🗺️APHG Unit 1

Geography

The study of spatial relationships between people, places, and environments on Earth.

Human Geography

The branch of geography focusing on human activities and their impact on the environment.

Physical Geography

The branch of geography studying natural phenomena, such as climate, landforms, and ecosystems.

Spatial Perspective

A way of thinking about the location of phenomena, their relationships, and how they interact across space.

Reference Maps

Maps that show the absolute locations of places and physical features (e.g., road maps, topographic maps).

Thematic Maps

Maps that highlight specific data or phenomena, such as population density or climate.

Choropleth Map

A thematic map that uses colors or shading to represent data values across areas.

Dot Distribution Map

A thematic map that uses dots to show the frequency or concentration of phenomena.

Isoline Map

A thematic map that uses lines to connect points of equal value (e.g., topographic or weather maps).

Cartogram

A thematic map that distorts space to represent data values, such as population size.

Mercator Projection

A map projection that preserves direction but distorts the size of areas, especially near the poles.

Robinson Projection

A map projection that balances distortion by minimizing errors in shape, size, and distance.

Gall-Peters Projection

A map projection that accurately represents area but distorts the shape of landmasses.

Absolute Location

The exact location of a place on Earth using latitude and longitude.

Relative Location

The location of a place relative to other places or features.

Site

The physical characteristics of a location, such as climate, topography, and vegetation.

Situation

A place's location in relation to other places or surrounding features.

Space

The physical gap or distance between objects.

Density

The frequency of a phenomenon within a specific area.

Concentration

The arrangement of phenomena in space, described as clustered or dispersed.

Pattern

The geometric or regular arrangement of objects in space, such as a grid layout.

Distance Decay

The principle that interaction between two places decreases as the distance between them increases.

Time-Space Compression

The reduction of perceived distance between places due to technological advancements like the internet and air travel.

Relocation Diffusion

The spread of ideas, culture, or practices through physical movement of people.

Expansion Diffusion

The spread of ideas or phenomena through a snowballing process.

Contagious Diffusion

Rapid, widespread diffusion of a feature or trend across a population (e.g., viral trends).

Hierarchical Diffusion

The spread of ideas or phenomena through nodes of authority or influence (e.g., urban centers).

Stimulus Diffusion

The spread of an underlying idea or concept, even if specific details are modified (e.g., fast food in different countries).

Region

An area defined by one or more shared characteristics.

Formal Region

A region defined by uniform traits, such as language or climate.

Functional Region

A region organized around a central node, such as a metropolitan area.

Perceptual (Vernacular) Region

A region based on cultural identity or perception, such as "The South."

Environmental Determinism

The belief that the physical environment determines human activity and culture.

Possibilism

The theory that humans can adapt and modify their environment to overcome challenges.

Sustainability

Managing resources to meet current needs without compromising future generations.

GIS (Geographic Information Systems)

A tool that combines spatial data layers to analyze patterns and relationships.

GPS (Global Positioning System)

A satellite-based system that provides precise location data.

Remote Sensing

The process of collecting data about Earth's surface using satellites or drones.

Online Mapping

Tools like Google Maps that allow visualization and analysis of spatial data.

Tobler's First Law of Geography

"Everything is related to everything else, but near things are more related than distant things."

Core-Periphery Model

A model that divides the world into developed "core" areas and less-developed "periphery" areas.

Scale

The relationship between the size of a feature on a map and its actual size on Earth, or the level of analysis (local, regional, global).