Unit 1 - Thinking Geographically

I am an current 9th grader studying for the AP HUMAN exam . I felt as if this would help other

Physical geography

Is the study of the spatial characteristics of various elements of the physical environment…

Human geography

Is the study of the spatial characteristics of humans and human activities…

Reference maps

Are aptly named because they are designed for people to refer to for general information about places…

Political maps

Show and label human-created boundaries and designations, such as countries, states, cities, and capitals…

Physical maps

Show and label natural features, such as mountains, rivers, and deserts…

Road maps

Show and label highways, streets, and alleys…

Plat maps

Show and label property lines and details of land ownership…

Choropleth maps

Use various colors, shades of one color, or patterns to show the location and distribution of spatial data…

Dot distribution maps

Are used to show the specific location and distribution of something across a map…

Graduated symbol maps

Use symbols of different sizes to indicate different amounts of something…

Isoline maps

Also called isometric maps, use lines that connect points of equal value to depict variations in the data across space…

Topographic maps

Which are popular among hikers. Points of equal elevation are connected on these maps, creating contours that depict surface features…

Cartogram

The sizes of countries ( or states, counties, or other areal units) are shown according to some specific statistic…

Cartographic Scale

Refers to the way the map communicates the ratio of its size to the size of what it represents…

Small-scale maps

Show a larger amount of area with less detail global scale Earth at night is an example…

Large-scale maps

Show a smaller amount of area with a greater amount of detail-North America at night is an example…

Absolute location

Is the precise spot where something is according to a system…

Latitude

Is the distance north or south of the equator…

Equator

An imaginary line that circles the globe exactly halfway between the North and South Poles…

Longitude

Is the distance east or west of the prime meridian…

Prime meridian

An imaginary line that runs from pole to pole through Greenwich, England.

International Date Line

Roughly follows this line but makes deviations Lo accommodate inlernalional boundaries…

Relative location

Is a description of where something is in relation to other things…

Connectivity

How well two locations are tied together by roads or other links, and accessibility…

Accessibility

How quickly and easily people in one location can interact with people in another location…

Direction

Is used in order to describe where things are in relation to each other…

Absolute distance

Is usually measured in terms of feet, miles, meters or kilometers…

Relative distance

Indicates the degree of nearness based on the or money and is often dependent on the mode of travel…

Elevation

Is the distance of features above sea level, usually measured in feet or meters…

Clustered or agglomerated

Phenomena are arranged in a group or concentrated area such as restaurants in a food court at a mall…

Linear

Phenomena are arranged in a straight line, such as the distribution of towns along a railroad line…

Dispersed

Phenomena are spread out over a large area, such as the distribution of large malls in a city…

Circular

Phenomena are equally spaced from a central point, forming a circle…

Geometric

Phenomena are in a regular arrangement, such as the squares or blocks formed by roads in the Midwest…

Random

Phenomena appear to have no order to their position, such as the distribution of pet owners in a city…

Landscape analysis

The task of defining and describing landscapes…

Field observation

Is used to refer to the act of physically visiting a location, place, or region and recording, firsthand, information there…

Aerial photography

Professional images captured from planes within the atmosphere, is an important source of observed data available today…

Fieldwork

Observing and recording information on location, or in the field…

Geovisualizations

That allow people to zoom in or out to see the data in ways that were previously impossible…

Global Positioning System (GPS)

The uses of multiple satellites to determine and record a receiver’s exact location…

Remote Sensing

The use of cameras or other sensors mounted on aircraft or satellites to collect digital images or video of the earth’s surface

Geographic Information Systems (GIS)

The use of computer system that can store , analyze and display information from multiple digital maps or geospatial data sets.