ap human geography units 1-7

Absolute Location

The definite location of something; can be shown using latitude and longitude to form coordinates

Core

The most developed countries that dominate the global economy

Density

Number of items or people within a specific area

Distance Decay

Principle; interaction between two things decrease as the distance between the two objects increases

Distribute

How things are arranged within a given space

Ecological Perspective

Relationships between living things and the environment they inhabit

Environmental Determinism

Discredited theory; human behavior is very largely shaped by the physical environment

Flow

Transportation of people, merchandise, and info from one area to another area

Formal Region

A region that has one or more shared traits, can be physical, like landform or climate, or can be cultural, like a language or religion

Friction of Distance

Idea that distance takes money, time, and effort

Functional Region

Area that is centered around a node

Globalization

The spread of political, cultural, and economic activity on an international level

Human Geography

The study of how communities, cultures, and human activities interact and shape the Earth

Location

Specific place or position on Earth that something is occupying

Mental Map

Internal map based on a person's perception and understanding of a location

Model

A simplified representation of reality that is used to explain geographical events

Node

Central point of a functional region and it can be thing like a transportation hub

Pattern

The organization of items in a particular space

Perceptual Region

Area defined by people's opinions and sentiments about an area

Periphery

Less developed nation that relies economically on core countries

Physical Geography

Study of the natural features of Earth, like ecosystems and climate

Place

Place on Earth identified by its physical features and human features

Possibilism

Idea that people are capable of influencing and making decisions, rather than be controlled by it

Region

Area distinguished from other areas based on common traits and characteristics

Relative Location

Position in relation to other locations or features

Scale

Size of study to an area, spanning from global to local

Semi-Periphery

Nations that are between the core and periphery nations in economic development

Site

The definite location and physical attributes

Situation

An area's connections to other trading routes, transportation routes, and other places

Space

area on Earth's surface between two or more objects

Spatial Perspective

Perspective which focuses on the location of objects and their purpose

Sustainability

Using resources on Earth in a way to ensure its availability in the future

Sustainable Development

Using things like renewable resources in order to make sure the current demand of the world are met, but that also future generations will be able to do the same

Theory

Set of concepts that are used to explain specific facts

Time-Space Compression

Advances in technology and communication have led to a feeling that the perceived distance between two locations are shorter than it really is

Vernacular Region

Region defined by people's opinions and attitudes towards the borders of an area

World System Theory

Theory that explains the world economy as an interdependent hierarchy of nations, the core, semi-periphery, and periphery

Absolute Distance

A distance measurable by a standard unit

Absolute Direction

Using the cardinal directions - north, south, east, west

Cartographer

People who create maps

Census

The count of the amount of people in a certain area

Geographic Information Systems (GIS)

Mapping systems that collect, store, organize, and show geographic information that is then used in the creation of maps

Global Positioning System (GPS)

Network of at minimum 31 satellites in the United States system which orbit the Earth and share location information to receivers

Map Scale

The relationship between the size of a map and the size of the real world

Quantitative

Data measured by numbers

Qualitative

Interpretations based on information sources

Reference Map

Sources of information that show geographic data and focus on locations

Relative Distance

Measured in other forms of criteria (other than length), like time or money

Relative Direction

Based upon people's perspectives, such as left, right, up, behind, down, and front

Remote Sensing

Collecting information without physical contact

Thematic Map

Maps that are centered about a certain theme or topic

Topography

Features and shapes of the land surface

Simplification

Clearing through information that is fluff and removing it from the map. The amount of simplification depends on the use and scale of the map, for example, if a map is mainly on Canada, having a highly detailed map of the United States beneath it would be useful and not add to the main purpose of the map.

Classification

Using symbols to group certain areas and population counts into a place labeled by a symbol, allowing the reader to understand the separation and distinction.

Symbolization

Dependent on the type of data: nominal (e.g., land vs. water), ordinal (e.g., major vs. minor deposits), interval (e.g., temperature) or ratio (e.g., population density). The cartographer uses things like shapes, colors, and patterns to represent these categories. For example, population density might be shown with dots or color intensity, but patterns might represent nominal data such as fertile areas or desert. Additionally, color, size, and font size can have a major effect on how information is symbolized on a map.

