AP Human Geography Unit I Vocabulary (NBW)

Vocabulary flashcards covering absolute direction, absolute distance, and absolute location.

Absolute Direction

Corresponds to the direction on a compass; north, south, east, west, and combinations such as northeast and southwest.

Absolute Distance

The distance that can be measured with a standard unit of length, such as a foot yard, mile, or kilometer.

Absolute Location

A precise position on Earth's surface.

Area

A bounded space on Earth's surface that geographers use to study spatial patterns, human activities, and environmental characteristics.

Direction

The position of one location relative to another.

Distance

measure physical, temporal, or perceived seperation between places.

Distance Decay

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

Elevation

Distance above sea level.

Environmental Determinism

The belief that the physical environment is the dominant force shaping cultures and that humanity is a passive product of its physical surroundings.

Fieldwork

Learning and doing research involving firsthand experience, which takes place outside the classroom setting.

Formal Region

A geographical area inhabited by people who have one or more traits in common.

Friction of Distance

The inhibiting effect of distance on the intensity and volume of most forms of human interaction.

Functional Region

A geographic area that has been organized to function politically, socially, culturally, or economically as one unit.

Geographic Information System (GIS)

A software application for capturing, storing, checking, and displaying data related to positions on Earth's surface; allowed the rapid manipulation of geospatial date for problem-solving and research.

Global Positioning System (GPS)

A system of 24 satellites that orbit Earth twice daily and transmit radio signals Earthward; the basis for many map-based apps that provide directions on how to get from one place to another.

Location

The position of a specific point or object on Earth's surface.

Natural Resource

Materials or substances that occur in nature and can be used for economic gain.

Pattern

The observable, geometric arrangement of objects, actions, or phenomena across Earth's surface.

Possibilism

The belief that any physical environment Offers a number of possible ways from a society to develop and that humans Can find ways to overcome environmental challenges.

Projection

The mathematical method cartographers use to represent the curved, three-dimensional surface of the Earth onto a flat, two-dimensional map.

Qualitative Data

Non-numeric information that captures people's attitudes, opinions, feelings, and personal experiences of a place.

Quantitative Data

Information that is numerical, measurable, and can be counted or expressed using numbers.

Region

A geographical unit based on one or more common characteristics or functions.

Relative Direction

A direction that can be described as position, such as in front of or behind, to the left or to the right.

Relative Distance

A measurement of the level of social, cultural, or economic similarity between places despite their absolute distance from each other.

Relative Location

The position of one place (or person) in relation to the position of another place (or person).

Remote Sensing

The scanning of Earth by satellite or high-flying aircraft in order to obtain information about it.

Satellite Imagery

Images of Earth's surface gathered from sensors mounted orbiting satellites. These sensors record both the visible and non-visible portions of electromagnetic spectrum allowing humans to view patterns and processes that are both visible and invisible to the naked eye.

Site

An absolute location of a place on Earth.

Situation

The relative location of a place in reference to its surrounding features, or its regional position with reference to other places.

Space

The areas we occupy as humans; it has no value until the people who occupy it make it their own.

Spatial Perspective

A geographic perspective that seems to identify and explain the uses of space.

Supranational Organization

International political body that nation-states establish in cooperation with their neighbors for mutual political, military, economic, or cultural gain.

Sustainability

The group of practices that meet the needs of the present without compromising future generations' ability to meet their needs.

Time-Space Compression

The phenomenon whereby the introduction of new transportation technologies progressively reduces the time it takes to travel between places.

Vernacular/Perceptual Region

A geographic ared that is perceived to exist by its inhabitants, based on the widespread acceptance and use of a unique regional name.

Wallerstein World Systems Theory

Theory of economic development that regards world history as moving through a series of socioeconomic systems culmination in the modern world system by about the year 1900.