AP Human Geo Unit 1 Vocab

ESPeN- economics

that which pertains to financial value

ESPeN- Social

that which relates to the organization of human society: ideas, customs, and social behaviors

ESPeN- Political

that which relates to the government, public affairs, laws, borders or territory of a country

ESPeN- Environmental

that which describes the natural world and the impact of human activity on its conditions

human geography

the study of where humans and human activities are located and why they are where they are

absolute location

exact location using latitude and longitude, a grid system, or an address, doesn’t change, is unique

absolute direction

compass direction reading a location such as north

absolute distance

exact measurement of the physical distance between two places, expressed in miles/ units of measure

relative location

the location of a place by comparing it to another location

relative direction

left, forward, up, directions based on people’s surroundings and perception

relative distance

approximate measurement of the physical space between two places. expressed in time, effort, or cost. (that place is 10 minutes away)

clustered/ concentrated, dense

things grouped closely together, occur in high frequency

dispersed/scattered/sparse

things are spread far apart or are away from each other, low frequency

elevation patterns

how high or low something occurs on earth is relation to distance from sea level

spatial analysis

seeking to explain and understand the reason for why things are the way they are

tobler’s first law of geography

“everything is related to everything else…but near things are more related than distant things”

distance decay

as distance increase the intensity of connection between locations decrease, the farther apart the less they have in common

friction of distance

causes distance decay, the further away the more friction that causes connections to be lost, could be physical obstacles, cultural, or technological

time-space compression

concept that distance is becoming less important due to advances in modern technology and transportation

depend

physical things people rely on to survive

adapt

people adjust to fit into an environment like clothing and building material, the people are changing

modify

environment adjusted to meet human needs like drilling and terracing

environmental determinism

theory that cultural development is determines solely by the physical environment

possiblism

theory that the physical environment plays a role in human actions but ultimately people can adjust, adapt, and modify to overcome environmental constraints

geographical scale (of analysis)

the spatial extent of a research area: global, national, local, ect, the level or scope of geographical focus

global scale

data shown for entire global/ all countries at once

regional scale

data shown by section of the world such as Latin America and Middle East

national scale

one country divided into areas such as states or provinces

local scale

state or city divided into smaller areas such as counties, neighborhoods, or cities

scale impacts perspective

scale affects truth, different interpretations of data

local global continuum (interdependencies)

events at one scale can affect another

region

an area with similar characteristics or patterns that sets it apart from other areas

formal/ uniform

area with high levels of consistency with common attributes such as economic, social, or political boundaries, do not easily change

functional/ nodal

areas connected by a node, hub, or center point, usually based upon movement of economic goods, communication, or transportation

globalization

increased economic and cultural interactions between locations around the world

wallerstein’s world systems theory

theory dividing countries into three groups based on economic and technological development, social well being, and political influence

core

developed countries with high development indicators, USA, Canada, Western Europe, Japan, Australia

periphery

developing/ less developed countries with low ranking development of indicators, Africa, Central America, SE Asia, Middle East

semi-periphery

newly industrialized countries with indicators somewhere in between, B.R.I.C.S. M.I.N.T.

hierarchy

each level of country is able to exploit the chap labor and raw materials of all countries below them

quantitative data

defines, numbers, hard data, statistics

qualitative data

describes, characteristics, descriptions, data could be subjective, five senses

positive correlation

when two variables work in the same direction, when one increases the other increases or vice versa

negative correlation

when two varoniles work in the opposite direction, when one increases the other decreases

geographical information system (GIS)

computer system that captures, stores, checks, and displays info related to positions on earth’s surface. this data allows geographers multi-layer digital maps for spatial observation, google earth

GPS/ satellite navigation system

satellite based system for determining the absolute locations of places or geographic features, common in everyday life, used by many modes of transportation to navigate

remote sensing

remote sensors (on satellites, drones, or aircraft) collect data by detecting the energy that is reflected from earth to create visual renderings on the location sensores, sometimes in a 3d format

satellite imaging

uses satellites to gather info of the earth. typically associated with digital images like google maps satellite view, top down pictures of earth

lines of latitude

left to right

lines of longitude

up and down

international date line

areas to left are one day ahead of areas to the right, prime meridian on other side

cartographical scale

the ratio between a distance on a map and it’s corresponding distance in real life

large scale maps

smaller area with greater detail

small scale maps

larger area with less detail

reference map

basics, purpose is to display geographical and political data like, landforms, border, and transportation networks

thematic maps

specifics, maps that tell a story about a place, often shows variation in data

political maps

man-made features

physical maps

naturally occurring features

choropleth

uses shading to show different levels of data

pin dot (dot distribution)

use dot symbols to show the presence or quantity of a phenomenon, closer the dots are the higher the occurrence

graduated symbol

symbols that are scaled proportionately to the value of the data they represent

isoline

maps that use lines to connect equal points of value on a map, topographic

cartogram

the size of different areas is scaled in proportion to the particular variable or data set

flow line maps

shows movement and solutes of something with arrows of different sizes