AP Human Geo vocab U1

Absolute Location

Geographic coordinates (latitude and longitude) for a specific location.

Cartogram

Map in which some thematic mapping variable is substituted for land area or distance. The shape of the map is distorted, sometimes extremely, in order to convey the information of the alternate variable.

Cartography

The study and practice of making maps.

Census

An official count or survey of a population, typically recording various details of individuals every ten years.

Choropleth Map

A thematic map that uses tones or colors to represent spatial data as average values per unit area.

Distance Decay

Contact diminishes with increasing distance and eventually disappears.

Dot Distribution Map

A map that depicts data that consists of discrete observations. Each dot represents a predetermined number of observations, which could be one or many.

Environmental Determinism

Belief that the physical environment caused social development.

Formal Region

An area in which everyone shares in common one or more distinctive characteristics. The shared characteristics could be cultural value such as a common language, or environmental climate.

Functional Region

An area organized around a node or focal point

Geographic Information System (GIS)

A computer system that stores, organizes, analyzes, and displays geographic data.

Geography

The study of the physical features of the earth and its atmosphere, and of human activity as it affects and is affected by these, including the distribution of populations and resources, land use, and industries.

Global Positioning System (GPS)

Satellite-based system for determining the absolute location of places or geographic features.

Graduated Symbol Map

A map with symbols that change in size according to the value of the attribute they represent.

International Date Line

An imaginary line of demarcation on the surface of Earth that runs from the North Pole to the South Pole and demarcates the change of one calendar to the next.

Isoline Map

A thematic map with lines that connect points of equal value.

Latitude

The numbering system used to indicate the location of parallels drawn on a globe and measuring distance north and south of the equator.

Longitude

Distance east or west of the prime meridian, measured in degrees.

Map

A two-dimensional, or flat, representation of Earth's surface or a portion of it.

Map Projection

Methods of transferring locations on Earth's surface to a flat map.

Perceptual (vernacular) Region

A region that only exists as a conceptualization or an idea and not as a physically demarcated entity.

Possibilism

The theory that the physical environment may set limits on human actions, but people have the ability to adjust to the physical environment.

Region

An area of Earth distinguished by a distinctive combination of cultural and physical features.

Relative Distance

Describes the distance between locations using qualitative terms or non- traditional measurements of distance.

Relative Location

Describes the position of a place as compared to (or relative to) another landmark.

Remote Sensing

The acquisition of data about Earth's surface from a satellite orbiting the planet or other long-distance methods.

Scale (Map Scale)

Refers to the relationship of a features size on a map to its actual size on earth.

Site

The physical character of a place.

Situation

The location of a place relative to another place.

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 systems.

Sustainability

The use of Earth's renewable and nonrenewable natural resources in ways that do not constrain resource use in the future.

Thematic Map

A map that emphasizes a specific subject area or theme connected to a specific geographical area.

Time Zone

Any of the 24 longitudinal areas of the world within which the same time is used.

Topographical Map

A detailed and accurate two-dimensional representation of natural and human-made features on the Earth's surface.

Toponym

Place names given to certain features on the land such as settlements, terrain features, and streams.