AP HUMAN GEOGRAPHY THINKING GEOGRAPHICALLY

Space

the geometric surface of the earth

Spatial

location separated from by some degree of distance from other things

Activity space

an area where activity occurs on a daily basis

Place

an area of bounded space of some human importance

Sense of place

human importance is recognized

Toponym

a place

Regions

a type of place

Sequent occupancy

the succession of groups and cultural influences throughout a place’s history

Map scale

describes the ratio distance on a map to the distance in the real world in absolute terms

Relative scale (scales of analysis)

scales can range from individual or local, from city to country and state, from regional to national to continental, or to the international and global scales

Level of aggression

level at which you group things together for examination

Formal

an area of bounded space that possesses some homogeneous characteristics or uniformity (across the region one tings is the same everywhere within that regional boundary)

Linguistic region

everyone speaks the same language, but groups in that region can be very different culturally

Regional boundaries

differ based upon the type of region

Culture regions

tend to have fuzzy borders (Dixie Line)

Political regions

are finite and well defined

Environmental region

boundaries are transitional and measurable (the environmental transition zone between two bioregions or biomes is known as an ecotone)

Functional

(nodal regions) areas that have a central place or node, that is a focus point of origin that expresses some practical purpose

Market areas

a type of functional region; a professional sports team will have the strongest fan base and intensive media network coverage in areas close to the team’s home city

Area of influence

a larger area of influence means people will travel further distances to get the services offered

Intervening opportunity

“just passing through”; an attraction at a shorter distance that takes precedence over an attraction that is further away

Ernest Burgess

Concentric zone model

Walter Christaller

Central Place Theory

William Devevan

Native American Population

Larry Ford& Ernst Griffin

Latin American City Model

Homer Hoyt

Sector Model

Thomas Malthus

Malthusian Theory

Friedrich Raztel

Anthropogeographic; father of human geography

Walt Rostow

Stages of Growth

Carl Sauer

possibilism; cultural landscape

Johann Heinrich von Thünen

Isolated State Model

Immanuel Wallerstein

World systems theory

Alfred Weber

Industrial Location Theory

Vernacular

based upon the perception or collective mental map of the region’s residents; can vary within the region due to the personal or group variations

Absolute location

defines a point or place on the map using coordinates such as latitude and longitude

Notation

absolute location is given with latitude first and then longitude, each with a cardinal direction separated by a comma

Decimal degrees

when decimals are used to divide partial degrees instead of minutes and seconds

Equator

0° latitude

North & South poles

are 90° latitude

The Prime Meridian

0° longitude

On the opposite side of the earth is the 180° line of longitude; parts of this line form the International Date Line

that also goes around many international boundaries

Time zones

divided up in 15

relative location

refers to the location of a place compared to a known place or geographic feature

Site

the physical characteristics of a place (New York City is located on a large, deep water harbor, next to the Atlantic Ocean)

Situation

the place’s interrelatedness with other places. (how is the place related to other places?)

Absolute Distance

the distance between two places as measured in linear units such as miles or kilometers

Distance decay

the farther away two places are from a place of origin, the less likely the interaction will be with the original place

Relative distance

Approximate measurement of the physical space between two places.

Tobler’s Law

all places are interrelated, but closer places are more related than further ones

Friction of distance

when the length of distance becomes a factor that inhibits interaction between two points (this can be seen when the combined time and cost of moving a porcuts prevents it from being sold in far

Modes of transportation

airplanes reduce travel time between two distant point, & as a result, increase interaction

Human

environment interaction

Central place

any node of human activity; most often center of economic exchange

Transportation nodes

provide accessibility to and from these points; market centers tend to be centrally located within the larger economic region

Central place theory

city location and the level of urban economic exchange could be analyzed using central places within hexagonal market at different scales

Developed in the 1930s by Walter Christaller; he saw the world as an abstract spatial model

Core & periphery

the core of an urban landscape (the core of a political landscape is a country's capital)

Cluster

when things are grouped together on the Earth’s surface

Agglomeration

when clustering occurs purposefully around a central point or economic growth pole

Random Pattern

when there is no rhyme or reason to the distribution of a spatial phenomenon

Scattered

Objects that are normally ordered but appear dispersed

Linear

the pattern is in a straight line

Sinuous

the pattern is wavy like the pattern of a heartbeat

LAND SURVEY PATTERNS

have an effect on property lines and political boundaries of states and provinces

