Unit 1 AP Human Geography Vocabulary

Scale

Representation of a real world phenomenon at a certain level of reduction or generalization.

Reference map

Map that shows the absolute location of places and geographic features determined by a frame of reference, typically latitude and longitude

Thematic map

A map that tells a story typically showing the degree of some attribute or the movement of a geographic phenomenon

Spatial patterns

The arrangement of objects on the earth's surface

Absolute distance

The linear distance between two places

Absolute location

The position or place of a certain item on the surface of the Earth as expressed in latitude and longitude

Relative distance

A measure of distance without using uniform units such as miles of kilometers

Clustering

The arrangement of objects into groups, often separate from other groups

Dispersal

The arrangement of items or features in space

Map projection

A system used to transfer locations from Earth's surface to a flat map

Distortion

Necessary error resulting from trying to represent the round, nearly spherical
Earth on a flat plane, or map

GIS (geographic information system)

a collection of computer hardware and software that permits spatial data to
be collected, recorded, stored, retrieved, manipulated, analyzed, and
displayed to the user

GPS (global positioning system)

satellite-based system for determining the absolute location of places or
geographic features

Satellite navigation

A system that uses satellites to plot optimal travel routes

Remote sensing

A method of collecting data or information through the use of instruments (
e.g., satellites) that are physically distant from the area or object of study

Census data

Information and data accumulated from a census, a periodic and official
count of a country's population

Relative location

The regional position or situation of a place relative to the position of other
places.

Sense of place

State of mind derived through the infusion of a place with meaning and
emotion by remembering important events that occurred in that place or by
labeling a place they certain character

Distance decay

Effects of distance on interaction, generally the greater the distance the less
interaction

Time-space compression

The social and psychological effects of living in a world in which time-space
convergence has rapidly reached a high level of intensity

Time-space convergence

The greatly accelerated movement of goods, information, and ideas during the 20th century made possible by technological innovations in transportation and communications

Pattern

The design of spatial distribution (e.g. scattered or concentrated)

Sustainability

The survival of a land-use system for centuries or millennia without destruction of the environmental base, allowing generation after generation to continue to live there

Natural resource

Any valued element of the environment; includes minerals, water, vegetation, and soil

Land use

the management and modification of the natural environment into the built environment such as settlements and semi-natural habitats such as arable
fields, pastures, and managed woods.

Environmental determinism

The view that the natural environment has a controlling influence over various aspects of human life, including cultural development.

Possibilism

The belief that humans, rather than the physical environment, are the primary active force; That any environment offers a number of different possible ways for a culture to develop; and that the choices among these possibilities are guided by cultural heritage

Global Scale

Interactions occurring at the scale of the world, in a global setting

Regional Scale

Interactions occurring within a region, in a regional setting

National Scale

Interactions occurring within a country

Local Scale

Interactions occurring at a local level, such as a city, county, or community

Region

An area on the Earth's surface marked by a degree of formal, functional, or perceptual homogeneity of some phenomenon

Formal Region

A type of region marked by a certain degree of homogeneity in one or more phenomena

Functional Region

A region defined by the particular set of activities or interactions that occur within it

Perceptual / vernacular region

A region that only exists as a conceptualization or an idea and not a physically demarcated entity.