Traditional owners have primary responsibility for Country/Place.