Ap Hug: Unit 1 Vocab

Human Environment Interaction

Relationship between the natural world and humans is at the heart of human geography.

Exmpl: pollution and deforestation

Land Use

How land is used, modified and organized by people.

Exmpl: agriculture, housing, industries

Distance Decay

The interaction between two places decline as the distance between the two places increases.

Exmpl: weakening of a radio signal as it travels across space away from a radio tower.

Sense of Place

Factors that contribute to the uniqueness of a location.

Exmpl: Rome, Italy might be describes differently by a local than by an outsider.

Geographic information system (GIS)

Computer systems/ software that stores analyzes and displays info from multiple digital maps or data sets.

Exmpl: computer analyzes population density, land use patterns, and transportation networks.

Thematic Map: Isoline

Use lines that connect points of equal value to depict variations in the data across space.

Thematic map: cartogram

Changes size of Countries according to the data being presented.

Thematic map: choropleth

Use variations of colors, shades of one color/patterns to show distribution of spatial data.

Reference Maps

A map that provides spatial information, showing where things are located on a earths surface

exmpl: physical and political

Reference map: physical

Physical map show natural features: mountains, rivers, and desserts.

Absolute distance

The precise/exact distance something is from something else.

Exmpl: my house from the school is 2.2 miles.

Thematic map: dot density

Uses dots to show the specific location and distribution of something across a map.

Reference map: political

Show and label human created boundaries, countries, states, cities, and capital.

Thematic map: graduated/proportional symbol

Displays symbols that changes in size according to the value of the variable/data.

Map projections

The process of a cartographer(map maker) showing the curved surface of the earth on a flat map.

exmpl: Mercator, Robinson, and Goode projections.

Robinson map projections

Map that aims to balance distortion of shape, size, distance, and direction rather than focusing on accuracy in one specific area when representing the earth on a flat surface.

Satellite navigation system

Enable precise location determination by using satellites orbiting earth to calculate a receiver’s position.

Toponym

The name of a place on earth.

Theory of environmental determinism

Human cultures, societies, and development are primarily shaped by the physical environment, including climate, geography, and resources

Formal region

An area defined by a specific characteristic, such as language, climate, or economic activity, where that characteristic is consistently present throughout the area.

Functional Region

An area defined by the interaction and connections between its parts, centered around a central point or node.

Perceptual/vernacular region

Geographic area defined by people’s perceptions, feelings, and attitudes, rather than formal boundaries or scientific criteria.

Contagious diffusion

The rapid spread of an idea or innovation, like a cultural trend, through a local population, often through direct contact between individuals, similar to the spread of a contagious disease.

Stimulus diffusion

Type of cultural diffusion where an idea or innovation is intoduced but is adapted and modified in its new environment, rather than spreading in it’s original form.

Hierarchical diffusion

The spread of ideas, innovations, or cultural traits from a larger, more influential cities or regions to smaller, less influential ones.

Meridian of longitude

An imaginary north-south line that runs from the North Pole to the South Pole, connecting points with the same longitude.