AP Human Geography Unit 1 Vocabulary

Physical Geography

The study of the spatial characteristics of various elements of the physical environment.

Human Geography

The study of the spatial characteristic of humans and human activities.

Time-distance decay

The idea that things near each other are more closely connected or related than things that are far apart.

Reference maps

Maps designed for people to refer to for general information about places.

Political Maps

Maps that show and label human-created boundaries and designations, such as countries, states, cities, and capitals.

Physical Maps

Maps that show and label natural features, such as mountains, river, and deserts.

Road Maps

Show and label highways, streets, and alleys.

Thematic Maps

Show spatial aspects of information or of a phenomena.

Choropleth Maps

Maps that use various colors, shades of one color, or patterns to show the location and the distribution of spatial data.

Dot Distribution Maps

Maps used to show the specific location and distribution of something across a map. Each dot represents a specified quantity.

Isoline Map

Maps that use lines to connect points of equal value to depict variations in the data across space.

Topographic Maps

Maps that have points of equal elevations are connected on maps, creating contours that depict surface features.

Cartogram Maps

A map in which sizes of countries are shown in accordance to some specific statistic.

Scale

The ratio between the size of things in the real world and the size of those same things on the map.

Absolute Location

The precise spot where something is according to a system.

Latitude

The distance north or south of the equator.

Equator

An imaginary line that circles the globe exactly halfway between the North and South poles.

Longitude

The distance east or west of the prime meridian.

Prime Meridian

An imaginary line that runs from the pole to pole.

International Date Line

Roughly follows the prime meridian but makes deviations to accommodate international boundaries.

Relative Location

A description of where something is in relation to other things.

Absolute Distance

Distance measured in terms of unites of measurement.

Relative Distance

The degree of nearness based on time or money which is often dependent on the mode of travel.

Distribution

The way a phenomenon is spread out over an area.

Clustered or Agglomerted

Phenomena are arranged in a group or concentrated area.

Linear

Phenomena arranged in a straight line.

Dispersed

Phenomena are spread out over a large area.

Circular

Phenomena are equally spaced from a central point.

Geometric

Phenomena are in a regular arrangement.

Random

Phenomena appear to have no order to their position.

Landspace Analysis

Defining and describing landscapes.

Spatial Data

All of the information that can be tied to specific locations is called spatial data.

Remote Sensing

Gathers information from satellites that orbit the earth or other craft above the atmosphere.

Global Positioning System (GPS)

Receivers on the earth’s surface use the locations of multiple satellites to determine and record a receiver’s exact location.

Geographic Information Systems (GIS)

System that can store, analyze, and display information from multiple digital maps or geospatial data sets.

Location

Where specific phenomena are located either on a grid system or relative to another location.

Place

The specific human and physical characteristics of a location.

Region

A group of places in the same area that share a characteristic.

Site

The characteristics at the immediate location.

Situation

The location of a place relative to its surroundings and its connectivity to other places.

Toponyms

Place names. Usually provide insight to the physical geography, history, or culture of the location.

Time-Space Compression

The shrinking relative distance between locations because of improved methods of transportation and communication.

Friction of Distance

When things are farther apart, they tend to be less connected.

Distance Decay

The inverse relationship between distance and connection.

Patterns

The general arrangement of things being studied, and geographers must be able to describe patterns accurately and with precision.

Human-Environmental Interaction

The connection and exchange between humans and the natural world.

Natural Resource

Items that occur in the natural environment that people can use.

Renewable Natural Resources

Theoretically these are unlimited, and will not be depleted base on use by people.

Non-Renewable Natural Resources

Limited and can be exhausted by their human uses.

Sustainability

Trying to use resources now in ways that allow their use in the future while imnimizing negative impacts on the environment.

Built Environment

The physical artifacts that humans have created and that form part of the landscape.

Cultural Landscape

Anything built by humans and is in the realm of land use.

Environmental Determinism

Landforms and climate are the most powerful forces shaping human behavior and societal development while ignoring the influence of culture.

Possibilism

A view that acknowledges limits on the effects of the natural environment and focuses more on the role that human culture plays.

Geographic Scale

The area of the world being studied.

Global Scale

The entire world.

National Scale

One country.

Local Scale

A province, state, city, country, or neighborhood.

Formal Regions (Uniform or Homogenous Regions)

Regions that are united by one or more traits (Political, physical, cultural, economic).

Functional Regions (Nodal Regions)

Regions that are organized around a focal point and are defined by an activity, usually political, social, or economic, that occurs across the region. United by networks of communication, transportation, and other interactions.

Perceptual Regions (Vernacular Regions)

Defined by the informal sense of place that people ascribe to them. These regions exist, but their exact boundaries depend on the person you talk to.

Subregions

Regions divided into smaller areas.