AP Human Geography Unit 1

spatial perspective

where something occurs

ecological perspective

relationships between living things and their environments

absolute location

exact location of an object

relative location

description f a location by its relation to other places or features

location

position that a point or object occupies on earth

place

location on earth that is distinguished by its physical and human characteristics

mental maps

internalized representations of portions of Earth’s surface

site

place’s absolute location + physical characteristics

situation

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

distributed

arranged within a given space

density

number of things(people animals or objects) in a specific area

environmental determinism

argues that human behavior is controlled by their physical environment

distance decay

key geographic principle that describes the effect of distance on interactions

possiblism

argues that humans make their surrounding (exact opposite of environmental determinism)

time space compression

key geographic principle that is related to friction of distance ex: the world feels smaller because the time it takes to get across the world is much less than it used to be

sense of place

emotion attached to an area based on certain experiences

scale

area of the world being studied

region

area of earth’s surface with certain characteristics that make it distinct from other areas

formal region

area that has one or more shared traits

functional region

area organized by its function area a focal point, or the center of an interest or activity

perceptual region

type of region that reflects people’s feelings and attitudes about a place

small scale

zoomed out (global is the smallest and regional is small)

large scale

zoomed in (local scale is the largest and national scale is large)

globalization

expansion of economic, cultural and political processes on a worldwide scale

theory

system of ideas intended to explain certain phenomena

world system theory

describes the spatial and functional relationships between countries in world economies

core

wealthier countries with higher education levels and more advanced tech

periphery

countries that have less wealth lower education levels and less sophisticated technology

semi-periphery

both core and periphery

sustainable

development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs

quantitative

information measured by numbers (ex: population)

qualitative

information measured without numbers (ex: language)

census

official count of the number of people in a defined area

gis

captures, stores, organizes and displays geographic data that can then be used to configure both simple and complex maps

topography

shape and features of land surfaces

remote sensing

geospatial technology gathering data remotely without physical contact

gps

uses the time it takes to receive a transmitted signal to measure the distance to each satellite and uses the data to pinpoint the exact location of the reciever

absolute direction

north south east west

relative direction

left right up down front and behind

mercator

shows true direction/ good for navigation distorts area and size

gall peters

shows true direction/ area is relatively precise distorts shape

robinson

globe like appearance doesn’t distorts shape and size that much imprecise measurements

isoline maps

graduated symbols maps

cartogram

dot

choropleth