APHUG unit 1 vocab

Human geography

studies how human activity affects or is influenced by Earth's surface.

Map

a two-dimensional (flat) representation of a geographical area.

Data aggregation

the process of collecting and organizing large amounts of information

Spatial perspective

a geographic outlook that seeks to identify and explain the uses of space

Spatial patterns

the placement or arrangement of objects on Earth's surface.

Time-distance decay

near things are more related than distant things, and interaction between two places decreases the farther apart they are.

Map legend

explains the meaning of map symbols and colors.

Scale

explain how distance on the map relates to distance in actual space.

Absolute direction

Compass direction reading such as North or South.

Absolute distance

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

Relative direction

Relative direction can also describe movement

Relative distance

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

Reference map

emphasize geographic locations on Earth's surface.

Elevation

distance above sea level

Thematic map

emphasize spatial patterns of geographic statistics or attributes

Choropleth map

shows data aggregated for a specific geographic area, typically a political unit such as a county, province, or state.

Cartogram

a map that distorts the geographic shape of an area in order to show the size of a specific variable, such as the birth rate or the unemployment rate.

Proportional symbol map

A map that uses symbols of different sizes to represent underlying numerical values.

Dot density map

maps simply and effectively show density differences in geographic distributions across a map.

Map projection

represents the surface of Earth or a celestial sphere on a plane (two-dimensional) surface.

Mercator projection

A map projection that is useful for navigation because the lines connecting points on the map represent the true compass direction; however, landmasses become increasingly distorted the farther away they are from the equator

Peters projection

an equal-area projection that shows all landmasses with their true areas.

Robinson projection

attempts to create the most visually appealing representation of Earth by keeping all types of distortion, such as an emphasis on the poles or on the size of continents, relatively low over most of the map

Goode Homolosine Projection

avoids shape distortion and the restrictions of a rectangular map by creating "interruptions" in the map's continuity.

Census

an official count or survey of a population, typically recording various details about individuals, such as age, sex, and race.

Fieldwork

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

Absolute location

precise position on Earth's surface

Global Positioning Systems (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

Geographic Information Systems (GIS)

a software application for capturing, storing, checking, and displaying data related to positions on Earth's surface

Remote sensing

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

Satellite imagery

images of Earth's surface gathered from sensors mounted on orbiting satellites.

Relative location

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

Space

the areas we occupy as humans

Place

how we modify space based on who we are as a group of people, a process called place making.

Cultural landscape

The built forms that cultural groups create in inhabiting Earth — farm fields, cities, houses, and so on — and the meaning, values, representations, and experiences associated with those forms

Time-space compression

refers to the decreasing distance between places, as measured by travel time or cost

Expansion Diffusion

ideas or practices spread throughout a population, from area to area, so that the total number of knowers or users and the areas of occurrence increase.

Hierarchical Diffusion

occurs when ideas leapfrog from one important person, community, or city to another, bypassing other persons, communities, or rural areas.

Contagious Diffusion

involves the wavelike spread of ideas in the manner of a contagious disease or a forest fire, moving throughout space without regard for hierarchy.

Stimulus Diffusion

occurs when a specific trait is rejected, but the underlying idea is accepted.

Relocation Diffusion

occurs when individuals or groups with a particular idea or practice migrate from one location to another, thereby bringing the idea or practice to their new homeland.

Ecosystem

a territorially bounded system consisting of the interaction between humans and the environment

Natural resources

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

Renewable resources

plentiful, and Earth will naturally replenish them over time.

Nonrenewable resources

available on Earth in finite quantities. When they are used up, nature cannot renew them

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.

Possibilism

the view that any physical environment offers a number of possible ways for a society to develop.

Global scale

looks at geographic phenomena across the entire world.

Regional scale analysis

geographers analyze phenomena within a specific region, such as Southeast Asia or North America.

National scale analysis

When geographers identify and analyze geographic phenomena for a specific country.

Local scale analysis

Used to identify and analyze geographic phenomena within a state or province, a city or town, or even a neighborhood.

Glocal perspective

Geographic perspective that acknowledges the two-way relationship between local communities and global patterns, emphasizing that the forces of globalization need to take into account local-scale cultural, economic, and environmental conditions

Region

a geographical unit based on one or more unifying characteristics, functions, or patterns of activity that are taking place.

Formal region

known as a uniform or homogeneous region, is a geographical area inhabited by people who have one or more traits in common, such as a language, religion, or system of livelihood.

Functional region

a geographic area that has been organized to function politically, socially, culturally, or economically on its own.

Perceptual/vernacular region

one that is based on the shared feelings and attitudes of the people who live in the area.

Sense of place

How a person feels about a particular place and why it is important to them

Activity space

where they go and what they do on a day-to-day basis.

Regional analysis

Used to examine the patterns and processes within and between regions at multiple geographic scales: local, national, regional, and global.