AP Human Geography Unit 1 Vocabulary Notes

Unit 1: Thinking Geographically- Different types of maps and what they tell you. How geographers collect and use data. Spatial relationships and patterns. Data analysis at different scales (for example, global, national, local)

Human Geography

Human Geography

The study of the interrelationships between people, place, and environment, and how these vary spatially and temporally across and between locations

Scale

Generally, the relationship between the portion of Earth being studied and the Earth as a whole

Place

A specific point on Earth distinguished by a particular characteristic

Region

An area distinguished by a unique combination of trends or features

Vernacular Region

A place that people believe exists as part of their cultural identity

GPS

This system uses data from satellites to pinpoint a location on earth and help people find their way to a destination

GIS

A computer system for capturing, storing, checking, and displaying data related to positions on Earth's surface. It may show many different kinds of data on one map, such as streets, buildings, or vegetation

Diffusion

The spread of a feature or trend from one place to another over time

Sustainability

The use of Earth’s renewable and nonrenewable natural resources in ways that do not constrain resource use in the future

Physical Systems

The processes shaping the earth's climate; soils; distributions of plants and animals; landforms, including caves and glacial landscapes; and water, including rivers, lakes, and aquifers

Distribution Features

Patterns in data or features, spread over a designated geographic area

Geospatial Data

Information that describes objects, events or other features with a location on or near the surface of the earth

Quantitative Data

Any pieces of information that can be displayed using numbers, such as populations, distances, prices, and other measurements

Absolute Location

A place's absolute location is its exact place on Earth, often given in terms of latitude and longitude

Relative location

A description of how a place is related to other places

Agricultural Density

The number of farmers per unit of farmland

Arithmetic Density

The total number of people divided by the total land area. This is what most people think of as density; how many people per area of land

Cartography

The science of map-making

Projection

The scientific method of transferring locations on Earth's surface to a flat map

Choropleth Map

A map that uses shading to show a pattern of a variable (the darker the shading, the higher the concentration of the variable)

Mercator Map

A map projection that fairly accurately shows shape and direction, but distorts distance and size of land masses

Gall-Peters Map

A rectangular, equal-area map projection. The map shows the correct sizes of countries, but it also distorts their shape

Robinson Map

A map projection showing the poles as lines rather than points and more accurately portraying high latitude lands and water to land ratio

Dymaxion / Fuller Map

A map only intended for representations of the entire globe. When presented as a flat map, the land masses are unbroken. The flat map is heavily interrupted in order to preserve shapes and sizes

Goode Homolosine Map

It shows the continents proportionally sized to each other, however its use of distances, directions, and angles are not accurately shown because of distortion

AuthaGraph Map

It is considered the most accurate projection for its way of showing relative areas of landmasses and oceans with very little distortion of shapes

Thematic Map

A map that shows the spatial distribution of one or more specific data themes for selected geographic areas (Ex: Weather maps, population density maps, geology maps)

Isoline Map

A map type that has lines drawn on it connecting data points of the same value

Dot Distribution (Density) Map

A type of thematic map that uses a point symbol to visualize the geographic distribution of a large number of related phenomena

General Reference Map

A map that focuses on the location and names of features, like a political map, road map, or topographic map

Cartogram Map

A map that distorts the shape of geographic region so that the area directly shows a specific data variable

Graduated / Proportional Symbol Map

A type of thematic map with symbols that change in size according to the value of the attribute they represent.

Contagious Diffusion

The rapid, widespread diffusion of a characteristic throughout the population

Core-periphery

Central, wealthy, technologically advanced countries vs. less-developed, poor, and dependant countries

Cultural Ecology

The geographic study of human-environment relationships

Cultural Landscape

Forms superimposed on the physical environment by humans Cultural attributes of an area often used to describe a place (Ex: buildings, theaters, places of worship)

Natural Landscape

The physical landscape or environment that exists before it is acted upon by human activities

Distance Decay

The theory that states that as the distance between two places increases, the interaction between those two places decreases

Environmental Determinism

The theory that the physical environment controls human growth, development, and activities

Environmental Possibilism

The theory that the physical environment may set limits on human actions, but people have the ability to adjust to the physical environment and choose a course of action from many alternatives

Formal Region

An area within which everyone shares in a common one or more distinctive characteristics

Function Region

An area organized around a node or central point

Expansion Diffusion

The spread of a feature from one place to another in a snowballing process

Stimulus Diffusion

The spread of an underlying principle, even though a characteristic itself apparently fails to diffuse

Globalization

A force or process that involves the entire world and results in making something worldwide in scope

Hearth

The place from which an innovation originates

Hierarchical Diffusion

The spread of an idea from persons or nodes of authority to other persons or places

International Date Line

A line following the 180 degree latitude that runs between the South and North Poles and serves as the boundary between one calendar day and the next

Latitude

The numbering system used to indicate the location of parallels drawn on a globe and measuring distance north and south of the equator

Longitude

The set of curving imaginary lines that run North-South, coming together at the poles. They measure distance (degrees), east or west of the Prime Meridian

Prime Meridian

A line of 0° longitude that is the starting point for measuring distance both east and west around Earth

Equator

A line that runs through the middle of the Earth horizontally, separating the Earth into North and South