AP HuGeo Unit 1 Key Terms

Physical Geography

The study of spatial characteristics of various elements of the physical environment.

Human geography

The study of the spatial characteristics of humans and human activities.

Four-Level Analysis

Comprehension, Identification, Explanation, and Prediction when looking at a concept, pattern, or process.

Spatial Perspective

Where something occurs and why it is there.

Ecological Perspective

Refers to the relationship between living things and their environments.

Absolute Location

The precise (exact) spot where something is according to a system.

Relative Location

A description of where something is in relation to other places or features.

Place

The specific human and physical characteristics of a location.

Mental Map

Internalized representations of portions of Earth’s surface.

Site

The physical characteristics of a place at its immediate (absolute) location.

Situation

Refers to a place’s location in relation to other places or its surrounding features.

Space

The area between two or more phenomena or things.

Distribution

The way a phenomenon is spread out over an area.

Density

The number of things in a specific area.

Pattern

How things are arranged in a particular space.

Flow

The patterns and movements of ideas, people, products, and other phenomena.

Environmental determinism

The belief that landforms and climate (physical features) are the most powerful forces shaping human behavior and societal development. (Not favored)

Possibilism

The belief that argues that humans have more agency, or ability to produce a result on the environment. (Favored)

Sustainability

Relates to trying to use resources in new ways that allow their use in the future while minimizing negative impacts on the environment.

Scale

The area of the world being studied or focused on.

Region

A group of places in the same area that share a characteristic.

Formal region

Regions that have commonalities with one or multiple physical, cultural, or economic trait.

Functional region

Regions organized around a focal point and are defined by a an activity that occurs there.

Node

Focal point of a functional region.

Suburbs

Residential area surrounding a city.

Perceptual regions (vernacular)

Regions defined by the informal sense of place that people ascribe to them. Reflects people’s feelings and attitudes about a place.

Qualitative sources

Information that can be collected and recorded with a more humanistic approach, perhaps through interviews, observations, or interpretations of documents.

Quantitative data

Information that can be measured and recorded using numbers.

Census

An official count of the number of people in a defined area.

Geographic Information Systems (GIS)

A computer system that can store, analyze, and display information from multiple digital maps or geospatial data sets.

Topographic maps

Maps that connect points of equal elevation, creating contours that depict surfaces features.

Remote sensing

System that uses cameras or other sensors mounted on aircraft or satellites to collect digital images of the Earth’s surface.

Global Positioning System (GPS)

System that uses data from satellites to determine and record an exact location.

Cartographers

People who create maps.

Absolute distance

The exact measurement of how far or near something is to one another. (Usually in feet, miles, meters, or kilometers.)

Relative distance

The degree of nearness based on time or money and often dependent on the mode of travel.

Absolute direction

The cardinal directions (north, south, east, or west)

Relative direction

Left, right, up, down, front or behind based on people’s perceptions.

Map scale

The mathematical relationship between the size of a map and the part of the world it shows.

Reference maps

Maps that show general information about a place/s

Thematic maps

Maps that show a theme or specific purpose and focus in the relationship among geographic data.

Geospatial data

All information collected that can be tied to specific locations.

Scales of analysis

Looking at geographic topics at the local, regional, country, or global scale.

Physical maps

Maps that show and label natural features.

Choropleth maps

Maps that use various colors, shades of one color, or patterns to show the location and distribution of spatial data.

Dot distribution maps

Maps used to show the specific location and distribution of something across the territory of the map.

Graduated symbol maps

Maps that use symbols of different sizes to indicate different amounts of something.

Fieldwork

Act of collecting data that is observed and recorded on location.