AP HUG EXAM

Large-scale map

Shows large detail, but not as large of an area. (like a neighborhood)

2. *Small-scale map: Shows small detail, but a large area (like a global map).

3. Sequent occupance: When a new group of people move into an area they may change the function and appearance of buildings to match their culture. For example, a Mosque may be turned into a Church, depending on who now lives in a place.

4. *Diffusion: Do not confuse with distribution. Diffusion is the spreading of a feature/trait or trend from one place to another over time. A verb.

5. Relocation diffusion: The spread of an idea through physical movement of people from one place to another. Ex: spread of AIDS from New York, California, & Florida. AIDS requires physical contact, unlike Covid.

Expansion diffusion: The spread of a feature from one place to another in a snowballing process. This can happen in 3 ways:

6. Hierarchical diffusion: The spread of an idea or trait from persons or nodes of influence or power to other persons or places (Ex: hip-hop, global cities influence others)

7. Contagious diffusion: The rapid, widespread diffusion of a characteristic throughout the population. The idea itself is popular, not necessarily the person who spread it (Ex: ideas placed on the internet)

8. Stimulus diffusion: the partial spread of an idea or trait. An idea or trait that mutates as it spreads. (Ex: “Mexican” food that isn’t exactly Mexican, Pidgin languages)

9. *Spatial Distribution: The arrangement of something across Earth’s surface. Where “stuff” is. Not to be confused with diffusion. A noun not a verb.

10. Environmental determinism: The belief that your physical surroundings determine what your culture will be. E.g. The Inuit (Eskimo) people eat only meat, because that is all that is available to eat. Peaked roofs on houses are made in regions with lots of snow.

11. Possibilism: Disagrees with determinism. Belief that the environment does impact your culture and choices, but humans still have options. So you may live in a hot environment, but that doesn’t mean you will want to go around shirtless. There are lightweight materials that some cultures wear and feel fine.

12. Absolute location: Position on Earth’s surface using the coordinate system of longitude (that runs from North to South Pole) and latitude (that runs parallel to the equator).

13. Relative location: Position on Earth’s surface relative to other features. (Ex: My house is North of I-40).

14. Site: The physical character of place; what is found at the location and why it is significant. E.g. SIHS an IB school.

15. Situation: Similar to relative location. The location of a place relative to other places. E.g. the school near I-77.

16. *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 system. Tiktok spreads things much faster than hand-written books once did.

17. Friction of Distance- is based on the notion that distance usually requires some amount of effort, money, and/or energy to overcome. Because of this "friction," spatial interactions will tend to take place more often over shorter distances; quantity of interaction will decline with distance.

18. *Distance Decay- The diminishing in importance and eventual disappearance of a phenomenon with increasing distance from its hearth/origin. Typically, the farther away one group is from another, the less likely the two groups are to interact. (Electronic devices such as the internet and e-mail have aided in eliminating barriers to interaction between people who are far from each other).

19. *Spatial association: things that tend to occur together on the landscape. They’re correlated, like liquor stores, fast food, and poor neighborhoods.

20. *Scale- Explains how much of the earth is being shown on the map. Or, how much of the earth is being impacted by something like pollution? Local, regional, national, global scales.

21. *Formal Region- a homogenous (same) region is an area within which everyone shares in common one or more distinctive characteristics. E.g. most people in Japan speak Japanese. Charlotte city laws apply all throughout the city limits.

22. *Functional Region- Area organized around a node or focal point of some phenomenon. The further away you get from the node, the more distance decay there is. E.g. India is the node and hearth of Sikhism. The further you get away from this node, the fewer Sikh people you will find.

23. *Vernacular Region- (Perceptual Region) is a place that people believe exists as a part of their cultural identity. Such regions emerge from people’s informal sense of place rather than from scientific models developed through geographic thought. (Often identified using a mental map – E.g. “The South” though people will disagree which states actually make up this perceived region)

24. Pattern- A common property of distribution, which is the geometric arrangement of objects in space. Some features are organized in a geometric pattern, whereas others are distributed irregularly. Geographers observe that many objects form a linear distribution, such as the arrangement of houses along a street or stations along a subway line.

25. Toponym- Often referred to as a place name. These are a part of the cultural landscape. People name things based on their values and language. E.g. “Los Angeles” was named by Catholic Spanish folks who colonized what is now the Southwest USA.

26. Sustainability- using up environmental resources in such a way that helps and benefits humans, while also allowing the environment to replenish the resource being used. E.g. hydroelectric (water) power is renewable.

27. *Acculturation: Process of adopting only certain cultural customs from cultural convergence (interaction), rather than fully assimilating. E.g. moving to Japan and learning lots of Japanese, but continuing to speak English at home.

28. *Assimilation: Process of less dominant cultures losing their culture to a more dominant culture. Usually this is hierarchical diffusion and forced. E.g. Han Dynasty China forcing those conquered to speak Mandarin Chinese.

29. *Syncretism: The mixing of two cultures or cultural traits to form a totally new culture. Sikhism is an example. A mix of Islam and Hinduism to form something totally new.

30. Reference map: Helps you find where you’re going. E.g. road map.

31. Thematic map: A map that shows some variable or “theme” across space. E.g. a choropleth map changes the color of a region based on some activity taking place there, like internet connections.

32. Projection: The earth is round/spherical, so maps must be altered in order to make a sphere flat. No projection perfectly displays the earth. The Mercator and Robinson projections are most common.