AP Human Geography Vocabulary Unit 1 Part 2

Spatial Approach

A way of looking at the world that focuses on the arrangement of people and phenomena across Earth's surface. It involves analyzing the location, distribution, and interrelationships of features in space.

Space

the physical gap or interval between two objects or points, crucial in understanding spatial relationships.

Location

identifies where specific phenomenon are located either on a grid system or relative to another location

Place

a specific point on Earth, defined by its physical and human characteristics, which contribute to its uniqueness.

Region

a group of places in the same area that share characteristics

Site

can be described as the characteristics at the immediate location-for example, the soil type, climate, labor force, and human structures that influence the development and sustainability of a place.

Situation

refers to the location of a place relative to other places and its surrounding context, which can affect its accessibility and connectivity.

Sense of Place

Humans tend to perceive the characteristics of places in different ways based on their personal beliefs and cultural experiences, which contribute to the identity and significance they assign to those locations.

Toponyms

are place names that identify geographic locations, reflecting cultural, historical, or physical attributes.

Time-space Compression

is the phenomenon that describes the increasing ease and speed of communication and transportation between places, which diminishes the perceived distance between them.

Spatial Interaction

is the process by which different places and people interact with one another, influenced by factors such as distance, communication, and transportation. This concept highlights how activities at one location can affect those at another.

Flow

refers to the movement of people, goods, information, or ideas across space, often influenced by patterns of connectivity and accessibility.

Friction of Distance

is the concept that as the distance between places increases, the cost and effort of overcoming that distance also increases, affecting patterns of spatial interaction and connectivity.

Distance Decay

the inverse relationship between distance and connection

Distribution

the way a phenomenon is spread out or arranged over an area to describe patterns

spatial association

matching patterns of distribution indicates that two (or more) phenomena may be related or associated with one another

Human-environmental interaction

the connection and exchange between humans and the natural world

natural resources

items that occur in the natural environment that people can use

Renewable natural resources

theoretically unlimited and will not be depleted based on use by people

Non-renewable natural resources

resources that are limited and can be exhausted by human uses

Sustainability

overarching theme of human geography and relates to trying to use resources now in ways that allow their use in the future while minimizing the negative impacts on the environment

Land Use

the study of how land is utilized, modified, and organized by people

Built Envinronment

the physical artifacts that humans have created and that form part of the landscape, in their understanding of land use

Cultural Landscape

anything built by humans and is in the realm of land use

Cultural Ecology

the study of how humans adapt to the environment

Environmental Determinism

the belief that 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 on the natural environment and focuses more on the role that human culture plays

Geographic Scale

refers the the area of the world being studied

Global Scale

area shown: the entire world

World Regional Scale

Area Shown: Multiple countries of the world

National Scale

Area Shown: One country

National Regional

Area Shown: A portion of a country or a region(s) within a country

Local Scale

Area Shown: A province, state, city, county, or neighborhood

Aggregation

geographers organize data into different scales such as by census tract, ciy, county, or by country

false conclusion

inaccurate generalizations that are not supported by the data or logical reasoning

Regions

have boundaries, unifying characteristics, cover space, and are created by people. boundaries can change depending on who defines them

Formal Regions (Uniform region or Homogenous Region)

united by one or more traits: political, physical, cultural, economic

Functional Regions (Nodal Regions)

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. exact boundaries depend on the people defining them

Subregions

shares some characteristics with the rest of the larger region but is distinctive in some ways