APHG1

Vocabulary flashcards covering AP Human Geography vocab for Unit 1!

Absolute Distance / Location

measurement using a standard unit of length, actual measured distance to a location or place

Cartography

The science of making maps

Connections / Connectivity

Relationships among people and objects across the barrier of space

Contagious Diffusion

The rapid, widespread diffusion of a feature or trend throughout a population

Cultural ecology

a geographic approach that emphasizes human-environmental relationships

Culture

The body of customary beliefs, social forms, and material traits that together constitute a group’s distinct tradition

Density

The frequency with which something exists within a given unit of area

Diffusion

The process of spread of a feature or trend from one place to another over time

Distance Decay

The diminishing in importance and eventual disappearance of a phenomenon with increasing distance from its origin

Distribution

the arrangement of something across Earth’s surface

Environmental Determinism

a 19th and early 20th century approach to the study of geography which argued that the general laws sought by human geographers could be found in the physical sciences. Geography was therefore the study of how the physical environment caused human activities.

Expansion Diffusion

The spread of a feature or trend among people from one area to another in a snowballing process

Formal (Uniform) Region

(or uniform or homogeneous region) An area in which everyone shares in one or more distinctive characteristics.

Friction of Distance

A measure of how much absolute distance affects the interaction between two places.

Functional (Nodal) Region

(or nodal region) An area organized around a node or focal point

Geospatial Technologies

technology that provides geographic data that is used for personal (navigation), business (marketing), and governmental (environmental planning) purposes

GIS (Graphic Information System)

the development and analysis of data about Earth acquired through satellite and other electronic information technologies

Globalization

Actions or processes that involve the entire world and result in making something worldwide in scope

GPS (Global Positioning System)

a system that determines the precise position of something on Earth through a series of satellites, tracking stations, and receivers.

Gravity Model

a model which holds that the potential use of a service at a particular location is directly related to the number of people in a location and inversely related to the distance people must travel to reach the service.

Hearth

The region from which innovative ideas originate

Hierarchical Diffusion

The spread of a feature or trend from one key person or node of authority or power to other persons or places

International Date Line

An arc that for the most part follows 180 degrees longitude, although it deviates in several places to avoid dividing land areas. When the International Date Line is crossed heading east (toward America), the clock moves back 24 hours, or one entire day. When it is crossed heading west (toward Asia), the calendar moves ahead one day.

Landscape analysis

a process of studying and describing a landscape (portion of the earth’s surface), generally with the goal of assessing the impact of humans on that space. This research is used to provide physical context to concepts of human-landscape interaction and help plan for future land use or restoration.

Mercator Projection

these maps show true direction and land shapes fairly accurately, but not size or distance. Areas that are located far from the Equator are quite distorted on this type of map.

Model

an abstract representation of reality created to simplify complex systems

Possibilism

the theory that the physical environment may set limits on human actions, but people have the ability to adjust to the physical environment and choose a course of action from many alternatives

Prime Meridian

the meridian, designated as 0 degrees longitude, that passes through the Royal Observatory at Greenwich, England

Projection

a system used to transfer locations from Earth’s surface to a flat map

Region

An area distinguished by a unique combination of trends or features.

Relative distance / location

measurement of the social, cultural, and/or economic connectivity between places (how connected or disconnected)

Relocation Diffusion

The spread of a feature or trend through bodily movement of people from one place to another.

Remote Sensing

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

Robinson Projection

Projection that attempts to balance several possible projection errors. It does not maintain completely accurate area, shape, distance, or direction, but it minimizes errors in each.

Scale

Generally, the relationship between the portion of Earth being studied and Earth as a whole

Space

The physical gap or interval between two objects.

Spacial Diffusion

the ways in which phenomena, such as technological innovations, cultural trends, or even outbreaks of disease, travel over space.

Stimulus Diffusion

The spread of an underlying principle, even though a specific characteristic is rejected.

Time-Space Compression / Time-Space Convergence

The reduction in the time it takes to diffuse something to a distant place, as a result of improved communications and transportation systems

Tobler’s First Law

all things are related, but near things are more related than far things

Toponym

the name given to a portion of Earth’s surface

Vernacular (Perceptual) Region

An area that people believe exists as part of their cultural identity (perceptual region)