AP Human Geo Unit 1 vocab review

Distribution

this is the arrangement of a feature in space which can be described using three different properties

Pattern

a recognizable geometric arrangement

of objects within an area

Region

area distinguished by distinctive commonalities and combinations of cultural and physical features.

Agricultural Density

this type of density actually measures

the level of development in a society

because a lower number implies that

much of the farming conducted is

done with machines and technology.

Situation

how the site and relative location of a

place make it important. The

consequences of a place.

Formal Region

this type of region is also known as

"uniform" because everyone shares

one or more homogeneous

characteristics within the area.

Level of Aggregation

this concept is important in analysis.

It involves deciding what sized

geographic unit should be used to

collect and display data in order to

reflect a statistic accurately

Cartogram

a graph in the form of a map which

distorts the size of geographic units in

order to reflect data.

Perceptual/Vernacular Region

this type of region also known as

"perceptual" is a place people believe

exists as part of their cultural identity

Global Positioning System (GPS)

this satellite based system is used largely for locational purposes

Hearth

a place where an innovation originates

Toponym

Place name

Geography

"to write about or describe the Earth"

Sub-Saharan Africa

world's least developed region which consequently has the highest percentage of people living in poverty and suffering from poor health care and lower levels of education

Choropleth Map

map that uses color and shading to spatially display the intensity of a feature.

Absolute Location

Exact location of a place on the earth described by global coordinates

Globalization

the process by which barriers between countries are being broken down, things are becoming worldwide in scope and more interdependent.

Concentration

a property of distribution that describes the closeness or distance over which a feature is spread spatially.

Density

property of distribution which

measures the frequency that

something occurs in a unit of space.

Possibilism

this theory on cultural ecology holds that the physical

environment may limit some human actions, but people have the ability to modify and adapt to their environment.

Stimulus Diffusion

type of expansion diffusion in which

the underlying principle spreads but

not necessarily the end product.

Expansion Diffusion

the spread of a feature from one place

to another through a snowballing

process in which the feature spreads

but does not lose influence at the

hearth.

Relocation Diffusion

type of diffusion that is the result of people physically moving from one place to another

Robinson Projection

this projection's major disadvantage is

that (because it does NOT use

interruptions) too much area is

allocated to oceans and that land

areas must be consequently smaller.

Hierarchical Diffusion

type of expansion diffusion in which

an idea is spread from people in

nodes of authority or power to other

people or places.

Projection

the process by which a three-

dimensional reality (like the world) is

mapped on a two-dimensional

surface.

Environmental Determinism

European geographers of the 1800s

believed the physical environment

CAUSED social development and

behaviors in an approach known as

this

Physiological Density

this type of density which measures

the amount of population per unit of

arable land helps make conclusions

about the ability of a society to provide food

for itself.

Cultural Ecology

the geographic field of inquiry relating

to human-environmental relationships

Space-time compression

a phenomenon of the modern world

which describes the reduction in time

it takes for something to reach

another place (three words/hyph.,the

first two terms are interchangeable;

put them in alphabetical order)

Dispersed

description of objects in an area that

are NOT in close proximity.

Geographic Information System (GIS)

this computer program layers information for analytical purposes

Functional Region

this type of region, also known as

nodal, is tied to a central point by

transportation, communication or

economic associations.

Diffusion

the general term for the process by

which an idea or innovation spreads

across space over time.

Scale

This word can have two distinct meanings. One is the relationship between the proportion of the Earth being mapped to its size in reality and the other definition is the scope at which a phenomenon is being analyzed.

Dot Density Map

thematic map that is best for displaying the frequency and location of occurrences within an area

Distance Decay

phenomenon which states that the farther away from the hearth of an innovation the weaker its influence will be

Contagious Diffusion

type of expansion diffusion in which

an idea or information spreads rapidly

to the closest people or places without

regard to rank.

Site

physical character of a place which may influence its importance.

Distortion

this type of inaccuracy is created when a three-dimensional area is represented on a two-dimensional flat surface like a map.