Induction

The process where more information is given by a map than the original data, such as inferring rainfall patterns from limited data points.

Representative fraction (RF)

(1:62,500)

Word Statement

One inch to one mile

Graphic Scale

A bar scale

Mercator

-accurate land shapes
-distorts size esp. further away from equator
-useful for navi bc shows correct compass directions between points

Conic

-project the globe on to a cone
-accurate shapes near line called standard parallel, but further way the more distorted
-good for showing middle latitudes, east -> west

Lambert Equal Area (polar case)

-accurate areas
-distorts shapes away from center
-good for maps that focus near the center

Miller Cylindrical

-modifed mercator
-reduced distortion in high latitiudes
-not as accurate in shape or size
-good for world maps

Mollweide Homolographic

-equal-area map (accurate size)
-distorts shapes towards the edges
-used for world maps where area accuracy is needed

Sinusoidal, or Sanson-Flamsteed

-equal area map
-shapes less distorted near center
-more distorted towards edges

Goode's Interrupted Homolosine

-combines sinusoidal & mollweide
-minimize shape distortion by splitting map along merdians

Robinson

-balanced map
-used in textbooks
-shows earth w/out extreme shape or size distortion

Diffusion

The spread of an idea, feature, or trait over time, moved from one place to another.

Hearth

The area from where ideas originate.

Expansion Diffusion

Spread of cultural traits outside of the hearth, including contagious diffusion, hierarchical diffusion, relocation diffusion, and stimulus diffusion.

Contagious Diffusion

Spread of cultural traits to people and places near or adjoining the hearth; person to person.

Hierarchical Diffusion

Spread of ideas or traits from an authority figure to the people under that authority; higher levels to bottom levels, bottom levels to higher levels.

Relocation Diffusion

Spread of cultural traits from the movement of people from that cultural background to a new place.

Stimulus Diffusion

When a fundamental idea forms a new idea to better adapt to another culture; idea modified to new culture.
ex: mcdonalds menu changes in india to support the vegetarian population

Gravity Model

Spatial interaction model predicting interaction volume between places based on population size and distance, assuming positive relationship with population size and inverse correlation with distance.

identify

Give what it asks for, no more or less: About 1 sentence response.

define

Provide the definition and an example: About 2 sentences.

describe

Use adjectives to describe a concept or phenomenon: About 2 sentences.

explain

Talk about a concept, phenomenon, or relationship, and apply it to the situation: About 3 sentences.

discuss

Multiple concepts and examples to talk about, similar as explain but dealing with something more complex: About 1 paragraph(5/6 sentences)

isoline map

Map displaying lines that connect points of equal value; for example, a map showing elevation levels or temperature

graduated symbol map

uses symbols of different sizes to indicate different amounts of something

cartogram map

A type of thematic map that transforms space such that the political unit with the greatest value for some type of data is represented by the largest relative area.

dot maps

a thematic map in which a dot represents some frequency of the mapped variable

choropleth map

a map that uses differences in shading, coloring, or the placing of symbols within predefined areas to indicate the average values of a property or quantity in those areas.

agricultural density

the amount of farmers in a unit of farmable land

arable land

land that we can farm on

arithmetic density

the amount of people on a certain area of land

carrying capacity

the maximum amount of people that can live in a certain domain

Climate

the weather patterns in a certain area over many years that can affect the population

crude birth rate (CBR)

the amount of births in a given population in one year for every 1,000 people

crude death rate (CDR)

the amount of deaths in a given population in one year for every 1,000 people

Demographics

data about the characteristics and structure of the population of humans

dependency ratio

the number of people that are in the age group that is dependent (like elders and children) divided by the number of people that can work multiplied by 100

Dispersed

when the population is spread out in the area being observed

Fertility

a woman's ability to reproduce

human migration

when people permanently move from one place to another

infant mortality rate (IMR)

the amount of infants that die before the age of 1 for every 1,000 births

Landform

natural, physical, feature that exists on the surface of the Earth

life expectancy

the average amount of years a person is expected to live which depends on the country and other factors