A symbolic landscape is a landscape that has significant meaning beyond what it simply looks like due to cultural associations. The Temple Mount in Jerusalem is seen as the location of important religious moments for Judaism, Islam, and Christianity, while also holding the remnants of the ancient Jewish temple and a medieval Islamic mosque. Due to these factors, the Temple Mount is more than just a part of an old city, which makes it a symbolic landscape.

“Toponymy” is the study of place names. Toponymy is useful to cultural geographers because it can help illuminate certain conclusions about an area - such as who its original inhabitants were and where they came from. For example “Los Angeles” is a Spanish name of an American city. This suggests that some of its earlier inhabitants might have been Spanish, or that Los Angeles was once in territory held by the Spanish Empire and so on.