Human Geo Unit 1

Vocab for AP Human Geo unit 1

Absolute Location

geographic coordinates (latitude and longitude) for a specific location. Your address or the school's address.

Cartography

Creating a map

Census

official count of people in an area

Contagious Diffusion

the spread of ideas, contagious disease, or forest fire, which spreads without regard for hierarchy, contact with people

Clustering

tightly bunched areas on a map

Dispersal areas on a map that are spread apart or spaced apart

Distance Decay

contact diminishes with increasing distance and eventually disappears.

Elevation

distance above sea level

Environmental Determinism

the belief that the physical environment causes social development.

Environmental Possibilism

the belief that the physical environment may limit some human actions, but people can adjust to their environment.

Formal (Uniform) Region

uniform region, shares one or more common characteristics.

Functional (Nodal) Region

nodal region, region organized around a node or point.

Geographic Information System (GIS)

software used for capturing, storing, checking, and displaying data related to positions on the earth’s surface.

Global Positioning System (GPS)

A series of 24 satellites that orbit the Earth’s surface twice daily and transmit up

Global Scale

a scale that encompasses the entire world

Globalization

process in which businesses develop international influence, trading is global, and economies are connected by technology and the internet

Human Environment Interaction

describes the complex relationship between people and their surroundings, encompassing how humans depend on, adapt to, and modify the environment

Local Scale

the smallest geographical level, focusing on a specific place like a city, town, or neighborhood

Map Distortion

The reason that a flat map cannot accurately display the world, which is round, which leaves all maps with some distortion

Prime Meridian

the zero-degree longitude line that runs through Greenwich, England

Qualitative Geographic Data

focuses on understanding subjective experiences and concepts through non-numerical data like interviews and observations.

Quantitative Geographic Data

focuses on numerical data

Reference Map

a map that shows geographic locations on Earth’s surface, such as cities or oceans

Region

an area of Earth defined by one or more distinctive characteristics.

Relative location

describing the position of a place as compared to (or relative to!) another landmark

Remote sensing

scanning of Earth by satellite or high-flying aircraft to obtain information

Scale

relationship between the portion of the Earth being studied and the Earth as a whole.

Site

physical character of a place.

Situation

relative location of a place

Spatial Pattern

the placement or arrangement of objects on Earth’s surface and the space between the objects

Sustainability

Use of Earth’s renewable and nonrenewable natural resources in ways that ensure resource availability in the future.

Thematic Map

a map that emphasizes the spatial patterns of geographic statistics or attributes and relationships between them

Time Space Compression

broad phenomenon of the world seemingly shrinking due to technological advances and faster interconnectedness of global citizens.

Time Space Convergence

this is how space time compression happens (the how) reduction in travel time between locations due to advancements in transportation and communication technologies, making places seem "closer" together

Vernacular (Perceptual) Region

defined by people's shared beliefs, feelings, and attitudes about a place, rather than by formal boundaries or specific criteria