AP HuG Vocab

Physical Geography

the study of natural processes and the distribution of features in the environment.

(Landforms, plants and animals, climates)

Human Geography

the study of events and processes that have shaped the way humans understand, use, and alter Earth.

(How people organize themselves socially, politically? And economically. The impact of humans on the natural environment.)

Spacial Perspective

where things are located and why they are located there.

(How people live on Earth, how they organize themselves, and why human societies occur where they do.)

Ecological Perspective

the relationships between living things and their environments.

(Interactive and independent relationships among living things.)

Geographic perspectives

Where? Why there? Why care?

Location

The position that a point or object occupies on Earth

Absolute Location

The exact location of an object. It may be expressed in coordinates of latitude and longitude.

Relative Location

A description of where a place is in relation to other places or features.

Place

A location on earth that is distinguished by its physical and human characteristics.

Human characteristics

Languages, political systems, economic systems

Physical characteristics

Climate, landforms, vegetation, soils, animal life

Site

A place’s absolute location and physics characteristics such as landforms, climate, and resources.

Situation

Refers to a place’s connections to other places, such as transportation, routes, political associations, and cultural or economic ties.

Mental map

An internalized representation of a place’s connections such as a school, neighborhood, or town.

Space

Readers to the area between two or more things on Earth’s surface

Distribution

How things are arranged within a given space

Density

The number of things in a specific area

Pattern

How things are arranged in a particular space

Flow

The movement of people, goods, and information from one place to another

Environmental determinalism

The argument that human behavior is largely controlled by the physical environment.

Possiblism

The theory that argues humans have more agency or ability to produce a result, than environmental determinalism would suggest

Sustainability

The use of earth’s land and natural resources in ways that ensure they will continue to be available in the future.

Distance decay

Describes the effect of distance on interactions

Time-space compression

The processes causing the relative distance between places to shrink

Scale

Refers to the area of the world being studied

Region

An area of earth’s surface with certain characteristics that make it distinct from other areas

Formal region

An area with one or more shared traits (physical or cultural)

Functional region

An area organized by its function around a node

Perceptual region

A regional defined by people’s feelings of attitudes about the area

Node

The focal point of a functional region

Suburbs

The residential areas surrounding a city

Globalization

The expansion of economic, cultural, and political processes on a worldwide scale

Wallerstein’s world system theory

Describes the spatial and functional relations among countries in the world economy (core, semi-periphery, periphery)

Core

Economically and politically dominant globally, strong military and allies, controls the global market.

Semi-periphery

Active in manufacturing and exporting of goods, better transportation and communication than periphery, has potential to grow into a core country

Periphery

Unstable government, less wealth and education, exports natural resources to core countries

Sustainable development

Development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs

Quantitative

Data measured by numbers

Qualitative

Interpretation of data sources

Census

An official count of the number of people in a defined area

Geographic information systems (GIS)

Captures, stores, organizes, and displays geographic data that can then be used to configure both simple and complex maps.

Topography

The shape and features of land surfaces

Global Positioning System (GPS)

An integrated network of atleast 31 satellites in the US system that orbit Earth and transmit location data to handheld receivers.

Cartographers

Create maps to help explorers follow the routes of those who came before them

Absolute distance

A distance that can be measured using a standard unit of length

Relative distance

Measured in terms of other criteria such as time of money

Absolute direction

North east south or west

Relative direction

Left, up, right, down, front, or behind

Map scale

The mathematical relationship between the size of a map and the part of the real world it shows

Reference maps

Generalized sources of geographic data and focus on location

Geo inquiry process

Systematic roadmap thay helps analyze information. 5 steps: ask, collect, visualize, create, act.

Geographic data

Data with location tied to it

Geovisualization

Creating geographic visuals, maps, graphs, multimedia

Remote sensing

Gathering data without making physical contact

Representative fraction

A ratio such as 1:100

Written scale

1 inch represents 200 miles

Graphic scale

Scale bar on map shows distance relationship with the Earth

Map scale

Mathematical ratio between the map and the real world

Map projection

Method of representing the world of part of it in 2D

Mercator projection

A type of map which maintains shape and direction, but distorts area towards the poles. Has straight longitude and latitude. Rectangle shaped.

Galls-peters projection

A type of map which maintains direction and has relatively precise area, but has elongated and distorted shape. Has straight longitude and latitude. Rectangle shaped.

Robinson projection

A type of map which distorts size, shape, distance, and direction towards the poles. Curved longitude and straight latitude. Globelike shaped.

Aizimuthal Projection

A type of map which maintains direction, but distorts size and area. Viewed from a point. Only half the Earth.

Reference map

Shows geographic data and location (ie physical and political)

Thematic Map

Map which focuses upon a theme or relationship between data

Graduated Symbol

Thematic map which uses differing sizes of a certain symbol in order to represent quantitative data

Cartogram

Thematic map which uses larger area on map to represent larger quantitative data

Chloropleth

Thematic map which uses differing colors to represent qualitative and quantitative data

Dot

Thematic map which uses differing amounts of dots to represent quantitative data

Isoline

Thematic map thay uses lines to connect points of the same value. When these liens are close together the value changes quickly and vice versa.