AP Human Geography Unit 1 Review

Latitude

The numbering system used to indicate the location of parallels drawn on a globe and measuring distance north and south of the equator

Cultural Ecology

Geographic approach that emphasizes human-environment relationships

Longitude

The numbering system used to indicate the location of meridians drawn on a globe and measuring distance east and west of the prime meridian (0°).

GPS - Global Positioning System

A system that determines the precise position of something on Earth through a series of satellites, tracking stations, and recievers.

GIS - Geographic Information System

A computer system that stores, organizes, analyzes, and displays geographic data.

Cartography

The science of mapmaking

Culture

The body of customary beliefs, social forms, and material traits that together constitute a group of people's distinct tradition

Cultural Landscape

Fashioning of a natural landscape by a cultural group

Hearth

The region from which innovative ideas originate

Map

A two-dimensional, or flat, representation of Earth's surface or a portion of it

Place

A specific point on Earth distinguished by a particular location

Projection

The system used to transfer locations from Earth's surface to a flat map

Region

An area distinguished by a unique combination of characteristics, trends or features

Scale

Generally, the relationship between the portion of Earth being studied and Earth as a whole, specifically the relationship between the size of an object on a map and the size of the actual feature on Earth's surface.

Space

The physical gap or interval between two objects

Space-Time Compression

The reduction in the time it takes to diffuse something to a distant place, as a result of improved communications and transportation systems

Toponym

The name given to a portion of Earth's surface

5 Themes of Geography

Location, Movement, Place, Human Interaction, Region

Globalization

Actions or processes that involve the entire world and result in making something worldwide in scope

Regionalization

The organization of earth's surface into distinct areas that are viewed as different from other areas

Types of Distortion

The shapes of areas; the distances between places; the relative size of different areas; the direction from one place to another

Mercator Projection

The map projection is meant for direction. However, the projection distorts sizes of areas, particularly as you get closer to the North and South poles

Map Scale

mathematical relationship between the size of an area on a map and its actual size on earth)

Ways to Identify Place

Toponym, site, situation, and absolute location

Site

The physical character of a place

Situation

The location of a place relative to other places

Transnational Corporations

Companies that have centers of operation in many parts of the globe

Physical Site Characteristics

Climate, topography, soil, water sources, vegetation, and elevation

Remote sensing

The acquisition of data about Earth's surface from a satellite orbiting the planet or other long-distance methods.

Possibilism

The theory that the physical environment may set limits on human actions, but people have the ability to adjust to the physical environment and choose a course of action from many alternatives.

Environmental Determinism

A doctrine that claims that cultural traits are formed and controlled by environmental conditions.

relocation diffusion

The spread of a feature or trend through bodily movement of people from one place to another.

Distance Decay

The diminishing in importance and eventual disappearance of a phenomenon with increasing distance from its origin.

Stimulus diffusion

The spread of an underlying principle, even though a specific characteristic is rejected.

Hierarchical Diffusion

the spread of a feature or trend from one key person or node of authority or power to other persons or places

Concentration

The spread of something over a given area. Clustered or Dispersed

Distribution

The arrangement of something across Earth's surface.

Pattern

The geometric or regular arrangement of something in a study area.

Contagious Diffusion

The rapid, widespread diffusion of a feature or trend throughout a population.

Time-Space Compression

The reduction in the time it takes to diffuse something to a distant place, as a result of improved communications and transportation systems

Formal Region

An area in which everyone shares in one or more distinctive characteristics that are evenly spread

Functional Region

An area organized around a node or focal point

Greenwich Mean Time

The time in that time zone ecompassing the Prime Meridian, or 0 degrees longitude

International Date line

the line of longitude that marks where each new day begins, centered on the 180th meridian

vernacular region

an area that people believe exists as part of their cultural identity

Scale of Analysis

a scale that determines what is being studied based on the size of the area being examined - Local to Global

Dot Density map

Thematic map that uses dots to represent the frequency of a variable in a given area

Choropleth map

A thematic map that uses tones or colors to represent spatial data as average values per unit area.

Proportional map

Uses size of shapes or symbols to show how serious a theme is in the area

Cartagram

a map on which statistical information is shown in diagrammatic form. - Crazy

Prime meridian

An invisible line that runs across the 0° line of Longitude heading North and South.

Equator

0 degrees latitude

Flow line map

Shows movement with arrows of different size

Isoline map

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

Goode Homolosine

Map projection with interruptions that show spatial distribution. equal area