AP Human Geography Review

Distance Decay

As distance increases the number of occurrences of the characteristic decreases.

Reference Maps

Maps that show the physical features about places or the general information.

Thematic Maps

designed to illustrate a particular theme or subject

Choropleth Map

Type of thematic map.

Shows shades of a map to show intensity of a charecteristic or size of a data point.

Choreo = dance = color = choropleth

Dot map

Thematic map

Show distrobution of some data

Dots do not change size

Proportional Symbol Map

Thematic map

Larger size of symbols = larger size of data point

Isoline Map

Thematic map

Group areas into similar regions.

Example: elevation map showing which regions have similar elevations by drawing line around area.

Cartogram

Thematic map

Distorts the sizes of countries to show the size of the statistic.

Small vs Large Scale

Small scale shows more area with less detail

Large scale shows less area with more detail.

Mercator Projection

Shape and direction is accurate (good for navigation)

Map is rectangular

Size of poles are distorted

Robinson Projection

Modified version of Mercator projection

land masses smaller → most accurate

still some distortion

Peters Projection

Distorts shape a lot by squishing them horizontally

Square shape → better in that way compared to Robinson but still distorts shape, valuing size more

Goode Homolosine Map Projection

MInimizes distortion of landmasses and represnts their relative size

Orange peel looking

Bad for navigation and measuring distances due to breaks in map

Remote Sensing

Gathers information from satellites that orbit the earth or other craft above the atmosphere.

GIS

Global Information System

Computer system that is able to stack multiple digital maps and geospatial data sets

GPS

Global Positioning System

use locations of satellites to determine location of user

Toponym

Names of places (relate to the historical influences or other influences)

Cultural Ecology

study of how humans adapt to the environment

• Environmental Determinism

• Possibilism

Environmental Determinism

The belief that landforms and climate are the most powerful forces shaping human behavior and societal development while ignoring the influence of culture.

Basically saying the environment fully determine the actions and accomplishments of people in an area.

→ old assumption → possibilism is contemporary

Possibilism

acknowledges limits on the effects of the natural environment and focuses more on the role that human culture plays. Different cultures may respond to the same natural environment in diverse ways, depending on their beliefs, goals, and available technologies

Basically yeah there is environmental determinism but how a culture functions also is important.

In the Netherlands a lot of their land is covered by water → making dams to gain back land → possibilism