Land survey system(township & range)

create rectangular plots of consistent size based on lines of latitude and longitude

Metes and bounds

metes used for short distances and refer to features of specific points; bounds cover larger areas and are based on larger features like streams or roads (Ohio & Ontario in the 1830s)

French long lot system

creates a narrow front with a wide back along a road or water way. (used in former French colonies like Quebec and Louisiana)

Arithmetic Density

the number of things per square unit of distance

Physiologic density

measures the number of people per square unit of arable land, meaning land that either is actively farmed or has the potential to be

Agricultural density

refers to only the number of farmers per square unit of land

Hearth

a point of origin or place of innovation

Expansion Diffusion

originates in a central place and the expands outward in all directions to other locations; distance does not have to be equal in all directions

Hierarchical Diffusion

originates in a first

Contagious Diffusion

begins at a point of origin and then moves outward to nearby locations, especially those adjoining transportation lines (could be used to describe a disease, but also could describe the movement of other things like news to rural areas)

Stimulus Diffusion

a general or underlying principle diffuses and then stimulates the creation of new products or ideas (occurs when vegetarian eating habits (principle) influence restaurants to offer more vegetarian dishes)

Relocation diffusion

begins at a point of origin and then crosses a significant physical barrier, such as an ocean, a mountain range, or a desert, and then relocates on the other side (often a journey can influence and modify the items being diffused)

Topographic maps

show the contour lines of elevation, as well as the urban and vegetation surface within road, building, river, and other natural landscape features (used for engineering surveys and land navigation especially in wilderness regions)

Thematic maps

each one expresses a particular subject and does not show landforms for other features.

Choropleth Maps

express the geographic variability of a particular theme using color variations

Isoline Maps

calculate data between points across a variable surface (Between point A (with the value of 5) and point B (with a value of 10), a series of contour lines can be drawn to show the change in data between the two points.) Weather maps showing temperature contours (isotherms) are the most common isoline maps.

Dot density maps

use dots to express the volume and density of a particular geographic feature. The dots can represent the numbers of people in an area, or they can express the numbers of events or phenomena that occurred in that area.

Mental Maps

a cognitive image of landscape in the human mind. Very accurate around a person’s home, school, & workplace; also the landscape around transportation corridors that we commonly travel

Equal area projections

attempt to maintain the relative spatial science and the areas on the map . These distort the actual shape of the polygons

Lambert projection

bending and squishing the northern Canadian islands to keep them at the same map scale as southern Canada on a flat sheet of paper

Conformal projections

attempt to maintain the shape of polygons on the map; can cause distortion of the relative area from one part of the map to the other

Mercator Projection

the shape of Greenland is preserved, but it appears to be much larger than South America, when in reality it is much smaller

Robinson projection & Goode’s homolosine projection

try to balance area and for sacrificing a bit of both to create a more visually practical representation of the Earth’s surface.

Model

an abstract generalization of real

Spatial models

attempt to shoe the commonalities in pattern amount similar landscapes

Urban models

try to show how different cities have similar spatial relationships and economic or social structures

Demographic transition model

uses population data to construct a general model of the dynamic growth in national scale populations without references to space

Bid rent curve

explains why land prices are relatively low in suburban areas, but exponentially higher in the CBD

Gravity Model

a mathematical model that is used to calculate transportation flow between two points, determine the area of influence of a city’s businesses, and estimate the flow of migrants to a particular place

GIS

a computer system that collects,stores, analyzes and displays geographic data. incorporate one or more data layers in a computer program capable of spatial analysis and mapping

GPS

utilizes a worldwide network of satellites, which emit a measurable radio signal. When the signal is available to three or more Navstar Satellites, a GPS receiver is able to triangulate a coordinate location and display map data for the user

Aerial Photography

have been used for mapping since the mid 1800s; images of earth that have been taken from an aircraft, printed on film, but digital camera usage is on the rise

Satellite

based remote sensing

Rate of natural increase

The annual percentage of population growth of that country for that one year period. Calculated by subtracting the death rate from the birth rate and dividing by 10.

Demographic equation

immigration and emigration are used to predict future populations

Natality, crude birth rate

an annual statistic of the number of babies born in a colander year