APHG Unit 1 terms

Thematic maps

Thematic maps

Show spatial aspects of information or of a phenomenon

Chloropleth maps

Use various colors, shades of one color, or patterns to show the location and distribution of spatial data. Often show rates or other quantitative data and defined areas, such as the percentage of people who speak English.

Dot distribution maps

Used to show the specific location and distribution of something across a map. Each dot represents a specified quantity.

Graduated symbol maps

Symbols of different sizes to indicate different amounts of something. Larger sizes indicate more of something and smaller sizes indicate less. These maps make it easy to see where the largest and smallest of some phenomena are by simply comparing the symbols to each other. Also called proportional symbol maps

Isoline maps

Also called isometric maps, use lines that connect Points of equal value to depict variations in the data across space. Where lines are close together, the map, depicts, rapid change, and where the lines are farther apart, the phenomena is relatively the same. The most common of Iceland maps are topographic maps.

Cartogram

The sizes of countries (or states, counties, or other aerial units) Are according to some specific statistic.

Reference maps

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 map

Show and label, highways, streets, and alleys

Plat map

Show and label property, lines, and details of land ownership

Cartographic scale

The way the map communicates the ratio of its size to the size of what it represents. For example: “1 inch equals 10 miles“

Absolute location

The precise spot, where something is according to a system

Relative location

A description of where something is in relation to other things

Mercator

Purpose: navigation, Strengths: directions are shown accurately + Lines of latitude and longitude, meet at right angles, weaknesses/distortion: Distance between lines of longitude appears constant + landmasses near the poles appear large

Peters

Purpose: spatial distributions related to Area, Strength: Sizes of landmasses are accurate, weaknesses/distortion: shapes are inaccurate, especially near the poles

Conic

Purpose: general use in midlatitude countries, strengths: lines of longitudes converge + lines of latitude are curved + size and shape are both close to reality, weaknesses/distortion: direction is not constant + on a world map longitude lines Converge at only one pole

Robinson

Purpose: general use, strengths: no major distortion + oval shape appears more like a globe than does a rectangle, Weakness/distortion: area, shape, size, and direction are all slightly distorted

Remote sensing

Gathers information from satellites that orbit, the Earth, or other craft above the atmosphere

Uses: Determining land, cover and use, monitoring, environmental changes, assessing spread of spatial phenomena, monitoring the weather

Global Positioning system (GPS)

GPS receivers on the Earth surface use the locations of multiple satellites to determine and record a receiver exact location

Uses: Locating borders precisely, navigating ships aircrafts and cars, mapping lines trails or points

Geographic information system (GIS)

Computer system that can store, analyze, and display information for multiple digital maps or geospatial data sets

Uses: analyzing of crime data, monitoring the effects of pollution, analyzing transportation/travel time, planning urban area

Site

Can be described as a characteristics at the immediate location – for example, the soil type, climate, labor, force, and human structures

Situation

Refers to location of a place relatives to its surroundings and its connectivity to other places

Space

The area between two or more phenomena or things

Distance decay

As the distance between two places increases, the interaction between those two places decreases

Time-space compression

The shrinking of “time-distance“ or relative distance, between locations, because of improved methods of transportation and communication

Patterns

The general arrangement of things, in the distribution of phenomena across space that give clues about causes or effects of the distribution

Sense of Place

Humans tend to perceive the characteristics of places in different ways based on their personal beliefs. For example, the characteristics of Rome, Italy, might be described differently by a local resident, then by an outsider or by a Catholic then a Hindu. If a place inspires no strong emotional ties in people or lacks uniqueness, it has placelessness.

Sustainability

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

Natural resources

Includes items that occur in the natural environment that people can use. Examples usually include air, water, oil, fish, soil, and minerals.

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

Scale

The ratio between the size of things in the real world and the size of those same things on the map

Scales of analysis (this is probably wrong don’t study it too hard)

Allows geographers to look at the local, regional, country, or global scale

Region

Have boundaries, unifying characteristics, cover space, and are created by people

Formal region

Uniform regions, or homogeneous regions, and are united by one or more traits, like political (Brazil), physical (Sahara), cultural (SW Nigeria—Yoruba speakers), or economic (Gold Coast of Africa—Ghana)

Functional region

Organized around a focal point and are defined by an activity, usually political, social, or economic, that occurs across the region like a pizza delivery place, a capital city, or an airport

Vernacular/Perceptual regions

They are defined by the Informal sense of place that people describe them to. The boundaries of perceptual regions very widely because people have a different sense of what defines and unites these regions.