Unit 1 AP Human Geo

Placelessness

The loss of te unique qualities of a pace, the standeradiztion of culture on the cultural landscape. Example strip malls

Movement

How people, goods, ideas, cultures spread/ migrate/ diffuse to other location.

Node

The focal point from which a phenomena extends its influence outward.

Cultural ecology

The academic study of how humans interact with the environment

Human environment interaction

How the earths physical characteristic influence human actions and how humans actions impact or modify the environment

Distance decay theory

The theory that states that the influence of a phenomena diminishes the farther away I get away from the node.

Functional region

A region where the influence extending from the node deceases the farther away i get from the node. (Also known as a nodal region)

Possibilism

While the physical environment presents. Options and limitations, cultural groups can choose from the options or modify the environment to met their needs using advanced technology.

Formal region

A region that has a defined borders where the characteristic or influence is even/ consistent throughout.

Relative Locaion

The description of a location based on its location compared to other places.

Sense of place

My understanding of a place based on personal experience and visits.

Region

A broader geographical area that has unique characteristics.

Place

The unique characteristics of a small geographical area.

Site

The physical and human characteristics within a place or settlement.

Perceptual region

My beliefs about a region based or ny own knowlegede and/or experiences. (Also known as a vernacular region)

Sense of place

My understanding of a place based on personal experience and visits.

Environmental determinism

The theory that the physical environment is the sole or single most important factor in determining a groups cultural traits.

Situation

The location of a settlement in relation to other features such as markets or resources.

Absolute location

The exact location of something using grid coordinates.

Cultural landscape

The visible characteristics of the land that has been modified, altered, or impacted by human actions in order to met a groups cultural needs.

Perception of place

My understanding of a place based on what I have heard (through the news, book, gossip, movies)

Mr. HELP

Movement, Region, Human Environment. Interaction, Location, Place.

Irregular Pattern

A distribution pattern that does now follow a geometric or linear pattern.

Clustered

The type of concentration where a phenomena is located in a smaller area within a space.

Pattern

How a phenomenon is arranged within a defined space. (Regular or irregular)

Density

The requency in which a phenomenon occurs within a defined space.

Spatial distribution

Looking at how a phenomena is distributed and organized in a place or region or globally.

Dispersed

The type of concentration where phenomenon is spread throughout the space.

Regular pattern

A distribution pattern that follows a linear or geometric pattern.

Concentration

How a phenomenon is spread through a region. (Dispersed or clustered)

Cartogram map

A map in which the shape or size is distorted in order to demonstrate a variable such as travel, population or economic production

Scales of analysis

The variables on a map that a geographer uses in order to analyze spatial relationships and spatial distribution patterns.

Geographic Information System (GIS)

A computer system that stores, organizes, analyzes and displays geographic data.

Mush up maps

Practice of overlaying diffrent maps in order to see spatial relationships between different variables.

Azimuthal Projection

An azimuthal projection is a type of map projection where the earths surface is projected onto a flat plane. It is characterized by straight radical lines representing. Great circles, meaning directions from the central point are accurate.

Robinson projection

A compromise map projection designed to create visually appealing world maps with balanced distortion. It aims to minimize overall distortion in shape, area, distance, and direction. The projection as curved meridians and slightly flatted polar region, making it popular for general- pourpse world maps, including used by the National Geographic.

Remote sensing

The acquisition of data about Earth's surface from a satellite orbiting the planet or other long-distance methods

Large scale map

Maps that cover smaller areas with greater detail

Dot map

Maps where one dot represents a certain number of phenomenon such as population.

Map scale

The relationship between the size of an object on a map and the size of the actual feature on Earth's surface.

Small scale map

A map that shows a larger area without much detail

Choropleth Map

A thematic map that uses tones or colors to represent spatial data as average values per unit area.

Distortion

a change in the shape, size, or position of a place when the Earth is shown on a 2-dimensional flat map.

Thematic map

A type of map that displays one or more variables-such as population, or income level-within a specific area.

Goodies homolosine equal area projection

map projection designed to minimize distortion in area representation. It combines the Mollweide projection for high latitudes and the Sinusoidal projection for equatorial regions, creating an interrupted shape that reduces distortion of continents. This makes it useful for thematic and educational maps, especially when accurate area representation is a priority. However, the interruptions make it less useful for navigation.

Flow line maps

use lines of varying thickness to show the direction and volume of a particular geographic movement pattern

Proportional symbol map

a thematic map in which the size of a symbol varies in proportion to the frequency or intensity of the mapped variable.

Projection

The system used to transfer locations from eaters surface to a flat map

Global Positioning System (GPS)

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

Mollweide projection

The Mollweide projection is an equal-area map projection used for displaying the entire world. Introduced by Karl Mollweide in 1805, it represents areas accurately but distorts shapes and angles, especially near the edges. The projection is pseudocylindrical, meaning meridians are curved rather than straight, and it is often used for thematic and astronomical maps where preserving relative land area is more important than maintaining shape.

Physical map

A map that shows mountains, hills, plains, rivers, lakes, oceans, etc

Political map

A map showing units such as counties, states, provencies, districts, etc. Each is normally a diffrent color.

Isoline map

A thematic map with lines that connect points of equal value.

Mercator Projection

a cylindrical map projection introduced by Gerardus Mercator in 1569. It is widely used for navigation because it preserves angles and shapes of small objects (conformal), making it useful for maritime travel. However, it distorts size and area, especially near the poles, making landmasses like Greenland and Antarctica appear much larger than they actually are compared to equatorial regions.