AP Human Geography Unit 1 Vocabulary

Place

A specific point on Earth distinguished by a particular character.

Region

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

Scale

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

Connection

Relationships among people and objects across the barrier of space.

Map

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

Cartography

The science of making maps

Global Positioning System (GPS)

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

Geotagging

Identification and storage of a piece of information by its precise latitude and longitude coordinates

Geographic Information Science (GIScience)

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

Geographic Information System (GIS)

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

remote sensing

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

Volunteered Geographic Information (VGI)

Creation and dissemination of geographic data contributed voluntarily and for free by individuals

Citizen Science

scientific research by amateur scientists

Participatory GIS (PGIS)

Community-based mapping, representing local knowledge and information.

Mashup

a map that overlays data from one source on top of a map provided by a mapping service

Map Scale

The relationship between the size of an object on a map and the size of the actual feature on Earth's surface.

Projection

The system used to transfer locations from Earth's surface to a flat map.

Meridian

An arc drawn on a map between the North and South poles.

Longitiude

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

parallel

A circle drawn around the globe parallel to the equator and at right angles to the meridians.

Latitude

Distance north or south of the equator

Prime Meridian

The meridian, designated at 0° longitude, which passes through the Royal Observatory at Greenwich, England.

Greenwich Mean Time

the time in that time zone encompassing the prime meridian, or 0 degrees longitude

International Date Line

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

location

The position of anything on Earth's surface.

Toponym

The name given to a portion of Earth's surface.

site

The physical character of a place

situation

The location of a place relative to another place

cultural landscape

An approach to geography that emphasizes the relationships among social and physical phenomena in a particular study area.

formal region

An area in which everyone shares in one or more distinctive characteristics

Functional Region

An area organized around a node or focal point

vernacular region

an area that people believe exists as part of their cultural identity

Culture

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

Spacial Association

The relationship between the distribution of one feature and the distribution of another feature.

Space

The physical gap or interval between two objects