APHG Unit 2 Terms
Physical Geography - the study of natural processes and the distribution of features in the environment. (Ex. landforms, plants, animals, and climate.)
Human Geography - the study of the events and processes that have shaped how humans understand, use, and alter Earth.
Spatial Perspective - where something occurs
Ecological Perspective - the relationships between living things and their environments
Location - the position that a point or object occupies on Earth.
Absolute Location - the exact location of an object.
Longitude - the set of imaginary lines that run north and south.
Latitude - the set of imaginary lines that run east and west.
Relative Location - a description of where a place is in relation to other places or features.
Place - a location on Earth that is distinguished by its physical and human characteristics.
Mental Maps - internalized representations of portions of Earth’s surface.
Site - a place’s absolute location, as well as its physical characteristics, such as the landforms, climate, and resources.
Situation - a place's location in relation to other places or its surrounding features.
Space - the area between two or more things on Earth’s surface.
Distributed - arranged within a given space
Density - the number of things – people, animals, or objects – within a specific area.
Pattern - how things are arranged in a particular space.
Flow - movement of people, goods, or information that has economic, social, political, or cultural effects on societies.
Environmental Determinism - the idea that human behavior is strongly affected, controlled, or determined by the physical environment.
Distance Decay (Model Card - pg. 52) - a principle stating that the farther away one thing is from another, the less interaction the two things will have.
Time-space Compression (Model Card - pg. 52) - a key geographic principle that describes the ways in which modern transportation and communication technology have allowed humans to travel and communicate over long distances more quickly and easily.
Possibilism - theory of human-environment interaction that states that humans have the ability to adapt the physical environment to their needs.
Sustainability - the use of Earth’s land and natural resources in ways that ensure they will continue to be available in the future.
Scale - the area of the world being studied
Region - an area of Earth;s surface with certain characteristics that make it cohesive yet distinct from other areas.
Formal Region - an area that has one or more shared traits; also called a uniform region.
Functional Region - an area organized by its function around a focal point or the center of an interest or activity.
Node - the focal point of a functional region.
Suburbs - less densely populated residential and commercial areas surrounding a city.
Perceptual Region/Vernacular Region - a type of region that reflects people’s feelings and attitudes about a place.
Globalization - the expansion of economic, cultural and political processes on a worldwide scale.
Theory - a system of ideas intended to explain certain phenomena.
World System Theory (Model Card - pg. 53) - a theory describing the spatial and functional relationships between countries in the world economy; categorizes countries as part of a hierarchy consisting of the core, periphery and semi-periphery.
Core - classification of a country or region that has wealth, higher education levels, more advanced technologies, many resources, strong militaries, and powerful allies.
Periphery - classification of a country or region that has less wealth, lower education levels, and less sophisticated technologies and also tends to have an unstable government and poor healthcare.
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Semi-periphery - classification of a country or region that has qualities of both core and peripheral areas and is often in the process of industrializing.
Sustainable Development - development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.
Quantitative - involving data that can be measured by numbers.
Qualitative - involving data that is descriptive of a research subject and is often based on people’s opinions.
Census - an official count of the number of people in a defined area, such as a state.
Geographic Information Systems (GIS) - a computer system that allows for the collection, organization, and display of geographic data for analysis.
Topography - the representation of Earth’s surface to show natural and human-made features, especially their relative positions and elevations.
Remote Sensing - collecting or analyzing data from a location without making physical contact.
Global Positioning System (GPS) - a network of satellites that orbit Earth and transmit location data to receivers.
Absolute Distance - distance that can be measured using a standard unit of length.
Relative Distance - distance that is measured in terms such as time or money.
Absolute Direction - the cardinal directions (north, south, east, and west.)
Relative Direction - left, right, up, down, front, or behind based on people’s perceptions.
Map Scale - mathematical relationship between the size of a map and the part of the real world it shows.
Reference Maps - generalized sources of geographic data and focus on location
Thematic Maps - have a theme or specific purpose and focus on the relationship among geographic data.