AP Human Geography (Unit 1)

Absolute Direction

A compass direction that measures miles and kilometers

Relative Direction

A direction using terms like left, right and forward integrated from abstract, cultural, and economic ideas

Spatial perspective

a way of looking at the world to make sense of how we use space — explains why things happen where they are

Spatial patterns

Similarities between arrangements of objects on Earth’s surface

Clustered

Grouped closely together

Dispersed

Spread out

Reference maps

Contain general data like political (States, countries), physical, and road data.

Toponyms

Place names (I.e Memphis or Philadelphia)

Types of Distortions

Shape, Relative Size, Distance, and Direction distortions

Mercator Projection

A map created in 1569 that is rectangular in nature and very distorted when it comes to European countries and the Atlantic Ocean

Goode-Homolosine projection

Look like if you peeled a globe and put it flat lol

Robinson Projection

A compromise between the Mercator and Peters projection that has slight distortion but overall favorable

Peters Projection

A world map where landmasses relative sizes are accurate, however, other elements like distance and size are distorted

Azimuthal projection

Less common, looks a Earth from the North Pole (birds eye view map)

Thematic Maps

Focus on data representation. Though they do rely on reference maps, they take data from field observations, media reports, etc. (Think Google Maps)

Jerrymandering

drawing up election borders to help a certain candidate or party with their chance of winning

Scale of Inquiry

taking into consideration how we view something (kinda like perspective)

Choropleth map

uses shading or coloring to indicate the average values of variables in those areas (political maps)

Dot Distribution Map

uses dots to indicate objects or counts (can be 1 to 1 or 1 to Many)

Proportional Circle Map

use circles of different sizes to represent numerical values